Recognizing the Reclamation of Wisconsin Point From the City of Superior to the Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe

Floor Speech

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Ms. BALDWIN. Madam President, today I rise to recognize the reclamation of Wisconsin Point from the city of Superior to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe. Wisconsin Point, a narrow strip of land separating Allouez Bay from Lake Superior, is a small portion of the Tribe's ancestral home and also an indigenous burial ground dating back 400 years. At least seven generations were laid to rest at the Wisconsin Point cemetery, including the Tribal community's leader Chief Joseph Osaugie.

The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior--or Wayekwaa-gichigamiing Gichigamiwininiwag--Lake Superior Men at the far end of the Great Lake--is an Anishinaabe--Ojibwe--band located near what is now known as Cloquet, MN. The Fond du Lac Band are one of six Tribes who comprise the federally recognized Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, which was organized in 1934 with a new constitution under the Indian Reorganization Act.

In 1918, approximately 180 Ojibwe graves buried on Wisconsin Point were exhumed by the U.S. Steel Company and reburied in 29 plots south of the St. Francis Cemetery to make way for industrial development. Living Tribal members were also uprooted and removed.

Now, more than 100 years later, significant work has been done by the city of Superior and Tribal leaders to acknowledge the trauma of the lives and culture lost.

On August 18, 2022, the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe and the city of Superior jointly host a celebration of the return of Wisconsin Point's sacred burial ground, as well as the mass grave near St Francis cemetery to the Tribe.

Please join me in celebrating this historic moment, where once again the Wisconsin Point lands return back to Lake Superior Ojibwe.

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