The day after Thanksgiving has been designated as Ho Chunk Nation Day in Madison. Alder Denise DeMarb fought back tears as she read a resolution that detailed the tribe’s struggles.
“Beginning in 1849, the federal government began a series of attempts of forcible removals, the Ho-Chunk were rounded up and put into boxcars to move the Ho-Chunk from their Wisconsin territory to Iowa, then Minnesota, still later to South Dakota and finally in Nebraska, leading to mistrust and conflict with a dominant government society.”
“The Ho-Chunk returned on foot to Wisconsin to live as refugees on their former homelands, and in 1875, those in Wisconsin were allowed to settle on lands that were not wanted and are the only tribe in Wisconsin for whom no reservation was ever formally established.”
The vote was unanimous to make the 4th Friday of November as Ho Chunk Nation Day.
WIBA
