‘Pass the Feather’ continues the Native American walk around the Great Lakes

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“It is for the water.”
Josephine Mandamin, founder of the Water Walk Movement

“If there is magic on the planet, it is water.”
Loren Eiseley, American anthropologist

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By CAROL TREMBATH

There was a great sadness among Native and Non-Native People alike, with the passing of Josephine Mandamin, an Ojibway grandmother who was the founder and leader of the Mother Earth Water Walkers. She passed on February 22, 2019. Her Ojibway name was Biidaasige, which in her Native language means, “One who comes with the light.” She was of the Fish Clan, whose members were the teachers and scholars.

I met Josephine in the fall of 2013 at a Native gathering and brought my draft of the first book in what I hoped would become a series. After reviewing the manuscript for Water Walkers: Walking Lake Superior, she emailed me saying:

I had misgivings about what you are doing. Many offerings have been made for the answer to my misgivings. In our culture, we tell oral teachings or draw. In your culture, it is different. To that, I give my respect. I have pondered on the reason why you are doing this writing. I pondered about ego, money, and fame. What is it she wants? Finally, the response came: It is for the water, simple—for the water. I give my blessing and can now rest easy.

Before that book was published, I also was assured that Native chiefs and elders sat in circles to scrutinize my motives and had approved. So, I was allowed to tell the Ojibway story of their journey to awaken “collective consciousness” that water needs to be treated with dignity and respect.

This incredible true story began with a group of dedicated women led by Josephine Mandamin deciding to walk the perimeter of all the Great Lakes—and later, over a period of fourteen years, they also walked down rivers and waterways across the United States and Canada. It was unprecedented!

The scope of the journey seemed impossible! They walked over 20,000 miles and every step reinforced the ancient value of taking a stand for the water. Each step was a prayer for the water, Mother Earth, animals, insects, birds, trees, and the human family.

In time, I wrote three books, following the Superior book with Stepping Stones: Walking Lake Michigan, and Ripples and Waves: Walking Lake Huron. (You can see more of my published work on my Amazon author page.)

But, in February 2019 came the news that Josephine had passed away. It was an unbelievable loss of one of the most exceptional Native warriors for Mother Earth and her lifeblood—water.
At first, I thought that I would not write the next book. But, slowly a faint whisper kept repeating in my ear over and over, “Pass the Feather.”

“Pass the Feather.”

“Pass the Feather.”

I decided to listen to that still small voice and write the next book. As I began researching, a friend sent me a picture of the famous statue in Rapid City, South Dakota called “Hunkayapi” or “Tying on the Eagle Plume.” The eight-foot, 1700-pound bronze statue was created by artist Dale Claude Lamphere of Sturgis, South Dakota. The sculpture captures the wisdom of an elder woman and her cultural pride as she teaches her heritage to the next generation.

I decided to visit Dale—South Dakota’s Artist Laureate, and creator of over 60 pieces of monumental sculpture including “Dignity of Earth and Sky.” In discussing my books, he allowed my artist, David W. Craig, to use the Hunkayapi statue as a model for the cover of my next book.

Pass the Feather: Walking Lake Erie is the story of a young Ojibway girl named Mai. Her family members walk the perimeter of Lake Erie to raise awareness about the harm being done to the Great Lakes. On the journey, she learns about the Four Sacred Medicines (sage, cedar, tobacco, and sweetgrass) and the special gifts and responsibilities given to all living things.

In the story, Grandmother tells young Mai that all living things were given a gift from the Creator. Eagles were given the gift to fly higher and faster than any other animal on the planet, and so it is their responsibility to watch over us. The songbirds were given the gift to sing and greet the day. Their music is to remind us to appreciate and enjoy life.

But Grandmother asks Mai, “What do you think is the gift given to humans?”

The young Mai says she does not know.

Grandmother continues, “It is said that we, alone among all living things have the gift of words. We can say, ‘Thank you’. Mother Earth provides for us and that is what all good mothers do. But being a good mother also means teaching children to care for the world. We need to say, ‘Thank you’ and treat the water as a mother would care for a child. In this world, our words can be like fast-moving canoes that stream through the currents of life. We can become story makers and not just storytellers.”

Grandmother ends by saying, “Water is life. Like flocks of birds, we don’t need one leader, we need thousands. It is time to join with others and be messengers for water. It is time for others to step forward. It is time to pass the feather.

