UWM Planetarium Illuminates Indigenous Voices, Culture, and Star Stories

What do we see when we look up at the night sky? Do we automatically remember the stories and voices of the past? These stories speak of traditions, adventure, and lessons that Indigenous cultures have passed down for generations. The stories of the stars and the languages that share them are precious, not only for the sharing of education now but for that of future generations.

On the evening of November 15th, UW-Milwaukee’s Manfred Olson Planetarium hosted Indigenous Voices, a light show featuring languages, star connections, traditional music, and cultural images of six Wisconsin Nations: Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Ojibwe, Oneida, Potawatomi, and Stockbridge-Munsee. Members of each nation developed the show in 2018.

According to its co-sponsors, the program aims to share cultural aspects of Indigenous peoples, preserve their perceptions of the sky, and educate the public about Native American Culture present today in the community.

It is essential to acknowledge that in Milwaukee, we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, and Menominee homeland along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s most extensive system of freshwater lakes. These freshwater lakes, The Great Lakes, are where the Milwaukee, Menominee, and Kinnikinnic rivers meet, and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida, and Mohican nations remain present.

When we think of the stories the night sky tells, many will connect Greek astronomy to modern-day idealized stories, the stories often thought about when we look up, as Greek astronomers did when mapping the night sky. But those ancient Greek and Babylonian stories aren’t the only stories that ancient cultures used to map and navigate the skies.

Dr. Jean Creighton, NASA Airborne Astronomy Ambassador, and the Director of the Manfred Olson Planetarium, presented the evening. She led the audience through the explanation of different Nation languages and the strong stories they hold. The projectors illuminated the dome above with bright stars, with Creighton enthusiastically keeping the audiences engaged and connected to the experience.

Dr. Creighton was born in Toronto, Ontario, and grew up in Athens, Greece. She studied physics at the University of Athens. Creighton earned a master’s degree from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Waterloo. She began teaching astronomy at UW-Milwaukee in 1999.

There were two showings of the presentation that evening, with the first showing selling out ultimately. Upon walking into UWM’s Physics building, volunteers warmly greeted attendees at the door, retrieving and distributing their tickets. When 8 p.m. rolled around, a line formed into the Planetarium, with each audience member dropping their little blue ticket into the ticket box and welcomed into the space. 

Inside the Planetarium, circles of reclining chairs fan outwards, all centered around the first original 1964 telescope used there. A relic of the past used to study the same night skies we look up to today.

Through movie and video clips of PBS films, the Indigenous Voices light show highlights the perspective of Wisconsin’s Native American nations, who are reclaiming their indigenous sovereignty by telling these individual stories. Each nation has a distinct cultural connection with the sky, stars, and constellations. Audience members heard pieces of language, saw projected cultural images, and learned the history associated with those nations.

The first half of the presentation spoke on the various nations located in Wisconsin, as well as the languages they speak. One of the languages presented in the Indigenous Voices show was that of the Oneida Nation. Oneida is a Native American language of the Iroquoian family. According to the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, Oneida relates to the other languages of the League of the Iroquois (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora). This group is known as the Five Nations Confederacy or Haudenosaunee and is more distantly related to Cherokee and several languages no longer spoken, such as Huron.

Emma Thomas, 21, is a fourth-year UW-Milwaukee student majoring in biomedical imaging and is an enrolled tribal member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. Studying the language of the Oneida Nation at UWM, Thomas speaks on the importance of learning and carrying on the language to future generations. “It is important for indigenous youth to learn and remember every word because it keeps the Oneida language alive,” Thomas says.

“For Oneida and me, the Oneida language is a part of the revitalization of our rich and painful history. Oral traditions are also a primary means to communicate knowledge and histories across generations. Maintaining native languages is a large part of reserving and revitalizing.” Thomas continues. “However, the challenge is primarily due to the U.S. government. Policies and practices that were in place for hundreds of years such as genocide, dislocation, and family or community separation via mandatory boarding school attendance, where peaking native languages were prohibited.”

The Oneida language has extensive oral literature of ceremonial speeches shared with the other Confederacy nations and a wealth of stories. “Learning the language provides all children with unique opportunities to learn about cultural identity and heritage. Studying the language allows indigenous nations to maintain their connections with their ancestors, land, and law and keeps the language alive.” Thomas states.

“For me, it’s important because it’s the idea of the revitalization of our language and heritage because it is endangered,” Thomas says. UW-Green Bay states that there are no more than two dozen fluent speakers of the Oneida language across Wisconsin and a handful more in New York and Ontario.

This month, Emma was elected class president of her radiologic technologist program. After completing her program, Emma dreams of representing the Onieda tribe by working on the Onieda Reservation at their healthcare facilities. She also plans to continue her academic journey and connect deeper to indigenous culture through the study of culinary arts, with hopes of one day opening an Indigenous restaurant. 

The event was co-sponsored by the Electa Quinney Institute (EQI) and UW-Milwaukee’s American Indian Studies department. The Electa Quinney Institute for American Indian Education was inspired by Electa Quinney, a Stockbridge Munsee Mohican, and Wisconsin’s first teacher; the focus of the institute is to strengthen and celebrate American Indian education at the local, regional, and national levels with solid connections to indigenous teaching practices around the globe.

On the same night of the planetarium event, EQI held their alternative meal, where faculty and students come together annually to connect and offer a warm and welcoming environment. With lines of food piled onto tables on the second floor of UW-Milwaukee’s Merril Hall, anyone is welcome to come to share in food and conversation.

“The Electa Quinney Institute for American Indian Education exists to provide education opportunities about indigenous people but also for indigenous people,” Maurina Paradise says. “Our mission is to provide opportunities for them to be the scholar and not just the studied.”

EQI’s Finance and Operations Manager, Maurina Paradise, speaks on recognizing these stories as a part of indigenous culture. Paradise, who teaches Introduction to American Indian Studies at UW-Milwaukee, started working at UWM in 2012 and teaching in 2015. After a few years away from UWM, Paradise returned to the Milwaukee campus just this year.

Paradise shared that early in the semester, she and her students discuss star stories, and she asks what stories her students may know about constellations. One student mentioned the Greek zodiac as a mode of constellation storytelling they are familiar with. Paradise challenges these ideals, “We live in The Great Lakes, so why don’t we know the stories that came from people who have lived under the stars here?” Paradise said.

“Every culture of the planet has stories and lessons related to the heavens,” Paradise says. “All of humankind has spent some big portion of our time and existence pondering our place in the universe, looking at the sky and seeing how it moves, the changes and the patterns.”

UW-Milwaukee’s Manfre Olson Planetarium is in the Physics building off of East Kenwood Blvd. The Planetarium strives to showcase the beauty of the night sky and the wonders of the cosmos through live, interactive programs that engage audiences in entertaining, innovative, and accessible ways. Opening its doors in 1966, the Planetarium has been a center of many community and university events. The space is named after Manfred Olson (1903-1966), a physics professor at UW-Milwaukee from 1931 to 1963.

The Planetarium continues to show educational and entertainment productions with the UW-Milwaukee student body and Milwaukee community members. The next show is Colorful Nebulas, a live interactive show where audience members can witness the birth and death of stars and the breathtaking beauty of interstellar stars—running on the first three Fridays in December at 7 p.m. $6 General Admission, $5 for UWM students, and free for UWM Planetarium Members https://uwm.edu/planetarium/