Please see the attached press release to learn more about Bridging Michigan, our new event series and grant opportunity that will spark in-depth conversation and action around the persistent social, economic, and cultural issues of systemic inequities that divide our communities. The grant application is open, and funding of up to $1,500 per grant is available now.

If you are free this Thursday, 9/3, at 7 p.m., please join us for our next Bridging Michigan online event featuring Eric Hemenway and Matthew L.M. Fletcher in conversation about the history and current state of Native mascots. You can register directly here, and please feel free to spread the word to your community members. More details about the event with Eric and Matthew are included below, on our website, and at the registration link.

On Thursday, September 3, from 7 to 8 p.m. (EDT) join Michigan Humanities for a free, online conversation featuring Eric Hemenway and Matthew L.M. Fletcher (bios below) in dialogue about the history and current state of Native mascots.

Event attendees will receive a link to the event after registering, and will have the opportunity to submit questions for Eric and Matthew on the registration form and during the Q&A portion of the online, webinar-style event.

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Matthew L.M. Fletcher is Foundation Professor of Law at Michigan State University College of Law and Director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center. He sits as the Chief Justice of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians Supreme Court and also sits as an appellate judge for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, the Hoopa Valley Tribe, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians, the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska, and several others. He is a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, located in Peshawbestown, Michigan. Professor Fletcher is the primary editor and author of Turtle Talk, a leading law blog on American Indian law and policy.

Eric Hemenway

Eric Hemenway is an Anishnaabe/Odawa from Cross Village, Michigan. He is the Director of Repatriation, Archives and Records for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indian, a federally recognized tribe in northern Michigan. Eric works to collect and preserve historical information for LTBB Odawa. That information is used to support the LTBB government and create educational materials on Odawa history, such as: exhibits, signage, publications, presentations, curriculums and media. Eric has worked on numerous repatriations of native, human remains under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). He is a former member of the NAGPRA Review Committee and emeritus board member for Michigan Humanities, and currently sits on boards for the Michigan Historical Commission, Michigan Historical Society, and Little Traverse Conservancy.