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What you can do to help

Buy a copy of this new book and others in the series. And here’s a special offer: You also can order a book directly from Carol. If you email [email protected], she will personalize a book and send it to you, if you are living within the United States.

Review these books on Amazon. If you have purchased books from Amazon, Amazon will add a “verified purchase” badge to your review. However, if you wish to order directly from Carol, you still can log into your Amazon account and review the book, even though it was not a direct Amazon purchase. Positive reviews tell Amazon to recommend these books to other customers while they are shopping.

Tell friends on social media and email. You can start right now by using the social media links at the top of this story to spread this news to friends.

Plan a group discussion. Carol’s books inspire readers! Gather friends to talk about these books or, if you are part of a small group already, suggest that your organization discuss this book.

Visit the Water Walk website at http://www.motherearthwaterwalk.com/ Check out the side panel to view the history of the Mother Earth Water Walkers and current issues.

Josephine’s obituary page asks that we plant a tree in her name.

There’s so much we can do each day. Commit to cleaner earth by starting in your own community. Go on a walk or organize a local water walk. Pick up trash in your neighborhood or plant a tree. Learn the power of community. There are plenty of activist groups you could join.

And To all:
Chi-Miigwetch
(Big thank-you)

Care to learn more about Carol?

CAROL TREMBATH has made water a lifelong focus and passion. Carol has been an educator, librarian/media specialist for 30 years. She earned a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science from Wayne State University and a second Masters in Educational Technology from Michigan State University. Carol has been an educator in the Plymouth-Canton School District, Allen Park Public Schools, and the Walled Lake Consolidated Schools. Carol is a member of the Michigan Reading Association, American Library Association, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

 

Visit Carol’s website at http://www.caroltrembath.com/ 

 

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Heroine of the Underground Railroad, Nurse, and Scout in the Civil War,
Born about 1820 in Maryland,
Died March 10, 1913, in Auburn, N.Y.
Servant of God Well Done.
Inscription on Harriet Tubman’s tombstone

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By CAROL TREMBATH

On March 10^th, 1990, President George H.W. Bush and Congress declared henceforth March 10^th to be Harriet Tubman Day. It was on that day she died at age 93.

As millions of Americans nationwide see reminders of this remarkable woman, this week, we may find her referred to in many ways: Moses, Conductor on the Underground Railroad and General Tubman. She was also an abolitionist, humanitarian, spy, cook and suffragette.

During her life, her circle of friends included such exceptional leaders as Frederick Douglass, Thomas Garrett, William Still, William Lloyd Garrison, William H. Seward, John Brown, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

What did she do to earn her place next to such brilliant leaders and dazzle the world with her courage, wit, intelligence, military genius and integrity of character?

How did a woman barely 5 feet tall, who could not read or write become such a giant?

Her family and biographers have the answer.

In Maryland in the fall of 1833, the heavens seemed to open up for the annual Leonid meteor shower. That year, it illuminated the night sky with a particularly spectacular show. For Harriet and her family, there was a sense of this phenomenon being a harbinger of impending calamity.

It wasn’t long after this that Harriet received a near-fatal blow to her head. It was the turning point in her life that changed her not only physically but spiritually as well. It happened when, as a young girl, she went with the plantation cook to the local dry good store. On the way, she saw an overseer chasing after a runaway slave. He ran inside the dry good store to hide, but the overseer was right behind him. Harriet ran inside too. The overseer was angry and he picked up a two-pound, cast-iron, weight and threw it at the runaway slave. However, it missed him and hit Harriet in the head, breaking her skull. She dropped like a stone and was carried back to her family’s cabin. She drifted in and out of consciousness for several months.

Harriet recovered, but she would have severe headaches and at times spells where she blacked out. Also, from her injury, she began to have visions and said she listened to the still small voice of the Almighty. She said, “I never knew a time when I did not trust Him with an all-abiding confidence. I talk to God as a man talks with his friend. Mine is not the religion of morning and evening prayers at stated times, but when I feel the need, I simply trust Him to set things right.”

In 1849, at the age of 29, Harriet escaped from the Brodess plantation and, crossing the Mason-Dixon Line, found freedom in the North. But what set Harriet apart from other escapees was her determination to return south thirteen more times to rescue others caught in the web of slavery. As a conductor on the Underground Railroad, each person on her train to freedom represented a victory over tyranny and one more chorus of alleluia being heard in heaven.

