Perspectives from the Bad River W.P.A.: Ojibwe Labor and Treaty Rights Struggles in the Early Twentieth Century

Between 1936 and 1942 ten Ojibwe workers from the Bad River reservation in northern Wisconsin were hired under the Works Progress Administration to record and write about “Chippewa Indian Folklore.” However, the results of the project extended far beyond this theme.  In over 300 essays, the writers recounted the history of their community and told their own personal stories to create a rich picture of life at Bad River.

What stands out in these essays is the extent to which the writers discussed their treaty rights and the labor these rights entailed.  Their concern was rooted in the long history of Ojibwe struggles to exercise these rights in the face of state encroachment on their sovereignty. In treaties negotiated in 1837 and 1842, Ojibwe leaders reserved the rights to hunt, fish, and gather on lands ceded to the United States as a means of ensuring their future economic survival as well as remaining in their homelands and retaining their political autonomy.  However, treaty rights increasingly came under assault in the early twentieth century when the Wisconsin government implemented fish and game laws to control and conserve all natural resources within state borders.  In the process, state officials claimed that tribal sovereignty stood in the way of their efforts, and they criminalized Indian labor practices.  By the 1930's, Ojibwes struggled to make a living in the midst of the Depression and the inability to perform labor that had otherwise sustained their communities in hard times.

Drawing from the stories of the Ojibwe writers employed under the project, this paper explores how labor and tribal sovereignty were intertwined through treaty rights. It illustrates how Ojibwes not only saw treaty rights as vital to their economies, but also a critical component of their sovereignty and self-determination as a tribal nation.