Examination of The History of the Ojibway People by William W. Warren

Examination of “The History of the Ojibway People” by William W. Warren

The goal of this paper is to provide an examination of the book “The History of the Ojibway People” by William W. Warren as well as express some of what I learned about the book, the author and the Ojibway people. William W. Warren, born of a white father and Ojibway mother, used his fluent familiarity with the Ojibway language and his tremendous popularity with both whites and Indians to document the traditions and oral statements of the Ojibway people at a time when the future of their existence was in jeopardy.

Why did I choose this book to read and review? Every summer for eight years my wife and I took a group of approximately 20 high school students to the Bois Forte Band, Chippewa Indian Reservation in Tower, Minnesota. We spent several weeks getting to know both the children and adults of the reservation providing fun, interactive, learning programs for the children and other activities for the teens and adults. Over the years, we developed several strong relationships with the Indians and learned a lot from them about their culture and their way of life and in turn, hopefully shared some of the same with them. It is because of the relationships built and the time spent with the Chippewa Indians that I wanted to learn more about their history. With a little research, I came across “The History of the Ojibway People” by William W. Warren.

Learning about this book means first learning about its author. William W. Warren was born in 1821 to Lyman M. Warren, a white fur tradesman, and Mary Cadotte, an Ojibway woman. He was the oldest of eight children. His mother, Mary, spoke no English so at an early age William began speaking both English and the Ojibway language. Because of his fluent speech in both languages, he was genuinely liked and respected by Indians. At a young age, he began documented stories from older men in the Ojibway tribes and translating the bible and other stories like “Arabian Nights” for the Indians. Documenting the stories and traditions of the Ojibway people became his greatest pass time during his teen years while translating and interpreting became a stepping stone for a political career as he was soon involved in the negotiations of treaties between the United States and the Ojibway people.

While living in Minnesota in 1850, ...

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...as a tribe, fought for the British during the war of 1812. This is not true. Of the nine thousand Ojibway on Lake Superior and the Mississippi, not one or two warriors joined the British (Warren, 1984). The British sent an interpreter bearing gifts and promises of land to the Ojibway. Warren states the Ojibway chief returned the gifts with the answer

“When I go to war against my enemies, I do not call on the whites to join my warriors. The white people have quarreled among themselves, and I do not wish to meddle in their quarrels, nor do I intend ever, even to be guilty of breaking the window-glass of a white man’s dwelling” (p.369).

All of the chief’s warriors refused to fight with the British except one.

The book, “History of the Ojibway People”, is over 410 pages of tradition and culture that provide incredible insight into the Ojibway people. William W. Warren had a unique position of trust from both the whites and the Ojibways, a passion for listening to and telling these stories, as well as the rare ability to speak the languages of both people. All of these abilities make for a rare glimpse into the life of the Ojibway people of early America.