November is Native American Heritage Month, and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Native American Studies program is hosting two guest speakers to celebrate.
Brad Koldehoff, chief archaeologist for the Illinois Department of Transportation, will be on campus tomorrow, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. in Peck Hall, room 0312, to talk about tribal consultation and archaeology of the new Mississippi River Bridge project in East St. Louis.
“East St. Louis was a sister city to that great Native American metropolis, Cahokia Mounds,” said Dr. Julie Holt, SIUE professor of Anthropology. “Archaeological excavations in East St. Louis, in advance of bridge construction, uncovered a partial mound and remains of over 1,000 houses dating between AD 1000 and1250.
“The Osage, among other tribes, are believed to be descendants of the Cahokians, and have played a role in deciding the fate of this site.”
Next week, LaDonna Brown, historic preservation officer for the Chickasaw Nation, will be on campus to discuss historic preservation, archaeology and the Chickasaw Nation. Brown is enrolled in the Chickasaw nation and works at the Chickasaw Nation’s Department of Homeland Affairs in Ada, Okla.
“Much of the cultural resource work that LaDonna will talk about takes place in the Chickasaw homeland, which includes Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky,” Holt said. “The Chickasaw were forced to leave their homeland in the southeast and move to Oklahoma after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. That is, the Cherokee were not alone in their Trail of Tears.”
Brown will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13 in Peck Hall, room 0312. Her visit to SIUE has been generously funded by Native American Studies program departments of Anthropology, Historical Studies, Philosophy and Political Science, as well as the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Administration.