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Native Americans: Michigan Resources
Tribal Nations in North America / Turtle Island
Tribes and Bands in Michigan
The Three Fires Confederacy is an alliance of the Chippewa (Ojibwe / Ojibwa), Ottawa (Odawa), and Potawatomi / Pottawatomi (Bodéwadmi / Bodowadomi). Tribal Nations in the Great Lakes region are also known as the Anishinaabe, Anishinaabeg, Anishnabek, Neshnibek, Neshnabek, Original or True People or Spontaneous Beings. Anishinaabemowin language resources.
The Ojibwe are known as the Keepers of Tradition, the Odawa as the Keepers of the Trade, and the Potawatomi as the Keepers of the Fire.
We have kept to the bands' spelling below.
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Bay Mills Indian CommunityChippewa (Sault Ste. Marie Band, Bay Mills Reservation, Upper Peninsula).
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Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indianshistorically known as the Cheboiganing Band (Lower Peninsula)
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Grand River Bands of Ottawa IndiansOttawa bands who live along the Grand River and other waterways in southwest Michigan (Lower Peninsula)
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Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa IndiansOttawa and Chippewa (Peshawbestown, Lower Peninsula)
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Hannahville Indian CommunityPotawatomi (Upper Peninsula)
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Keweenaw Bay Indian CommunityOjibwa (Upper Peninsula)
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Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa IndiansChippewa (L'anse, Upper Peninsula)
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Little River Band of Ottawa IndiansOdawa (Manistee, Lower Peninsula)
Gaaching Ziibi Daawaa Anishinaabe -
Little Traverse Bay BandsOdawa (Harbor Springs, Lower Peninsula)
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Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band / Gun Lake TribePottawatomi (Bradley, Lower Peninsula)
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Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the PotawatomiPotawatomi (Pine Creek Indian Reservation near Athens, with additional offices in Grand Rapids, Lower Peninsula)
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Pokégnek Bodéwadmik / Pokagon Band of Potawatomi IndiansPotawatomi (Dowagiac, Lower Peninsula)
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Saginaw Chippewa Indian TribeChippewa (Mount Pleasant, Lower Peninsula)
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Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians(Sault Ste. Marie between Lakes Superior & Huron, Upper Peninsula & Canada)
Films & Art
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Ishkwaazhe Shane McSaubyCitizen of the Gichi Wiikwedong Odawa Anishinaabek (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians) and GVSU alumnus
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ngiiwe: Shaping Narrativesby GVSU’s Lin Bardwell (aka Lin Thomas). 26 minutes, full of humor about trying to connect with Native food ways from the perspective of a woman teaching her daughters.
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Filmmakers Adam & Zack KahlilOjibway brothers from Sault Ste. Marie
Film: Inaate/Se
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Our fires still burn : the Native American experience
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Call Number: streaming videoPublication Date: 2013
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Warrior Lawyers: Defenders of Sacred JusticeA documentary by Audrey Geyer: Midwest Native American lawyers, tribal judges, and their colleagues who work with Native nations and citizens, along with mainstream institutions to achieve sacred justice.
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MI Indigenous Art at GVSUGVSU Art Museum features: Jonathan Thunder, Jason Quigno, Naawikwegiizhig, Kelly Church, Dennis Christy, Shirley Brauker
Treaties
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Native Treaties - Shared Rightsinformation about Michigan treaties from CMU's Clarke Historical Library
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Native American Treaties: Their Ongoing Importance to Michigan ResidentsNative American material in the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University including a bibliography of materials about Michigan's first peoples.
Michigan People of the Three Fires' works in the GVSU Libraries
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Aube Na Bing: a pictorial history of Michigan Indians
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Call Number: Mary Idema Pew ASRS: RequestPublication Date: 1988 -
Bear walk byCall Number: Seidman House - Michigan Novels PS3568.E548 B4 1995Publication Date: 1995Photocopy of MA thesis from NMU includes a novella, "Eveleen" in Celebration of Indigenous Thought and Expression papers from the 1993 Fourth International Native American Studies Conference at Lake Superior State University, 1996.
