Aaron Bird Bear MS’10 says the new Our Shared Future heritage marker on Bascom Hill helps recognize the inherent sovereignty of indigenous nations, what he calls “the big fundamental.”
“It is why Native nations are still here,” says Bird Bear, the
Aaron Bird Bear MS’10 says the new Our Shared Future heritage marker on Bascom Hill helps recognize the inherent sovereignty of indigenous nations, what he calls “the big fundamental.”
“It is why Native nations are still here,” says Bird Bear, the UW–Madison assistant dean for student diversity programs. “If our ancestors weren’t as brilliant and resilient as they were to maintain our sovereignty despite the United States’ incredibly violent colonization of this continent, we would not be here as people,” he says.
On June 18, 2019, the University of Wisconsin–Madison added the marker to the Bascom Hill Historic District. The text on the dark-plated plaque, which stands on the south side of Bascom Hill, took 10 drafts and more than a year to create. The 80 words engraved on the marker are a step toward recognizing the truth of the Ho-Chunk Nation’s historical roots and the ethnic cleansing that occurred in southern Wisconsin, says Bird Bear.
“The University of Wisconsin–Madison occupies ancestral Ho-Chunk land, a place their nation has called Teejop (day-JOPE) since time immemorial,” the sign reads. “Today, UW–Madison respects the inherent sovereignty of the Ho-Chunk Nation, along with the eleven other First Nations of Wisconsin.”
“Sovereignty is really the root of our success,” says Bird Bear.
This marker, Bird Bear explains, is meant to interrupt visitors’ knowledge and awareness of this space at UW–Madison, to remind readers of what happened before Wisconsin became a state in 1848, and to emphasize that the forced removal of the Ho-Chunk Nation is one of the great harms done by the U.S. government. The Ho-Chunk had cultivated land in the Great Lakes region for 12,000 years. In 1837, the nation signed a treaty ceding the last of its 10 million acres of territory. They resisted removal for 40 years, but eventually the entirety of southern Wisconsin was taken from them.
“Every U.S. citizen who wakes up every day in Madison or Dane County … they are actualizing their treaty rights as U.S. citizens,” says Bird Bear. “The treaty is not a historical document. It is a living and breathing document that we all enjoy as U.S. citizens living here on Ho-Chunk ancestral land.”
The new plaque is one of the first official markers recognizing the people of the Ho-Chunk Nation in and around Madison. Dane County has 1,200 Ho-Chunk cultural reminders in conical, linear, and effigy mounds, several of which are located on campus, including a cultural expression called the double-tailed water spirit on Observatory Hill. This effigy mound is the only one of its kind and is a national registered historical monument. However, there is little to no formal recognition in Madison or on campus of the Ho-Chunk