Maude Kegg

Maude Kegg (Ojibwa name Naawakamigookwe, meaning "Centered upon the Ground Woman"; 1904–1996) was an Ojibwa writer, folk artist, and cultural interpreter. She was a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, located in east-central Minnesota.

Background

She was born as Maude Ellen Mitchell during the Manoominike-giizis (or "Ricing Moon"), which occurs in August, in 1904 in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, to Charles Mitchell, a member of the non-Removable Mille Lacs Indians of the Adik-doodem, and his wife, Nancy Pine.

Due to the death of her mother either in childbirth or soon afterwards, Maude Mitchell was raised by her father and her maternal grandmother, Margaret Pine, (also known in Ojibwe as Aakogwan).

Maude chose her own birthdate as August 26 since the exact date of her birth was not known.

Marriage

She married Martin Kegg in 1920 in a traditional Indian manner, and, again in 1922 in a church or religious ceremony.

Honors

Minnesota Governor Rudy Perpich honored Maude by declaring August 26, 1986, as "Maude Kegg Day" for the State of Minnesota. In 1990, she was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in recognition of her work.

Death

She died in January 1996, aged 91.

Bibliography

• Gabekanaansing = At the end of the trail: memories of Chippewa childhood in Minnesota with texts in Ojibwe and English. University of Northern Colorado (Greeley, CO: 1978).
• Nookomis Gaa-Inaajimotawid: What My Grandmother Told Me with texts in Ojibwe (Chippewa) and English. Bemidji State University (Bemidji, MN: 1990).
• Ojibwewi-Ikidowinan: An Ojibwe Word Resource Book. Minnesota Archaeological Society (St. Paul, MN: 1979). Edited by John Nichols and Earl Nyholm.
• Portage Lake: memories of an Ojibwe childhood. University of Minnesota Press (Minneapolis: 1993).

See also

• List of Native American artists
• List of Native American writers
• Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas

References

• "Native American Authors Project: Maude Mitchell Kegg (Naawakamigookwe, Middle of the Earth), 1904-1996", URL accessed 08/02/06
• Buffalohead, Roger and Priscilla. Against the Tide of American History: The Story of Mille Lacs Anishinabe. Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (Cass Lake, Minnesota: 1985).

External links

• Example of Maude Kegg's beadwork
• "Kegg's legacy lies in cultural appreciation", The Minnesota Daily
• "Maude Kegg, Naawakamigookwe", Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers of Color
• "1990 National Heritage Fellow", Lifetime Honors: National Endowment for the Arts