A trip to Wounded Knee in a snowstorm. A skirmish (or two) with the FBI. Protesters lining campus hallways. These are just a few of the memories surfacing among former UW-Madison students, faculty and staff taking part in the American Indian Studies program’s 50th anniversary oral history project. Their words paint a vivid picture of a program born from fiery student activism in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Launched by assistant professor Kasey Keeler, the oral history project is helping to build a more complete record of the program’s earliest days, at a moment when UW-Madison is grappling with its past treatment of Native people and reaching out to forge stronger relationships with tribes through the Native Nations Initiative.
Keeler, who arrived at UW in 2018, started out wanting to commemorate an important anniversary and build community with her new colleagues in AIS. But the project quickly took on greater significance as a way to fill in large gaps in the historical record.
“Native Americans are not represented in the university archives,” Keeler says. “We are building archival resources and strengthening the field of American Indian scholarship.”
Keeler has been moved by the stories pouring forth so far.
“What’s been so interesting and exciting to me, as an academic, is to see how little support there was for American Indian studies at UW at the administrative level, but how many students said, ‘Let’s get stuff done, if nobody else is advocating for us,’” Keeler says.
In launching the oral history project, Keeler hoped to sow the seeds of new collaborations and friendships. She asked Kacie Lucchini-Butcher (director of UW-Madison’s Public History Project), as well as AIS-affiliated colleagues Sasha Maria Suarez and Matt Villeneuve (both assistant professors of history), and Jen Rose Smith (an assistant professor of geography) to help with planning and sift through the sparse archival record with University Oral Historian Troy Reeves and University Archivist Katie Nash. Keeler tapped two Native students to do the interviews: Willow Lovecky (Taos Pueblo), who graduated from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences last year with a certificate in American Indian Studies, and Yelih Rodriguez (Oneida), who’s completing her degree in the School of Human Ecology, with an AIS certificate.
Neither of the students had done anything like this before. Their first interview was with Ada Deer (Menominee), whose list of “firsts” is legendary.
“She is an icon, so we were nervous, but she was patient, understanding, an ‘auntie’ to us,” Rodriguez says. “She made us laugh.”
They will never forget the interview with Gary Kmiecik (Sioux), who was UW’s Native student recruiter in the early 1970s.
“Gary and some students drove out in a snowstorm to the Occupation of Wounded Knee,” recalls Lovecky. “He was, himself, a key piece of history. Without him, the university would not know that story.”
Suarez says that when Keeler asked her to be involved in the project, she couldn’t turn it down. Suarez studies the urban Native community in Minneapolis and is fascinated by the social movements of Native people in the 1950s, '60s and '70s.
“In Minneapolis, in 1968, the American Indian Movement was born, and there were AIM members in Milwaukee,” she says. “In California’s Bay Area, Native students were working alongside Black, Latin@, Asian American and Pacific Islander students to create ethnic studies at UC-Berkely and San Francisco State. Many of them went on to join the 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island in the hopes of claiming it for the Native community. It was an energetic political moment.”
Denise Wiyaka (Ihanktonwan Sioux) is the current director of the American Indian Studies program. She says the oral history project will call much-needed attention to AIS and to the field. The AIS program’s importance on campus is often overlooked, with the Introduction to American Indian Studies course alone serving more than 600 students annually and satisfying one of UW’s Ethnic Studies requirements.
The number of students pursuing AIS certificates has tripled over the last few years, as well, and the arrival of four new Native faculty members over the last three years has been crucial to expansion. Keeler identifies as Tuolumne Me-Wuk and Citizen Potawatomi, Suarez as White Earth Ojibwe, Villeneuve as Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa descent and Rose Smith as dAXunhyuu (Eyak, Alaska Native).
“It matters to Native students—and to the field—that we have Indigenous instructors,” Wiyaka says.
AIS faculty, staff and students say they hope for greater acknowledgment of Indigeneity on campus, as well as around the state, in coming years. Former AIS director Nesper, who arrived to teach in 2002 and wrote a book about Wisconsin’s “walleye wars,” says attitudes in the state have come a long way, with more progress needed.
“Many non-Native people, especially older folks, may be able to name one—or none—of the 11 tribes in Wisconsin,” he says. “On the other hand, the legal community, the social services agencies are very aware of Native issues. Our state government now regularly takes tribes into account when considering policy. The tribes themselves have had a lot to do with that, as they have become major economic players in the state.”
Keeler is anticipating the 50th anniversary celebration as a chance to discuss these and many other issues, past and present.
“We’ll look at our exciting beginnings, but also ask, where are we now? Will we be a program in 50 years? How does AIS fit into UW’s Our Shared Future initiative?” Keeler says.
As for student interviewers Willow Lovecky and Yelih Rodriguez, they say the oral history project taught them the importance of qualitative data in the research enterprise. They gained confidence and learned valuable skills. And they went from acquaintances to best friends.
“The whole project has helped me grow,” says Lovecky.
Rodriguez smiles and nods.
“After every interview, Willow and I would debrief and talk about it for the rest of the day,” she says. “I feel lucky that Kasey asked us to do this.”
Postscript: The oral history project was unveiled on October 10th (Indigenous Peoples Day), as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the American Indian Studies program held at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and open to the public. The event opened with singing and drumming from the Wisconsin Dells Singers, and featured a panel discussion between three former AIS directors - Deer, Paul Nadasdy and Nesper - who spoke about their experiences leading the program over the years, and fervently advocated for stronger support from campus and the community.
In his introductory remarks for the event, L&S Dean Eric Wilcots said of the AIS program, "The breadth is impressive, the growth inspirational, and the work necessary."
Raoul Leon, Assistant Vice Provost for Student Engagement and Scholarship Programs, called the program a "beacon that affirms the experiences, languages and culture of indigenous peoples, not only here in Wisconsin but across the United States."