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The University of Michigan and Native Americans

The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, has a long, uneven history with American Indians. Today the university publicly avows that its very origins lie in a land grant obtained in Article 16 of the Treaty of Fort Meigs (1817). In 1972 the Native American Student Association was formed at the University of Michigan and the instruction of the Ojibwe language began. The university founded a Native American Studies program within the Program in American Culture in 1983, but only in recent years has it had the human and financial resources to make an impact on the campus. In 2002, the university formally dedicated a plaque on the central campus commemorating Article 16 of the Treaty of 1817, also known as the Treaty of Fort Meigs. The text of the plaque which can be found north of the Graduate Library and south of North University reads as follows:

This plaque commemorates the grant of lands from the Ojibwa, Odawa, and Bodewadimi through the Treaty of Fort Meigs, which states that 'believing they may wish some of their children hereafter educated [they] do grant to the rector of the Catholic church of St. Anne of Detroit..., and to the corporation of the college at Detroit, for the use of the said college, to be retained or sold, as the rector and corporation may judge expedient....' The rector was Gabriel Richard, a founder and first vice president of the corporation of the college, chartered by the territorial legislature as the University of Michigania in 1817. These lands were eventually sold to the benefit of the University of Michigan, which was relocated to Ann Arbor in 1837.

Today, many students and faculty are working together to revitalize Anishinaabemowin. At many events, the school song can be heard in both English and Ojibwe.

Listen to and learn the school song. Sung by Margaret, Shannon and Fionna Noori. Translated by Howard Kimewon.

Aanii bakinaagejig pane

Aanii bemnaagejig pane

Aanii Michigan

Aapchigwa nishiiwag niigaanzijig

Aanii bakinaagejig pane

Aanii bemnaagejig pane

Aanii Michigan

Nitaa daminowag pangiishimag!