Bois Forte Band of Chippewa

Bois Forte Band of Chippewa
Asabiikone-Zaaga’iganing
	Flag of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa
Total population
	3,052 (2007)
Regions with significant populations
	United States ( Minnesota)
Languages
	English, Ojibwe
Related ethnic groups
	Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, other Ojibwe people

Bois Forte Band of Chippewa (Ojibwe language: Zagaakwaandagowininiwag, "Men of the Thick Fir-woods"; commonly but erroneously shortened to Zagwaandagaawininiwag, "Men of the Thick Boughs") are a federally recognized Ojibwe Band located in northern Minnesota, along the border between the United States and Canada.^[2] Their landbase is the Bois Forte Indian Reservation, of which the Nett Lake Indian Reservation holdings are the largest of their reservation holdings. The Bois Forte Band is one of six constituent members of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. In 2007, the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe reported having 3,052 people enrolled through the Bois Forte (Nett Lake) Reservation as members of the Bois Forte Band.^[1]

History

Bois Forte Heritage Center & Cultural Museum in Tower, MN

The Bois Forte Band is an amalgamation of three separate groups, of which the Zagwaandagaawininiwag was the largest component, also known on some documents as Zoongaatigwitoonag ("Strong-wooded Ones", reflected in French as "Les Songatikitons"). Others now considered part of the Bois Forte Band includes the Lake Vermilion Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the southern half of the Little Forks Band of Rainy River Saulteaux. Due to their very peaceful existence, Warren reports they were called the "Rabbit" (Ojibwe: Waabooz).^[2] Under the Treaty of Paris (1783) and the Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842), the Little Forks Band of Rainy River Saulteaux were divided in half, with the southern half living about the Little Fork River being in the United States. The Lake Vermilion Band went into a treaty relationship with the United States in 1854. In 1866, the Bois Forte Band entered into a treaty with the United States, which also began the amalgamation process of these three historical bands into a single Band of today.

Ethnonyms

The Bois Forte Band are named after their location of thick conifer forest of northern Minnesota. Handbook of North American Indians record other variations of their names.^[2]

Boise Forte — Indian Affairs Report, 332, 1873.
Bois Forts — Warren (1852) in Minnesota Historical Society Collections, V, 85, 1885.
Hardwoods — Warren (1852) in Minnesota Historical Society Collections, V, 85, 1885.
Sagantwaga-wininiwak — Gatschet, Ojibwa Manuscript. BAE 1882
Sagwandagawinini — Baraga, English-Otchipwe Dictionary, 109, 1879
Sạgwāndạgāwininiwạg — William Jones, information, 1905.
Sakâwiyiniw — Baraga, English-Otchipwe Dictionary, 109, 1879
Sug-wau-dag-ah-win-in-e-wug — Warren (1852) in Minnesota Historical Society Collections, V, 85, 1885.
Sug-waun-dug-ah-win-ine-wug — Warren in Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, II, 139, 1852
Sug-wun-dug-ah-win-in-e-wug — Ramsey in Indian Affairs Report, 90, 1850.
Thick Woodsmen — Warren in Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, II, 139, 1852
Waub-ose — Warren (1852) in Minnesota Historical Society Collections, V, 86, 1885.

Band-owned businesses and enterprises

The band operates the Nett Lake Wild Rice cooperative, owns and operates the Powerain carwash products, Fortune Bay Resort and Casino, and KBFT FM in Nett Lake, Minnesota. It established a credit union, Northern Eagle Federal Credit Union, in 2013.^[3]

Notable Bois Forte citizens

Joe Geshick, artist
Linda LeGarde Grover, University of Minnesota, Duluth, American Indian Studies professor and Duluth Budgeteer columnist, author of The Dance Boots (2010)
Keith Secola (b. 1957), musician, singer

References

^ ^a ^b "Fast Facts". The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. 2007. Archived from the original on 2008-01-22.
^ ^a ^b ^c J. Mooney and C. Thomas. "Sugwaundugahwininewug" in Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, edited by Frederick Webb Hodge (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 30. GPO: 1910.
^ "Northern Eagle Federal Credit Union Will Bring Much-Needed Financial Services to Minnesota's Bois Forte Chippewa Community" (Press release). National Credit Union Administration. October 10, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-10-16. Retrieved 2013-10-10.

External links

[2007facts-1] "Fast Facts". The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. 2007. Archived from the original on 2008-01-22.

[HB-2] J. Mooney and C. Thomas. "Sugwaundugahwininewug" in Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, edited by Frederick Webb Hodge (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 30. GPO: 1910.

[3] "Northern Eagle Federal Credit Union Will Bring Much-Needed Financial Services to Minnesota's Bois Forte Chippewa Community" (Press release). National Credit Union Administration. October 10, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-10-16. Retrieved 2013-10-10.

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