05/21/2021 @ All Day – NISGA’A SCULPTOR/TOTEM CARVER NORMAN TAIT DIED Born May 20, 1941, in Gingolx, British Columbia, Tait was son of noted carver Josiah Tait. Trained as a millwright, he began to carve while waiting for work in Vancouver in 1971. Tait established himself in 1973, working with his father to carve and raise the first Nisga’a pole in […]
05/22/2021 @ All Day – TLINGIT SCHOLAR AND PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER KHA’JAQ’TII (WALTER A. SOBOLEFF) DIED Born in Killisnoo, Alaska, November 14, 1908, Walter, whose Tlingit name meant “One slain in battle,” loved school. His greatest lesson: “Take care of the old person you are going to become.” His influences included Abraham Lincoln, Booker T. Washington, and Rudyard Kipling. He received […]
05/23/2021 @ All Day – MONTAUKETT-AFRICAN JOURNALIST/AUTHOR OLIVIA WARD BUSH-BANKS BORN Born in Sag Harbor, New York, to African American and Montauk parents, she grew up in Providence, RI, where she was raised by her aunt. Olivia began writing in high school. In 1899, she published Original Poems, extolling African American virtue and perseverance. In 1914, she followed with Driftwood […]
05/24/2021 @ All Day – ARGENTINE CRISTINA CALDERON-LAST FULL-BLOODED YAGHAN-BORN Born at Robalo, Puerto Williams, on Navarino Island, Chile, Calderon (often referred to as simply Abuela, Spanish for Grandmother) and her sister-in-law Emelinda Acuña were the only two remaining native speakers of the Yaghan language. After Acuña died in 2005, Calderón became the last living full-blooded Yaghan person. With her […]
05/25/2021 @ All Day – NUNAVUT LAND CLAIMS AGREEMENT (NLCA) SIGNED The NLCA, signed in Iqaluit by the Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut (now Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated), the Government of Canada, and the Government of the Northwest Territories (NWT), gave the Inuit of the central and eastern NWT a separate territory. It is the largest Aboriginal land claim settlement in Canadian […]
05/26/2021 @ All Day – KING KAUMUALI’I DIED—LAST INDEPENDENT RULER OF KAUA’I & NI’IHAU Born in 1778 on Wailua, he was the son of Queen Kamakahelei, aliʻI nui (supreme ruler) of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, and her husband Aliʻi Kāʻeokūlani, regent of Maui and Molokaʻi, who became the co-king and ruler of Kauaʻi by marriage. Kaumualiʻi inherited both titles when Kamakahelei […]
05/27/2021 @ All Day – OJIBWE HISTORIAN, INTERPRETER WILLIAM WHIPPLE WARREN BORN Born at La Pointe, Michigan Territory (now-Wisconsin), he was the son of an Ojibwe mother and a fur trader father of Ojibwe-French descent. In 1836, Warren attended Clarkson Academy and later the Oneida Institute near Whitesboro, New York. At age 17, he started work as an interpreter and […]
05/28/2021 @ All Day – LYDA CONLEY–1ST NATIVE AMERICAN WOMAN TO PLEAD BEFORE U.S. SUPREME COURT–DIED Born in 1869, in Wyandot Co., Ohio, Lyda went to Kansas City School of Law in 1902 and was the first woman admitted to the Kansas bar. In 1855, some Wyandots accepted U.S. citizenship; others later became the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma, but kept […]
05/29/2021 @ All Day – INUPIAT PARAOLYMPIC & BOSTON MARATHONER SHIRLEY REILLY BORN Reilly, who is half Inupiaq, was born in Anchorage, Alaska. Paralyzed from the waist down at birth, her early life was marked by frequent operations. Her family moved to California where, in high school, Reilly took part in track athletics. She competed in the 2002 IWAS World […]
05/30/2021 @ All Day – ONTARIO PREMIER APOLOGIZES FOR THE RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL SYSTEM Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne officially apologized for mistreatment of First Nations, Métis and Inuit people. Wynne gave the province’s official response to the 2015 report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future. Children were physically and sexually abused and died in numbers that would not […]