50th Anniversary of Honor the Earth Homecoming Celebration and Powwow

Floor Speech

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Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, today I rise to recognize the 50th anniversary of the Honor the Earth Homecoming Celebration and Powwow. The story of Honor the Earth begins with a small group of Lac Courte Oreilles who wanted a better future for their tribe and their people.

The Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe--Ojibwe: Odaawaa-zaaga'iganiing--is one of six federally recognized bands of the large Ojibwe Nation that originally occupied the upper eastern woodlands area of the North American continent. The Treaty of 1854 established the LCO reservation.

In 1971, the LCO community, and other people from neighboring bands and Tribes took over Winter Dam in protest of flooding lands, broken treaties, and desecration of LCO land, people, and traditional livelihood. Eddie Benton-Benaim, supported by the American Indian Movement, helped lead the 5-day effort to take over the dam. This effort led to the renegotiation of the dam license which helped the tribe recover several hundred acres of land, compensation for damages, and the development of Tribal hydro generating project.

The following year, 1972, there was a reunion of the people who had occupied the dam; they called it Honor the Earth powwow. Every year since, the Ojibwa people come together as they have always done; they celebrate with prayers, feasting, songs, dances, and honoring. The 1972 and 1973 powwows were organized as contest powwows and were sponsored by a handful of individuals and then by LCO AIM, LCO Tribal Governing Board, and the St. Paul Red School House, of which Benton was director. In 1974, grounds were broken for what would eventually become one of the largest traditional gatherings of Tribal peoples in the region.

In 1982 the first annual Miss Honor the Earth's ladies competition began at the powwow to showcase the strong and beautiful Anishinaabekwewag--Ojibwe ladies--perform a woodland dance while wearing historical deer dresses.

This year, 2022, we celebrate the 50th Honor the Earth Powwow and the 40th Miss Honor the Earth ladies competition. In so doing, the Anishinabeg, the Lac Courte Oreilles or ``Ottawa Lake'' Tribe continues to sustain heritage, preserve and utilize the strong Ojibwe language, honor strengths of the past, and embrace a good future. Please join me in celebrating this historically and spiritually important community.

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