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Haudenosaunee Storyteller Teaches Iroquois History A Haudenosaunee Storyteller Taught Families in an Event on Monday

By Charles Marshall

(NAT SOUND: Car driving by)
CHARLIE MARSHALL: Perry Ground led families through an interactive story session at Marcellus Free Library in October. Children listened closely to stories of how the world and animals were created, according to Indigenous culture. Sophia Brandt organized the event. She says she chose Ground because a culture lives through its stories.

SOPHIA BRANDT: Well, storytelling isn’t just about just like a story — you do get to learn about culture. And, through storytelling, through the art of storytelling, you keep a culture alive.

MARSHALL: The library’s event fell on October 11, which President Biden officially recognized — by Presidential Proclamation — as Indigenous Peoples Day in the United States. Jake Widrick, the Director of the library, says he was pleased to see Biden’s proclamation. He says he hopes the library can continue to celebrate the day every year.

JAKE WIDRICK: I’m excited about Biden issuing his proclamation on Friday about Indigenous Peoples Day. I think this is a good step forward for our country. And hopefully today works out and future Indigenous Peoples Days will be productive and exciting as well.

MARSHALL: I also spoke with Phillip Arnold, pictured behind me right here, who is the president of the Indigenous Values Initiative. And he says with suicide rates epidemic among teens on Indigenous reservations, it’s especially important to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day because it gives them hope.

PHILLIP ARNOLD: It gives them some hope. You know, teenage suicide rate is epidemic on Native American reservations. You know, a lot of kids don’t have hope.

MARSHALL: Reporting in Marcellus, Charlie Marshall, N-C-C News.

MARCELLUS, N.Y. (NCC News) — On the United States’ first official Indigenous Peoples Day, Perry Ground, a storyteller from the Onondaga Nation, entertained a crowd of families with stories about the Iroquois Nation at the Marcellus Free Library.

Monday was the first official Indigenous Peoples Day in the United States after President Biden signed a proclamation on Monday marking Oct. 11 as Indigenous Peoples Day.

The Director of the Marcellus Free Library, Jake Widrick, said that he thinks President Biden’s proclamation is a step in the right direction — and he hopes Monday’s event is just the start.

“I’m excited about Biden issuing his proclamation on Friday about Indigenous Peoples Day,” Widrick said. “I think this is a good step forward for our country. And hopefully today works out and future Indigenous Peoples’ Days will be productive and exciting, as well.”

Sophia Brandt, the Youth Services Librarian at the Marcellus Free Library, organized the event with Perry Ground. She said she targeted a storytelling medium for the event and was lucky that Ground, an experienced storyteller, happened to be available.

“I took storytelling for my master’s degree, in library science,” Brandt said. “And I absolutely love storytelling, so I thought: why not find a storyteller and why not find somebody who can tell Native American stories? So I did a quick google search and I found Perry Ground.”

Brandt said Ground usually would have been too busy to attend, but due to a lack of events during the COVID-19 pandemic, he was available.

Ground led the children in the audience through interactive stories about Iroquois history and culture.

Phillip Arnold, the President of the Indigenous Values Initiative, said Monday’s event, and President Biden’s proclamation on Friday, is the culmination of work he and other Indigenous people started in 1992.

“For the last 30 years, Columbus has been derided by Indigenous Peoples in all of various kinds of cultural forms,” Arnold said. “But it wasn’t until this year of course that we had President Biden officially declaring that its Indigenous Peoples’ Day — but along with it being Columbus Day. So, in other words, we have the challenge of sorting out this dilemma.”

Arnold said 1992 coincided with the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in North America and it kickstarted a process in which less and less people were able to defend a “genocidal maniac.”

Arnold said current celebrations must acknowledge the past traumas inflicted on Indigenous people, but for now at least, Indigenous people have been given hope.

“A lot of kids don’t have hope,” Arnold said. “So, I think it gives them some hope that people care — people care about who they are and what happened to them.”

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