As a conductor, she said, “I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.”

Harriett always trusted in the Lord. She said she never went on a mission south to free the enslaved unless the Almighty approved. “When folks were given praise, I’d say, ‘Twasn’t me, twas the Lord! I always hold to Him: ‘I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I expect you to lead me.’ And, He always did.”

Harriet was not only a cook, nurse, and spy, she was also the only woman during the Civil War to lead armed men into battle. This unprecedented event took place during the daring raid up the Confederate-held Combahee River in South Carolina—which freed over 700 slaves. Harriet many times followed men into battle and she witnessed some of the most horrific fighting of the war including the battles for Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina.

She once said, “I did not take up the work for my own benefit, but for those of my race that need help.”

Harriet bore the scars of slavery on her face and back all her life. She never sought power and remained poor. After the war, Harriet retired to her home in Auburn, New York, and dedicated her life to helping impoverished former slaves and the elderly.

Harriet was an active member and speaker for the suffragette movement. A month before she passed, she held the hand of a fellow suffragette and said, “Tell women to stand together.” She was also asked if women should have the vote. Her reply was, “I have suffered enough to believe it.”

Harriet was a fearsome woman who was rooted in her goal to bring light to others as she followed the North Star. Her courage and utter disregard of the consequences elevated her to the status of Moses. And so, like Moses who led the Israelite slaves through the Red Sea, Harriet parted the cotton fields of many southern plantations and led the enslaved into the Promised Land. She touched many with her great heart and many heard her strong voice saying, “Keep going.”

I too was touched by Harriet’s great heart.

During my life, I learned of Harriet’s courage and wrote a book entitled, Out of Slavery: A Novel of Harriet Tubman. I began to write the novel after attending a National Endowment for Humanities session. There I heard for the first time the story regarding Fort Wagner. The battle was the test to see if the first black regiment, authorized by Congress, would fight. It is also where over 257 Union soldiers killed in the battle were buried in a mass grave. To my astonishment, Harriet Tubman served their commander, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, his last meal. That was it. I knew I had to follow history and write about one of the nation’s most heroic women.

As I worked on the novel, I gathered up her energy, by visiting all of the places where Harriet lived, worked and fought. I also met Harriet’s Great, Great, Grand, Niece Pauline Johnson, and her extended family in Auburn, NY.

Care to learn more?

In honor of her life and by popular demand, in 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the center of the new 20 dollar bill. I am a member of the Harriet Tubman Boosters Club in Auburn, New York. They work diligently to have her placed on the new currency and keep her legacy alive.

To learn more about Harriet, visit the Harriet Tubman National Historic Park in New York, Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic Park in Maryland, The National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington D.C., and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Other Resources

I can also recommend:

Blight, David W. Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American History. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2001.

Bradford, Sarah H. Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People. Bedford, Massachusetts: Applewood Books, 1886.

Larson, Kate Clifford. Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an America Hero. New York: One World, Random House Publishing Group, 2003. You may also want to visit Larson’s own website, which has many more Tubman resources.

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Who is Carol Trembath?

Born and raised in the Great Lakes State of Michigan, Carol Trembath has been an educator, librarian and media specialist for 30 years. In addition to her biography of Harriet Tubman, she also has made water a lifelong focus and passion—and is the author of a series of books about Native American Water Walkers. If you enjoyed this story about Harriet Tubman, you’ll definitely want to read Carol’s earlier column about the Water Walkers, headlined: Carol Trembath on a Native Perspective on the Spiritual Wonders of Water. Carol earned a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science from Wayne State University and a second Masters in Educational Technology from Michigan State University. Carol has been an educator in the Plymouth-Canton School District, Allen Park Public Schools, and the Walled Lake Consolidated Schools. Carol is a member of the Michigan Reading Association, American Library Association, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

 

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Meeting the Mother Earth Water Walkers

By CAROL TREMBATH

For a long time, Native people have been viewed as the first environmentalists. Their ideals of caring for Mother Earth and her lifeblood water have always been at the forefront of their actions. However, today Mother Earth’s traumas have brought humanity to an environmental crossroads.

How are Native people responding? In many ways! My life has connected with one of the most remarkable and unusual efforts, led by Native women.

