Stay tuned to this page for updates. https://www.sni.org

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Check out the calendar below for Allegany activities for the month of January

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Seneca Allegany Elders Center:
Mon-Fri, 8:30am-7pm | Sat & Sun, 10am-3pm

Wini Kettle Senior Center:
Mon-Thurs, 8am-6pm | Fri, 8am-4pm | Sat, 10am-3pm

*These hours are temporary and will be increased once we return to normal staffing levels.

When visiting our Elder Centers, please remember that COVID safety protocols are still in place, including masks wearing for all, temperature checks, and social distancing. If you do not feel well, please stay home.

Upcoming Seneca Elder Entertainment:

Marie Osmond
Friday, January 21st @ 8pm Seneca Niagara Casino

Limited number of tickets available for enrolled Seneca Elders. Must sign-up in-person at Catt. or Alleg. AOA. For more information, please call: Irma Cortes at (716)523-5777 ext. 5513

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With love from your family!

Submitted by Gary Schindler

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Keagan Stanley Fox

on December 28th!

Love,

Mom and Family

(Submitted by Millie Fox)

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For New Year’s Day (Observed)

Have a safe & happy New Year!

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December 7, 2021 – Today’s #CanalConnection looks at Ely S. Parker. Parker was born in 1828 on the Tonawanda Reservation in Western New York to prominent members of the Seneca Nation, in which he was named Hasanoanda. Educated in a missionary school, Parker became fluent in both Seneca and English, a skill which eventually led to his association with early American anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan. Thanks to Morgan’s recommendation, he was able to gain admission to the prestigious Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a school founded in large part due to the Erie Canal, to study engineering. Following his time at RPI, Parker’s first job was as an engineer on the Genesee Valley Canal in 1849 and he continued working on New York State canals for approximately 6 years, serving as an engineer in the Rochester area right as the Erie’s enlargement was occurring. Eventually, Parker’s skill as a civil engineer led to a very successful career away from the Erie Canal, including overseeing the construction of a customs house in Galena, Illinois, where he befriended then store clerk, Ulysses S. Grant. A few years later that connection would serve him well, as now General Grant would call on Parker’s engineering prowess in 1863 for the critical Vicksburg Campaign, and he would remain on Grant’s staff until the end of the war. In fact, it’s the end of the Civil War that Parker is perhaps best known for, as it was he who drafted the articles of surrender signed by Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Courthouse. Following the war, Parker continued to be associated with Grant, serving as Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs during the Grant administration. Parker passed away in 1895 and is now interred in Buffalo’s Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Parker was one of thousands of Senecas whose lives were dramatically changed by the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. On December 11th we and the Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center invited people to learn more about how the Canal impacted the Seneca when Dr. Joe Stahlman, Director of the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum, virtually presented “The Erie Canal and the Western Door,” looking at this important topic.

Visit https://eriecanalmuseum.org/ for more information.

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November 30th, 2021 | volanteonline.com

Photo: A visiting nurse weighs an infant in the kitchen of a native household while the mother and several children look on, 1967. Credit: https://pages.uoregon.edu/adoption/topics/IAP.html

USD’s 69th Harrington Lecture was led by Beth Boyd, director and professor in the USD clinical psychology program, presenting “Mitákuye Oyás ‘iŋ (We Are All Related): Reflections to Learning to Become a Relative.”

The Harrington Lecture is an annual event featuring a USD professor established on campus within the College of Arts and Sciences. Featured speakers are recommended by a faculty committee. The lecture is based on the speaker’s scholarly work.

Boyd is a member of the Turtle Clan of the Seneca Nation and the USD Disaster Mental Health Institute (DHMI).

“I aspire to honor and respect the indigenous peoples who were forcibly removed from here and are still connected to this territory. By owning my part in their continued displacement, I am incorporating indigenous knowledge into my work and establishing meaningful reciprocal relationships with indigenous peoples and communities,” Boyd said

Boyd participated in the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest, the Presidential Task Force on PTSD and Trauma in Children and Adolescents, the Commission on Ethnic Minority Recruitment, Retention & Training and the Minority Fellowship Program Training Advisory Committee. She was also president of the APA Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race and the Society for the Clinical Psychology of Ethnic Minorities.

“Over the years, I’ve watched many of my colleagues reflect on liberal arts education, on what they’ve learned, the work they have done over the years, the contributions and their hopes about the future of their fields. And so I have also done a lot of reflection over this last year,” Boyd said.

Boyd said that looking through a lens of liberation psychology at the past fosters healing and awareness of inequality.

“Liberation psychology encourages empowerment, healing and transformation that fosters an awareness of discrimination and inequality, and fortifies individuals strengths. It affirms cultural identities and promotes change to attenuate human suffering and improve people’s lives in multiple contexts, including cultural-historical, gender, sexual orientation, socio-political, geopolitical and other intersecting factors,” Boyd said.

Boyd’s lecture covered the removal of Native children from their homes. Boyd said over 80,000 native children were separated from their families, and said some children were put into foster care, while others were put into residential schools.

