AKRON, Ohio – Akron Public Schools, the Akron Summit County Public Library, the Summit County Historical Society and Summit Metro Parks are among the organizations hosting events to commemorate North American First People’s Day Oct. 1-7.
Akron City Council declared the first Monday in October North American First People’s Day in 2018 as a way to honor Native American history, life and culture. In 2019, Summit County Council extended the declaration to include all of Summit County. The declarations were encouraged by students at the Lippman School, which has a longstanding exchange relationship with the Northern Cheyenne Nation of Montana.
This year’s commemorations include the sixth annual Portage Path Walk, speakers, art exhibits, in-school activities and a new archaeology exhibit.
Native American art exhibits
The Institute for Human Science and Culture at the University of Akron Cummings Center will host a Native American contemporary art exhibit on Saturday, Oct. 1 from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. The exhibit is open to the public and features “Delaware Girl: The Art of Valerie J. Evans” in the center’s Metzger Gallery. Evans’ colored pencil portraits reflect her Native American heritage (Delaware/Six Nations) and are paired with recent works that show women of a bygone age, dressed in vintage bathing suits and caps while sunbathing at the beach or pool.
Free guided tours of the center’s exhibits are available from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. with advance registration. Curator Fran Ugalde will host behind-the-scenes tours of the Oak Native American Ethnographic Collection, which includes entry into the temperature-controlled storage housing objects not currently on display to the public.
Portage Path Walk
The annual walk is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 2 from 1:30-3 p.m. The 1-kilometer walk retraces the steps of the indigenous people who once traveled along the Portage Path – an 8-mile trail that crosses the divide between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas rivers. Members of the Northern Cheyenne nation lead the walk, which is open to the public. The walk begins at Portage Path Community Learning Center, 55 S. Portage Path, and ends at the John Brown House, 514 Diagonal Road. A program featuring drumming and singing is scheduled for 2 p.m.
The event also features a Native American street food trailer operated by the Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio.
Guided archaeology walk and talk
On Sunday, Oct. 2 from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Summit Metro Parks will host a walk guided by a park archaeologist starting at the Big Bend parking area in Sand Run Metro Park, 1337 Merriman Road. Along the walk, the archaeologist will discuss the history of the area, which serves as an important link between North American waterways. At the northern terminus, artist Peter Jones (Onondaga/Seneca) will talk about the statues he created of the portaging American Indian which can be seen at both the northern and southern points of the Portage Path. Jones is scheduled to speak at noon at the statue located at Portage Path and Merriman Road. Parking is available in nearby commercial lots.
In-school activities
On Monday, Oct. 3, participating schools in Summit County will host Indian nation representatives and create lessons and activities that align with the visits.
Many Voices speaker series
On Monday, Oct. 3 at 6:30 p.m., the Akron-Summit County Public Library will host the Many Voices speaker series featuring Emmy award-winning storyteller Sarah Eagle Heart (Oglala Lakota) in the Main Library auditorium. Eagle Heart is the co-CEO of Return to the Heart Foundation, which supports Native American women. In 2019, she founded Eagle Heart Collective to focus on narrative change, leadership development and social justice storytelling.
Lecture: History of Two Spirit and LGBTQ Identity in the Native American Community
On Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 6 p.m., the Institute for Human Science and Culture at the Cummings Center of the University of Akron will sponsor a lecture by LaDonna Blue Eye (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma). She will discuss History of Two Spirit and LGBTQ Identity in the Native American Community. Blue Eye received a Master’s of public health from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and a doctorate degree from the School of Public Health at Indiana University. The lecture is free and open to the public. The Cummings Center is at 73 S. College St.
New archaeology exhibit
On Friday, Oct. 7 from 5-7 p.m., Summit Artspace will host the Portage Path Community Archaeology Project curated by Stewards of Historic Preservation. The exhibition, which is open through Dec. 17, features archaeological artifacts, interpretive maps, text panels and artwork. Summit Artspace is located at 140 E. Market St.
As part of the opening, University of Akron history professor Kevin Kern will present a lecture, “White Visions of ‘Red men:’ Indians in Northeast Ohio Memory.”
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