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Eagle Returns: The legal history of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians
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Call Number: Mary Idema Pew - 2nd Floor E78.M6 F57 2012 or e-bookPublication Date: 2012 -
Firekeeper's Daughter
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Call Number: 2 copies - click linkPublication Date: 2021Young Ojibwe woman learns what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe and how far she'll go for her community. -
Footprints: stories of Native Americans in west central Michigan
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Call Number: Mary Idema Pew - 2nd Floor E78.M6 E95 2016Publication Date: 2016 -
Gah-Baeh-Jhagwah-Buk, the Way It Happened : a visual culture history of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa
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Call Number: Seidman House - Regional Historical E99.O9 M35 1991Publication Date: 1991 -
Imprints: The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the city of Chicago
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Call Number: e-bookISBN: 9781609174750Publication Date: 2016 -
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Ogîmäwkwe Mitigwäkî = Queen of the woods : a novel
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Call Number: e-bookPublication Date: 1899 / 2011 -
As Sacred to Us: Simon Pokagon's birch bark stories in their contexts
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Call Number: ebookPublication Date: 2023Essays set Simon Pokagon's stories in cultural, linguistic, historical, and geological context. Several essays are by members of the Pokagon band of Potawatomi. -
People of the three fires : the Ottawa, Potawatomi and Ojibway of Michigan
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Publication Date: 1986 -
Rethinking Michigan Indian History
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Call Number: Mary Idema Pew - Curriculum Collection (4th Floor) E78.M6 L43 2005Publication Date: 2005Teaching tool that honors the Chippewa, Ottawa, & Potawatomi tribes of Michigan. Each lesson includes a background narrative, a set of hands-on activities, and visual resources. -
Roads across Michigan : native peoples: Indians of the Great LakesCall Number: CML DeVos Media 201A DeVos LC1099.4.M5 N38 1994 kitPublication Date: 1994kit contains 8 books, 3 brochures, 8 cultural artifacts, 1 map, 9 posters and photos, 1 Native American Poster Calendar, 1998.
Accompanies Gah-baeh-Jhagwah-buk? -
The Sound the Stars Make Rushing Through the Sky
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Call Number: Mary Idema Pew 4th floor PS2789.S73 A6 2007Publication Date: 2007The complete writings of the 1st known American Indian literary writer, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft (Bamewawagezhikaquay), Woman of the Sound the Stars Make Rushing Through the Sky (1800-1842), born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. -
Voice on the Water: Great Lakes Native America now
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Call Number: Mary Idema Pew - 2nd Floor E78.M6 V65 2011Publication Date: 2011An anthology of the contemporary American Indian experience in Michigan in fiction, poetry, prose, art and craft. -
Walk in Peace: legends and stories of the Michigan Indians
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Call Number: Mary Idema Pew - 2nd Floor E99 .C6 O88 1991Publication Date: 1991Simon Otto was Ottawa and Ojibway from Petoskey. He titled the book "Ah-soo-can-nah-nah" and tells 18 stories. -
Words Like Thunder: New and Used Anishinaabe Prayers
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Call Number: e-bookPublication Date: 2020Lake Superior Ojibwe author Lois Beardslee's poetry about Native people of the Great Lakes. -
Aazheyaadizi: Worldview, Language, and the Logics of Decolonization
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Call Number: ebookPublication Date: 2020Mark D. Freeland, Baweting (Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa) discusses the issues in translating Indigenous languages by using the 1836 Treaty of Washington, Great Lakes fishing rights, and the State of Michigan's 2007 Inland Consent Decree to illustrate Anishinaabek relationships to land.
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Gi-gikinomaage-min InterviewsInterviews with members of Grand Rapids' urban Native American population collected as part of the Gi-gikinomaage-min Project: Defend Our History, Unlock Your Spirit.
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Gi-gikinomaage-min: We Are All TeachersGrand Rapids' urban Native American population's stories: oral histories at GR Public Museum, Standing Rock stories, and the Edward V. Gillis Native American publication collection.
Subjects: Anthropology, Social Work, Sociology
- Last Updated: Jun 18, 2025 12:53 PM
- URL: https://libguides.gvsu.edu/natamericans
