Fond du Lac Reservation Logo
Introduction
It’s been many years since I drew the Fond du Lac
Reservation logo. I remember very well, all the thought and meaning
that I tried to place inside that circle. I also remember that the
actual pen and ink drawing took over a month to conceive and draw on
paper. But, to better explain the logo, I should really start from
the beginning.
It was during the summer of 1981, the RBC decided
that the Reservation needed a logo to place beside the letterheads
of every official document that the Reservation sent out. I honestly
didn’t even know what a logo was when I first heard about it.
At that time, I was a carpenter for the Indian
Action Team, which was really a farce, because…even though I was
issued a hammer, I never used it. I had been a mechanical draftsman
in Minneapolis, MN; where I learned to use the pen and ink. So, what
I did for the Indian Action Team was draw houses and buildings. Even
though the pay was terrible ($92.00 every 2 weeks), I loved my work
because it allowed me to work with my friends, and…for my people.
There, at work, was where I met Kitty Thomas a
VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) worker. We hit it off right
away because we both were interested in art. Kitty explained what a
logo was, and I decided to go for it. Kitty was a professional
artist who worked for the Reservation trying to put together an
Archive Department. Anyway, she noticed my drawings and took an
interest in what I was doing. I used to love to doodle during my
lunch hour with my pens. She could never understand how a guy like
me could make a drawing so detailed with a pen and ink.
I should also explain that before I worked for the
Reservation, in the early 1970’s, I attended school. My original
plan was to become a Mechanical Engineer, but…once I got involved in
Indian Studies, I never got out of it. I attended school in a number
of states, and…the more I learned about Indian Studies, the more I
wanted to learn.
Finally, I got tired of being broke all the time,
so…I moved back to the Rez. There wasn’t any housing available
during that time, so…I lived in a tent. I took just about any job
that was available on the Rez . These usually were jobs that none
else wanted. I always had an odd way of looking at any job. I
figured that as long as I had to work, why not make it fun?
That was my frame of mind when I decided to draw
the Fond du Lac Reservation logo. I wanted to give to my people
something that I would be proud of, something that I would see every
day of my life. I wanted to draw something full of meaning and yet,
something that would explain, who we were as a people, where we came
from, and…where we are today.
When I look up and see our flag blowing in the
wind, my heart soars like an eagle, because I know that I designed
it. I just hope that the Fond du Lac people are as proud of it as I
am.
top
The
meanings behind the symbols
If you look at our logo, you will notice that the
whole design is in a circle. Look closer and you’ll see that it is
actually a war shield. Notice the four feathers hanging down, and
the two hair ties.
Look at the inner circle and see the four winds
design with the arrowhead partially covering it.
Then, look at the arrowhead. Can you see the
figure eight? Can you see a map of the Fond du Lac Reservation
within the figure eight? Did you notice the flames surrounding the
arrowhead?
And then, look at the colors, the black, white,
red and yellow. Look at the green and blue surrounding the circle.
All these symbols and colors have meanings. There
is not a line in that design that doesn’t mean something. Everything
stands for something. A lot of thought went in to that design.
After I tell you what the designs and colors mean,
you’ll understand why it took me a whole month to finish the logo.
top
The Circle
Everything in nature is a part of a circle, the
smallest atom, the earth, the sun, the moon, even the universe.
Everything natural comes in a circle. We, the Anishinaabe, know
this, we understand this, and we respect this.
Look at the waters of the earth. The rain comes
down to become small pools of water. These smaller pools merge to
become a part of a bigger pool. These bigger pools come together to
eventually form a stream that flows into a bigger stream. These
bigger streams flow together, to eventually become a river, which
will flow into the sea. The heat from the sun will evaporate the
water, and…eventually the evaporated water falls back to earth as
rain or snow. This process is repeated over and over again.
The Anishinaabe know this, and…realize that
everything in nature is a part of the circle of life.
top
The War
Shield
But, if you’d look closer at the circle in our
logo, you’ll notice that it forms a war shield. This war shield
symbolizes the continuing fight our ancestors fought ever since we
began our migration away from “the moon shaped island, in the fresh
water river that flowed into the Great Salt Waters” to where we are
today, in the land where the food grows on top of the water.
