Steve Alexander of Monroe portrays Gen. George Armstrong Custer at Historical Society of Michigan banquet. William Johnson of Mt. Pleasant Wins State Historical Service Award
October 7, 2012
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The Historical Society of Michigan's annual conference in Monroe offered an amazing dichotomy.
There was a Gen. Custer re-enactor, Steve Alexander, entertaining a banquet crowd with his humorous interpretation of Custer's buffalo killing exploits.
Then there was a Native American who has dedicated himself to repatriating remains of his people receiving a top award.
It was perhaps a fitting meshing of the American military and Native Americans since Monroe is this year marking the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. The war, of course, involved Native Americans on both sides, including the famed Cherokee chief Tecumseh who was killed and whose name is honored in a city in southeastern Michigan.
For his role in preserving, protecting, and interpreting Michigan's Native American history and culture, William Johnson of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan was named the recipient of the Distinguished Professional Service award of the Historical Society of Michigan.
The award was presented at a weekend conference in Monroe attended by more than 250 persons. The War of 1812 and the recent designation of the River Raisin battlefield as a National Historic Park were the focus of the conference.
Mr. Johnson won admiration for his work that he described as a constant crusade to find and reclaim native remains and honor them with appropriate reburial rites. "Walking Them Home," the natives involved call it.
For the past decade, Mr. Johnson has served as the curator of the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways in Mt. Pleasant. Through his efforts, the center's excellence in exhibits and events has earned it numerous awards, including the 2006 Museum Award from the Michigan Cultural Alliance, the 2008 Harvard University's "Honoring Nations" Award, and a Gold Muse Award from the American Association of Museum's Media and Technology Committee.
In 2011, Johnson became the chairman of the Michigan Anishinabek Cultural Preservation and Repatriation Alliance. He worked as a coordinator of Flint's Stone Street Ancestral Recovery and Reburial Project, helping oversee the proper burial of more than 600 ancestral remains and 65,000 funerary objects that were inadvertently discovered during a construction project.
He has also worked with many Michigan museums and colleges to accrue and respectfully inter Native American remains that had been removed from their resting places.
Mr. Johnson serves on the Mt. Pleasant Indian Boarding School Committee. The Boarding School, which operated from 1879 until 1934, sought to educate Native American children but also had the darker purpose of "taking the Indian out of the child."
The committee is charged with preserving and transforming this site to become a place of awareness, education, and healing for our state.
The Lifetime Achievement Award recipients were James and Annette McConnell, who, since their marriage in 1990, have planned, promoted, and led hundreds of history tours, trips, conferences, workshops, classes, seminars, and lectures throughout Michigan, the Midwest, and Canada.
A former history teacher for Dearborn Public Schools and five area colleges, James made time to work on Michigan Historical Commission projects to celebrate the Michigan Statehood Sesquicentennial, the bicentennial of the American Revolutionary War, and the bicentennial of the United States Constitution.
After he retired, James and Annette found they had more time for history-based projects, which have included the Detroit 300 Tricentennial, walking tours of Detroit historic sites, and many exhibits and programs at the Detroit Historical Museum. They helped Dr. Philip Mason and the Wayne State University History Department plan, promote, and conduct the Annual Michigan in Perspective History Conference. This event, which recently moved to the Historical Society of Michigan, draws hundreds of registrants every year.
In the category of Distinguished Volunteer Service, the Society recognized Janet L. Kreger, who helped organize the Michigan Historic Preservation Network in 1981.
During Kreger?s tenure, the network has sponsored three generations of legislative amendments that have strengthened legislation establishing local protective ordinances and historic districts.
Janet was also involved in the 1999 legislation that resulted in 25 percent investment tax credits (ITC) for the costs incurred while rehabilitating historic properties. While the ITC was eliminated in 2011, during the 10-plus years it was in use, it leveraged $1.46 billion in direct rehabilitation activity, created 36,000 jobs, and created $11.37 in direct economic impact for every $1 of credit issued.
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