About this Event
The story of generations of Ojibwe women who built a thriving Indigenous home in the urban heart of Minneapolis.
Minneapolis became home to White Earth Ojibwe people not through a centralized movement but through generations of determined, behind-the-scenes work by Ojibwe women. These women were organizing not in the streets, but in sewing clubs, churches, classrooms, and kitchens to bring people together and form interconnected communities. Rooted in care, tradition, and persistence, their labor laid the foundation for a thriving urban Indigenous population that continues to shape the city today.
An Ojibwe Home in the City tells the histories of Louise and Emily Peake, Winnie Jourdain, Ignatia Broker, and other Ojibwe women who endeavored to make space for Native families in South Minneapolis. From the 1930s through the 1970s, these women built institutions, secured services, and fought for culturally grounded education--all while working inside systems never intended for them. Their efforts led to the creation of vital community hubs such as the Division of Indian Work and the Minneapolis American Indian Center and helped ensure that future generations would stay connected to their culture, even in an urban setting.
Far broader than a local history, this book challenges what we think we know about Native activism in the twentieth century, shifting the focus from protest to perseverance and steady commitment. Intimate, compelling, and deeply grounded in community, An Ojibwe Home in the City is both a tribute and a revelation--an essential and personal account of how Indigenous women made a place for their people in a changing world.
Sasha Maria Suarez, direct descendant of the White Earth Nation of Ojibwe, is assistant professor of history and American Indian and Indigenous studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Brenda J. Child is Northrop Professor and former Chair of the Departments of American Studies and American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota, where she received the President’s Engaged Scholar Award. She was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2022-23, and a Nonfiction Judge for the National Book Awards in 2024. Child is the author of several award-winning books in American Indian history and recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Western Historical Association for her work in Indigenous History.
Her current book project, for which she received the Guggenheim Fellowship is The Marriage Blanket: Love, Violence, and the Law in Indian Country. Child is also the author of a best-selling bi-lingual book for children, Bowwow Powwow (2018), and Blue Bearies (2026). She has a new book about boarding school history for younger readers, In Our Own Words (September 2026).
Child was a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum of the American Indian-Smithsonian (2013-18). She was born on the Red Lake Ojibwe Reservation and was part of a committee to develop a new constitution for her nation. She lives with her husband, the Ojibwe artist Steve Premo, and her family in Saint Paul and Bemidji, Minnesota.
Event venue & nearby stays
Birchbark Bizhiw, 1629 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, United States
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