Rose Miron, Director of the Newberry’s D'Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies, features prominently in Our America: Indigenous Futures, a television documentary that will air nationally on ABC channels and stream on Hulu. Our America, produced in partnership with National Geographic, is an in-depth look at how the use of land, food, and technology through an Indigenous lens can benefit all.
Visit the Our America website to view the episode or search for Our America on Hulu.
For the first time in nearly two centuries, Illinois is home to federally recognized tribal land. The Prairie Band of Potawatomi signed paperwork in April allowing the Department of Interior to place 130 acres in west suburban DeKalb County into a trust, giving the tribe sovereignty over the land. In Our America: Indigenous Futures, Miron discusses various treaties that ceded land in the Chicago area between 1795 and 1833. These treaties are explored in the Indigenous Chicago exhibition, which is free and open to all through January 4, 2025.
“We are thrilled that our staff, collections, and exhibition are being highlighted on a national scale,” said Astrida Orle Tantillo, President and Librarian at the Newberry. “The Newberry is home to one of the largest collections of books and manuscripts on American Indian and Indigenous Studies in the world. Those collections continue to resonate today, and we are proud to explore the history and contemporary lives of Indigenous people through the Indigenous Chicago project.”
The project is a multifaceted collaboration between the Newberry Library, the Chicago American Indian Community, and tribal nations who have ancestral ties to Chicago. The project includes the exhibition at the Newberry, digital resources and interactive maps that reposition Chicago as Indigenous land and space, curriculum for high school social studies students, new oral histories of community members, and a series of public programs. Learn more by visiting the Indigenous Chicago website.