“Between 1867 and 1990, thousands of Native American children were taken from their homes and families by the U.S. and Canadian governments. Most of them were taken to Indian residential schools,” Boyd said. “Both, regardless of where they were, had the same goal in mind: to assimilate Native American children into U.S. or Canadian society and to obliterate their familiarity with their native heritage.”

In 1958, the Bureau of Indian Affairs created the Indian Adoption Act in an atte mpt to assimilate Native children and end tribes, Boyd said. The act took Native children away from their families as they were adopted by white families. In 1966, the Adoption Resource Exchange, including private agencies and churches, took over. By the end of the 1970s, one-third of all Native children, estimated at 80,000 to 100,000 children, were separated from their families.

“No one by the late 1950s imagined a solution to the care of Indian children that involved strengthening Indian families and keeping Indian children in their homes. Most government officials deemed Native families inherently and irreparably unfit… Native American spirituality was outlawed at this period of time. It was not legal again until 1978. A child of someone who might have gone to jail for practicing traditional spirituality would be a reason for removal,” Boyd said

Native children were alienated from their culture and often did not have people to look up to within their culture, Boyd said.

“Many adopted families denied the children’s Indian heritage, a change that will change their children’s names and caused them to grow up in communities where they were few of or there were a few of any others who looked like them held similar beliefs, spoke the same language or shared the same culture,” Boyd said.

A study done in 2017 by the Centers for American Indian Alaskan Native Health at the Colorado School of Public Health found that native children adopted away from their families are more likely than their white counterparts to struggle with drug abuse, alcohol addiction, suicide, self harm and other mental health issues, Boyd said.

When the Indian Child Welfare Act was put into place, it set standards for child custody proceedings involving native children to be eligible for membership of federally recognized tribes, Boyd said.

“This came about because tribes started to understand how a large proportion of the children were affected by losing the tribes,” Boyd said. “There was a lot of pressure and congressional testimony documenting the devastating impact that this was having on native children, families and tribes.”

Gary Cheeseman, associate USD professor of curriculum and instruction and American Indian education, presented Boyd with a star blanket and ended the lecture with an honor song.

“This is an unbelievable woman… I am incredibly proud to be native and to be a colleague of hers,” Cheeseman said.

Boyd was born in 1958 and adopted at nine months of age.

“My mother and I lived with my grandmother and my great grandmother in Cattaraugus, one of the two Seneca Nation of Indians reservations in Western New York,” Boyd said. “I was removed from this home and went to several foster homes and the county orphanage. Around the age of three, I was adopted by my adoptive family, a couple who had not been able to have biological children.”

Boyd grew up with her adopted family on an island between Buffalo and Niagara Falls, a mile upstream from the falls, which was Seneca territory no longer in the possession of the nation.

There was a great deal of racism toward Native people in the area, Boyd said.

“All of these experiences made me hate that I was different, because all I really wanted was to fit in to belong and to be one of them, but I did not have the words to explain that to my family. I didn’t have the words to explain to them how this discrimination hurt me, and they did not have the experience to realize how I felt or helped me cope with it,” Boyd said.

In Boyd’s teen years, she was reconnected with her culture for a moment. She felt seen, Boyd said. She again felt seen when her son was born.

“In that moment, I understood what it felt like to be a relative,” Boyd said.

Again, in 1992 when Boyd first came to USD, she felt seen as a Native person.

“For many Native adoptees to process the socialization with white culture tends to produce a negative self image, limiting self concept, low self esteem and a lack of self love, so with all of that, how could you know how to become a good relative?” Boyd said.

The Lakota concept of wellness illustrated in the medicine wheel involves a balance between the natural world and the physical, spiritual and emotional world, along with the spiritual concept of the self, Boyd said. Separation from this causes communal illness.

“Healing in native ways is a communal process of rediscovering balance within self and the harmony between self, the Creator and the natural world in the context of family and community,” Boyd said. “In order to ask for help, I had to realize my connection to others, and accept the help of family and community. I had to recognize I am no more and no less than anyone else.”

Boyd said through the lens of liberation psychology, knowledge is anchored in lived experience and historical experience, and power dynamics of oppression can be challenged and the strength of marginalized and oppressed people can be recognized. This encourages personal agency and engagement in social justice, she said.

“A decolonial psychology would mean moving away from the assumption that the individual is the central unit of analysis in ways that overlook people’s social, economic and political context,” Boyd said. “It’s important to recognize these contexts from the oppression we experience and the healing we take part in… Who I am is relative to those around me.”

Source: http://volanteonline.com/2021/11/harrington-lecturer-reflects-on-indian-adoption-project/

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The Iroquois Genealogy Society held their Christmas meeting at the Allegany Casino in December 2021. It was well attended by about 18 people. A good visit was had by all. A Remembrance table was set up by Teresa Van Aernam and Jenny Logan (see picture below). A moment of silence was observed. An election of officers for 2022 was held and following are the new IGS officers:

President – Teresa VanAernam,
Vice-President – Arthur Hill,
Secretary – Marilyn Anderson,
Treasurer – Leatha Jimerson

Congratulations to all!

