RHS is using Memorial Day to announce our next feature series, which will be on the Native American heritage of the Ridge.
Right now, organizations, universities, churches, businesses, etc., are developing “Land Acknowledgement Statements.” These are declarations that recognize that the land we are using today was the ancestral homelands of Indigenous Peoples who lived here for at least 13,000 years before the European settlers came.
To help with land acknowledgment statements for the Blue Island Ridge, a background paper on the Native American presence on the Ridge has been evolving through research efforts at RHS. This is a fascinating and complex topic. Information will be shared through the Facebook page and other RHS communications and programs as time goes on.
Why start with Memorial Day? For two reasons. First, Native Americans have a long and unrecognized history of service in the U.S. Armed Forces. For many people, the only glimpse they have had into this part of history was through the 2002 movie “Windtalkers” which was based on the real story of Navajo code talkers during World War II. The Navajo language was used to direct artillery operations in the field, and the “code” was never broken by the enemy.
Native Americans serve in the U.S. Armed Forces at a higher rate than any other group. Since the 9/11 terrorist bombing, 19% of Native American men and women have served, compared to an average of 14% for all other groups. This is consistent among the 573 federally recognized Native American tribes.
In interviews, they cite their reasons for enlisting. Of course, the economic factor cannot be ignored – pay, benefits, opportunities. But for many, there is a family heritage, and the time-honored warrior culture of protecting their land, their home, their family, their ideals. Native Americans are not just part of the United States’ past, they are very much the present and future, also.
Second, in exploring the history of the Memorial Day Parade, which has gone on in this community for over 100 years even though canceled for 2020-21 because of the COVID pandemic, we came across an intriguing picture, from the scrapbook of the RHS President Elaine Spencer.
Elaine was a student at Morgan Park High School in the late 1940s. She participated in the Memorial Day Parade and a family member took photos. In her scrapbook is a picture from 1948-50 which is labeled “Real Indians” in the parade (shown here).
From all appearances, these do look like Native Americans in ceremonial dress and we continue to investigate their background, through the American Indian Center of Chicago, which opened in 1953, and other means.
At the time, there were only about a thousand Native Americans reported living in Chicago. Right after this, in the 1950s-1960s, there was a government relocation program to move Native Americans to urban areas, and thousands more came here, but that had not happened yet.
It was not unusual for Scouts and other groups, including adults, to take “Indian” names and dress in costumes, and there were marchers reflecting that also. Their look is very different from the “Real Indians.” A picture of a Cub Scout group dressed in their version of "Indian" attire is also shown here.
Stay tuned for the series on Native Americans and the Blue Island Ridge.