The Assassination of Hole in the Day - Hardcover

Treuer, Anton

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0873517792 ISBN 13: 9780873517799

Publisher: Borealis Books, 2010

Synopsis

On June 27, 1868, Hole in the Day (Bagonegiizhig) the Younger left Crow Wing, Minnesota, for Washington, DC, to fight the planned removal of the Mississippi Ojibwe to a reservation at White Earth. Several miles from his home, the self-styled leader of all the Ojibwe was stopped by at least twelve Ojibwe men and fatally shot.

Hole in the Day’s death was national news, and rumors of its cause were many: personal jealousy, retribution for his claiming to be head chief of the Ojibwe, retaliation for the attacks he fomented in 1862, or retribution for his attempts to keep mixed-blood Ojibwe off the White Earth Reservation. Still later, investigators found evidence of a more disturbing plot involving some of his closest colleagues: the business elite at Crow Wing.

While most historians concentrate on the Ojibwe relationship with whites to explain this story, Anton Treuer focuses on interactions with other tribes, the role of Ojibwe culture and tradition, and interviews with more than fifty elders to further explain the events leading up to the death of Hole in the Day. The Assassination of Hole in the Day is not only the biography of a powerful leader but an extraordinarily insightful analysis of a pivotal time in the history of the Ojibwe people.

“ An essential study of nineteenth-century Ojibwe leadership and an important contribution to the field of  American Indian Studies by an author of extraordinary knowledge and talent. Treuer’s work is infused with a powerful command over Ojibwe culture and linguistics.”

--Ned Blackhawk, author of Violence Over the Land: Indians and Empires in the  Early American West

Anton Treuer, professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University, is the author of Ojibwe in Minnesota and several books on the Ojibwe language. He is also the editor of Oshkaabewis Native Journal, the only academic journal of the Ojibwe language.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"The Assassination of Hole in the Day is a masterful history, and more. Anton Treuer illuminates the character of a controversial and charismatic Ojibwe leader from within Ojibwe culture, and tells a powerful story of loss that reverberates in the present." Louise Erdrich

From Booklist:

Treuer, professor of Ojibwa culture and language, became intrigued as a youngster with the stories surrounding the mysterious assassination by his own people of Ojibwa leader Bagone-giizhig (Hole in the Day). Relying on primary sources and extensive oral histories, Treuer explores the life and death of this brash young leader, and delves into tribal history and the intricate machinations of Ojibwa politics. After his father’s death in 1847, Hole in the Day the younger, at 19, inherited his father’s role as leader of the Gull Lake Ojibwa, boldly asserting his dominance over older, respected chiefs. He negotiated with white traders, both Catholic and Protestant missionaries, and the staff at the Indian agency, always knowing exactly when to forge friendships, lie, threaten, cajole, bully, and back down in his dealings with whites, the Dakota, and his own people. But his pride and bold ways led to his death in 1868, as he was leaving for Washington to renegotiate the unpopular Treaty of 1867. Treuer skillfully untangles some of the many threads leading to his untimely demise. --Deborah Donovan

About this edition

• Publisher: Borealis Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0873517792
• ISBN 13: 9780873517799
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320