Inside the outer circle is another circle divided
into four equal pieces. These are colored black, white, red and
yellow. White is for the north, for the white snow that cleans the
earth, and in turn gives us strength. Red is the east, for the sun.
Yellow is for the south, for the heat that ripens our staff of life,
the corn. And, Black is for the west, towards where we walk when we
die.
These colors also stand for the four races of man.
Surrounding the inner circle is an outer circle of
blue on top, and green on the bottom. Originally, the border circle
was supposed to be green and the rest of the background was supposed
to be sky blue. These blue and green colors also represent the Mide’
wiwin, the Grand Medicine Society.
top
The Eagle
Feathers and the Hair-ties
The four eagle feathers are symbolic of the four
winds, and…the four directions. The eagle feathers are a very
symbolic in Indian Country, because the eagle carries our prayers to
the Creator.
The two hair-ties stand for Mother Earth and
Father Sky, because without their help, this world would not be as
we know it.
top
The
Arrowhead
On top of the inner circle is an arrowhead. This
arrowhead (projectile point) symbolizes the hundred-year war that
our ancestors fought against the Dakota (Sioux) and their allies,
the Fox, for control of this region. This is the region that was
talked about in the Prophecies of the Seven Fires as the place where
food grows on top of the water. This area was the end of our
journey. Also, this area is known today as the Arrowhead Region. I
would like to say that I envisioned the arrowhead as being colored a
deep blood red to symbolize the blood that was bled, and spilled,
along the trail to where the food grows on top of the waters.
top
The
Eighth Fire
If you look inside the arrowhead, you’ll see an
eight. If you look around the arrowhead, you’ll see flames. This is
a symbolic way of saying the Eighth Fire.
It was said that out of the ashes of the Seventh
Fire, the Eighth and final Fire will be lit and a new people will
emerge. I don’t know if we are those new people yet, but sometime
soon, we will be. We are already actively trying to find those gifts
that were left along the trail.
By the way, the flames themselves were my
rendition of some of Carl Ray’s artwork. Carl Ray was an artist from
the Sandy Lake Cree Reserve in Canada. I still love his style of
drawing, and I did have a chance to meet him in person, and I
watched him draw, not long before he was called into the Spirit
World.
Inside the arrowhead is a rough map of the Fond du
Lac Reservation, with each star representing the three Districts,
Cloquet being District I, Sawyer being District II, and Brookston
being District III.
Established by the Treaty of 1854 is pretty well
self-explanatory. The Fond du Lac Reservation, as well as the Grand
Portage Reservation and Bois Forte (Net lake) Reservations in
Minnesota were established by the Treaty of 1854. The 1854 Treaty
laid the ground work that led to the establishment of many of the
Chippewa Reservations in Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan.
top
NAH-GAH-CHI-WA-NONG
According to an old, old letter that I found in
our old Archives collection of the early 1980’s, the Fond du Lac
Reservation was referred to as Nah-gah-chi-wa-nong. In the Ojibwe
Dictionary the word Nagajiwanaag referred to historic, old Fond du
Lac. This word Nagajiwanaag was talking about the old Fond du Lac
Village area, located beside the St. Louis River (Gitchie gami zibi),
below the end of the Grand Portage, at the end of the Lake. But, of
course, this could be just the same name in different dialects? Our
language dialects are a little different from Rez to Rez. Anyway,
the Archive letter was from someone that lived in western Minnesota,
sent to someone that lived here on the Fond du Lac Reservation.
Fond du Lac Reservation is pretty much
explanatory. Fond du Lac, in French, means the end of the lake.
I would recommend that everybody interested in our
history to read the “Prophecies of the Seven Fires,” and…the William
Warrens book; “The History of the Ojibwe Nation.”
by Le Roy DeFoe/Obsib biniss
Cultural Resource Specialist
FDL Resource Management
top