A big Nya:wëh to Marilyn Anderson for all her hard work for the past two years as President. We have had many changes the last two years because of the pandemic and not being able to meet in person. We adjusted by doing zoom meetings and doing research online.

We are also thankful to the following people: Teresa VanAernam for having the vision of establishing IGS, Jack Ericson for selflessly sharing his knowledge of genealogy and Iroquois people with us, Leatha Jimerson for being our public relations person, Wallace Ward for designing our website and together with Jack digitizing documents and making it available for everyone on the website. His technological expertise is worth millions and is done as a volunteer. Randy John for providing his knowledge of research and history. Art Hill for his research expertise which goes way beyond. Julie Jimerson and Debbi Hoag for their hospitality assistance for our in-person meetings. Last but not least, to our faithful attendees who without your interest and input we would be lost.

We look forward to 2022 which will bring us another opportunity to continue our research and enjoy the company of fellow genealogy devotees.

Our next IGS meeting will be March 10, 2022. We will be planning for next year over the winter months.

IGS wishes everyone a wonderful new year! The winter months are a good time to do research. Please check out our website: www.iroquoisgenealogysociety.org There are many resources available there. We will keep you updated on any information that pertains to family researching.

Stay safe and well! ~ Iroquois Genealogy Society

Iroquois Genealogy Society – “Celebrating the Legacy of our Ancestors”
Website: iroquoisgenealogysociety.org
Email: iroquois.genealogy@gmail.com

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December 09, 2021 | www.nhl.com/sabres

Carson Waterman was honored when the Buffalo Sabres contacted him to do a commissioned design that embodies his Native American roots.

The logo was featured throughout the Sabres’ first Native American Heritage Night presented by Seneca Resorts and Casinos against the Washington Capitals.

Waterman, a renowned Native American artist based in Salamanca, N.Y., knew he wanted to create a design featuring Native images specific to the area. The final logo is Waterman’s personal interpretation and just one of the many ways Sabres fans can hopefully learn more about Native American culture.

To commemorate Native Americans, specifically the Seneca Nation, Waterman utilized the colors of white and purple for the Sabres emblem and incorporated a realistic example of a headdress. Turkey, eagle and hawk feathers surround the logo.

“I focus on color a lot,” Waterman said. “People will comment to me that they know my work because of the color choices I have. When I paint, I save my paint, and then I use it and in other paintings, and then you end up with a lot of colors over time.”

All the nations in the Iroquois Confederacy – the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora – all have their own specific headdress. The single eagle feather at the top of the headdress represents the Seneca Nation.

“When our leadership chiefs spoke at our meetings, you could tell what nation they were from by their style headdress,” Waterman said.

Another critical aspect of the design are the long braids featured on each side of the logo.

“The braids coming down in white and purple are natural from the quahog clamshell. These shells came from the Atlantic Ocean and were brought to this land from trade with the Wampanoag Nation for different furs,” Waterman said. “When you break the shell into pieces, you select the purple and make a bead from it, and you choose the white and make a bead from it.”

Waterman has made it his mission as an artist to provide individuals with the correct illustrations of these headdresses through his pieces over the past 40 years. In the logo created for Native American Heritage Night, he sought to accurately portray the compact-style headdress used in much of his work. (Check out Carson’s website: https://carsonwaterman.webs.com/)

“Everything I’ve been doing has been reinforcing the correct elements of my culture,” he said. “Western Plain tribes like the Navajo and Zuni get their influences from designs on rattlesnakes, lizards, and flowers that grow on cactuses.”

Fans had the chance to bid on a limited edition print of Waterman’s design, which was autographed by the 2021-22 Buffalo Sabres team. (Refer to photo on the previous page) Proceeds benefited the Native Arts Collective (NACo). Fans also got a chance to purchase a limited edition long-sleeve T-shirt featuring Waterman’s Sabres design. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each shirt benefited the Native American Community Services of Erie & Niagara Counties, Inc.

Waterman and the Sabres connected through Waterman’s longtime friend and art connoisseur Dave Kimelberg.
Kimelberg, a fellow member of the Seneca Nation, who operates K Art, one of the few Native American-owned commercial art galleries. The gallery, located on Main Street in Buffalo, has featured Waterman’s past work, which includes deceptions of Seneca traditions, enforcing the proper versions of their culture.

After providing five rough sketches of the Native American Heritage Night logo to Kimelberg to submit to the team on his behalf, the two sides agreed on the current design.

“His style is so conducive to what the project is attempting to accomplish,” Kimelberg said. “Carson is an acclaimed Native and Seneca artist, so I knew what the potential of the project could be.”

The long-time friends are fortunate to be a part of the Sabres’ inaugural event. When fans see the logo for the first time, Waterman and Kimelberg hope it creates a bond between the Sabres and the Native American community.

“I think it’s great. I feel very proud that they would go out of their way to do this,” Waterman said. “Maybe this will start a trend of other teams in Buffalo embracing the Native American culture for it to continue to evolve. This experience has made me a pretty big Sabres fan, I can tell you that.”

Source: https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/sabres-unveil-custom-logo-for-native-american-heritage-night-carson-waterman-seneca/c-328787516

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