Native American Heritage Celebration

2019 Celebration

GVSU Water Healing Ceremony

Friday, September 6, 2018
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Eberhard Center, 2nd floor lobby, PEW Campus

LIB 100 & LIB 201 Approved

The event will begin with a social reception and a welcome from the City of Grand Rapids. Guest speakers of water centered projects in the Grand Rapids area with a focus on the Grand River and the history and significance of the river. The event will conclude with a traditional water ceremony done by tribal Anishinaabekwewok (women).

Native American Student Association's The Mounds Service Project

Saturday, October 12
9:00 am - 3:00 pm
Off Campus Service Project
Meeting room 2201 Kirkhof Center

RSVP Here

LIB 100 & LIB 201 Approved

Join us for a NASA-sponsored serve project as we help with clean-up efforts of The Mounds. The 55-acre Mounds National Historical Landmark is one of the few surviving burial mound groups that were once present in the lower Grand River Valley. NASA is working with the Grand Rapids Public Museum and local Native community members to ensure proper respect and honor is given during the project. Transportation provided. RSVP is required.

NASA logo

Indigenous Peoples' Day

Monday, October 14, 2019
11:00 am - 3:00 p.m.
Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

LIB 100 & LIB 201 Approved

Indigenous art showcase. Local artists will speak about their art, the ideas they explore in their art related to survival, cultural continuance, and their communities.

Professionals of Color Lecture Series: A Conversation with Two Alcatraz Warriors 50 Years Later

Monday, November 4, 2019
4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
2250 Kirkhof Center

LIB 100 & LIB 201 Approved

Dr. LaNada War Jack and Lenny Foster will talk on the occupation of Alcatraz in 1969 and 1970 and the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties Caravan and the Bureau of Indian Affairs take over in Washington, D.C. The program will consist of a local American Indian drum group, live interview, and short video provided by Dr. War Jack.

Native occupation of Alcatraz

Weaving the World into Existence: The Power of Women, Water and Canebrakes

Monday, November 18, 2019
5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Multipurpose Room, Mary Idema Pew Library

LIB 100 & LIB 201 Approved

The intimate relationship between women, water and canebrakes is an ancient one. Women utilized the cane growing along the waterways of the south central and southeastern states as far as Oklahoma and Texas and as far north as Maryland for thousands of years. Complex cultural visual languages, ideas, shared world views and ways of being were woven into the cane basketry that shaped, instructed and held the peoples cultural center. Through the technological ingenuity and creative vision, women wove their world into existence from the cradle to the grave.