Sunday Speaker Series
Jan. 9: Native American Perspectives of the Land

We often think of a new year as a time to take stock, make resolutions, and look to the future. Perhaps it is also a good time to reflect on our past. In the Americas, our past includes the traditions and legacy of our first peoples. Here in Lake County, our past includes the Council of Three Fires, an alliance of the Ojibwa (or Chippewa), the Odawa (or Ottawa), and the Potawatomi—on whose ancestral homelands we live.

In our first monthly program of 2022, we will welcome Gina Roxas, a citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation as well as the program coordinator and medicinal garden manager for Trickster Cultural Center in Schaumburg. She will discuss the historical relationship between Native Americans and the land of northeastern Illinois. You will learn through oral history how Native American culture was, and continues to be, thoroughly connected to the land. 

Trickster Cultural Center, named for a popular figure of Native American culture, strives to be an authentic voice of Native American people and art. A Native American and community arts center, it also serves Native American veterans and their needs. 

The Trickster Cultural Center focuses on contemporary art, going beyond the romantic iconography of movies and TV to address the state of Native America today as a living, breathing culture. Its programs raise public awareness and advance ideals of tolerance and diversity by combating stereotypes and deconstructing predetermined imagery that has long defined Native Americans with one generalized cultural aesthetic. Native people are not all the same: Their lives and the ways they choose to practice their culture are shaped by their individual tribes and whether they live on reservations or off. The Native American community is strong and diverse—which makes it necessary to provide a platform for cultural exchange as we continue to celebrate native people in Illinois.

Register now to join us on Jan. 9.

Gina’s presentation is another in a series of family-friendly online programs sponsored by the Woods & Wetlands Group. Programs are held on the second Sunday of each month. They are free and open to the public. Registration is required to get the login link.