In 2013, while attending a National Endowment for Humanities project in Chicago, I saw the exquisite Fountain of the Great Lakes. It depicts five women each representing one of the Great Lakes, dressed in Greek garb, pouring water from their conch shells from one figure to the next in a beautiful cascade. At that point I had chills and I knew I had to write a book about water—but where to begin?

I found that the fountain’s sculptor, Lorado Taft, also created a three-story monolith of Chief Black Hawk, which stands over the Rock River in Illinois. That was another stepping stone in my research.

My journey led me to a group of Anishinabek women called the Mother Earth Water Walkers. Ojibway members from Canada and the United States were led by Grandmother Josephine Mandamin.

Two decades ago, the Chief of the Council of Three Fires in Michigan (Ojibway, Odawa and Potawatomi) told the Anishinabek people, including Josephine, that he had a vision. He warned, “If we don’t take care of the water, in thirty years the price of an ounce of water, will be the price of an ounce of gold.”

Josephine heard the prophecy and decided with a group of supporters to take up the challenge. She began water-walking around the Great Lakes.

In the spring of 2003, the Mother Earth Water Walkers—carrying a copper pail of water and holding an eagle staff, began their first journey walking the circumference of Lake Superior. Each morning, they would visit the big lake and say sacred words and sing songs for the water. They would leave behind their gift of tobacco, then walk 30, 40, or 50 miles a day. Their belief was that their prayers would be lifted to the Creator.

Their first walk around Gichigami—Lake Superior was 1,372 miles. Walking—the slowest form of transportation, reinforced an ancient value of taking a stand. Each step was a prayer for Mother Earth, the winged-ones, four-leggeds on the land, swimming creatures, insects, trees and the human family. Since then they have walked over 20,000 miles around lakes, rivers, and waterways across the United States and Canada. Over time, water from lakes and even oceans has been carried in copper pails over countless roads in an effort to show the importance of water—which they believe is alive and has a spirit.

Admiring their efforts, I too took up the challenge. I began writing a series of picture books that shared their story with readers nationwide.

In 2014, with the help of my Ojibway artist, David W. Craig, I self-published my first picture book, Water Walkers: Walking Lake Superior.

Since then, I have published two more titles, Stepping Stones: Walking Lake Michigan, and Ripples and Waves: Walking Lake Huron. These are fiction, telling the tale about a young girl’s journey with her grandmother and family members walking the circumference of the Great Lakes.

At this time, the fourth book in the series, Pass the Feather: Walking Lake Erie, is being prepared for publication. The important message of this book is that everything on earth has been given as a gift by the Creator—but each carries a responsibility. The gift to humans is that we, among all living things, have the ability to say, “Thank you.”

Mother Earth provides for us and that is what all good mothers do. But, we too need to say, “Thank you,” and honor and care for our Mother Earth and her lifeblood water. It is time to pass the feather and for others to continue the journey.

The Hopi have said, “The time for the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

When Grandmother Josephine was asked why she is doing all of this, she answered, “We are not doing this for us; we’re doing this for you. What will you tell your children when they ask, ‘What did you do for the water?’”

What can you do to help?

Visit the group’s home page online, Mother Earth Water Walk. Check out the side panel to view the history of the Mother Earth Water Walkers and current issues in the water crises.

Visit my own website and check out my various projects, including a historical novel about the life of another strong and prophetic woman: Harriet Tubman.

You could purchase my books through the Amazon links, above. Or, if you email me (at [email protected] ), I can arrange to personalize a book and send it to you, if you live in the U.S.

You also could commit to a cleaner earth by starting in your own community. Start composting at home, go on a walk to pick up trash in your neighborhood, or plant a tree. Learn the power of community. There are plenty of activist groups. Visit your local Sierra Club. Organize a local water walk.

To all: Chi-Miigwetch! (Big thank-you)

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Who is Carol Trembath?

Born and raised in the Great Lakes State of Michigan, Carol Trembath has made water a lifelong focus and passion. Carol has been an educator, librarian/media specialist for 30 years. She earned a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science from Wayne State University and a second Masters in Educational Technology from Michigan State University. Carol has been an educator in the Plymouth-Canton School District, Allen Park Public Schools, and the Walled Lake Consolidated Schools. Carol is a member of the Michigan Reading Association, American Library Association, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.