The
Menominee
Native
Americans
A diverse culture with a rich
history
Michelle Smith
EDU 210
History
history
 Oldest
continuous residents of Wisconsin
 At the start of the treaty era, in the early
1800’s, the Menominee tribe occupied a
land base of an estimated 10 million
acres.
Brief timeline
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1634: Jean Nicolet, French made contact with the
Menominee
1775: Some fought against the American in the
Revolutionary War
1812: War of 1812, Some fought against the
Americans
1854: gave up lands except for a reservation on Wolf
River in north-central Wisconsin
1954 -1973: federal status Terminated



Two part plan
1961: Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin was terminated,
Tribal membership 3,270 Tribal land (Acres) 233,881
1972: Menomiee Restoration Act restored tribe
Treaties

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1817 March 30, at St. Louis, with the Chippewa
1825 August 19, at Prairie du Chien, with the Sioux, Etc.,
1827 August 11, at Butte des Morts
1831 February 8, at Washington
1831 February 17, at Washington
1832 October 27,
1836 September 3, at Cedar Point
1848 October 18, at Lake Powawhaykonnay
1854 May 12, at Falls of Wolf River
1856 February 11, at Keshena
Spirituality
Spiritual beliefs
 Believed
that children and elders were
closest to the spirits

If a baby was unhappy, a special healer
would find out why. Often it was thought
that a certain ancestor spirit has been
reborn in the baby and wanted the baby’s
name changed. Therefore, a naming
ceremony was held to give that child that
ancestor’s name.
Creation Story
Night and day
The Afterlife
Culture
Culture
 Algonquin
speaking nation
 Menominee refer to themselves as
mameqtaw meaning “the people”
 Other indian tribes call them menominee,
derived from manomin- an algonkian
word for wile rice as it is a staple food for
the tribe. (mpm.edu)
 French called them “the nation of wild
oats”
Culture
 Lived
by hunting, fishing and gathering
 Wild rice= staple food

Augmented by corn, beans and squash
 Some
food was dried in the sun to save
for the winter
 Boiling and roasting were common
cooking methods
 Maple sugar and syrup were commonly
used as sweeteners and flavorings
Geography
 Once
occupied over 10 million acres of
land which is now central and mideastern Wisconsin
Culture- Clans
 Clans
Bear
 Eagle
 Moose
 Crane
 Wolf
(Facts and figures 2004)

Bear Clan
 Speakers
and keeper of the law
Eagle/Thunder Clan

Freedom and justice
Moose Clan

community or individual security
Crane Clan
 Crane
Clan: architecture, construction
and art
Wolf Clan
 Hunting
and gathering
Current location
 Current


location:
Current Menominee indian reservation is
located about 45 miles northwest of Green
Bay.
The reservation is 235,523 acres and
countains roughly 223,500 acres of heavily
forested lands
Affects on the tribes social
and economic conditions
today
 Today
Menominee are on their way to
economic progress
 Multi-million dollar organization
 Provides employment to its people along
with services such as a clinic, police
protection, and a Tribal school
Comparison
lgonquian
and Great
Lake
Tribessuch
as Ojibway
(35,000),
Delaware
Northeast
(8,000),
Powhatan
(9,000)
Massachuse
t (13,600),
and Cree
(17,000)
Iroquois
Tribes such
as Mohawk,
Oneida,
Onondaga, Northeast
Cayuga,
Seneca, and
Tuscarora
(Total 5,000)
wigwams
wore little
clothing
except in
winter made from
animal skins
long house
hunters
planters
mostly
gatherers
buckskin
tradersThree
(skin of deer) Sisters (corn,
squash, &
beans)
huntersgathe pow
rers
wowssnows
trappers
nake
planters
Birchbark
baskets and
canoestraps
formed
Confederacy canoes
many
snowshoes
festivals
Pocahontas
(1585?-1622)
PowhatanPontiac
birchbark
(1720?-1769)
boxeswampu
Ottawa
m
Tecumseh (1765?1813) Shawnee
dream
Black Hawk (1767catchers
1838) Sauk
Squanto (1585?1622) Patuxet
False
Face Society
wooden
masks
Significance