Margaret Noodin, Professor

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Posted by Diana

Re: Margaret Noodin Ojibwe Professor
« Reply #90 on: March 25, 2022, 08:08:28 pm »

I went back and concentrated on her grandmother Margaret C Hill. And have found all relatives are white. I especially concentrated on the Canadian side of the family. Looked at old baptisms almost all in French and all were white.

I just want to say Canada keeps very good records on race, even back to the 17th century. In many instances they are much better and more accurate than the USA.

Again just to reiterate I found only white ancestry on Margeret  O'Donnell Noodin. Unless she can come up with undisputed proof that she has ANY INDIAN BLOOD this post stands as is.

Oh by the way I believe this person calling themselves Monplaisir is all over find a grave leaving memorials on the very French Canadian relatives I have been researching. I believe this is Margeret and she has been searching for 8 years.

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Posted by Diana

Re: Margaret Noodin Ojibwe Professor
« Reply #91 on: March 25, 2022, 08:21:03 pm »

Notice how all of her name dropping about the AIM creators are dead.(Trudell, Bellencort) How convenient. I tried to investigate her friendships with these historic figures and found nothing. If I remember correctly in other bios and writings of Margarets, she claimed she was very close to these people.(AIM) I would like for her to provide proof of this.

Quote from: WINative on March 25, 2022, 01:53:53 pm

Very interesting response from Margaret, I appreciate it, but she still doesn't come out clear and say I am Not Native American, my family didn't attend boarding schools, my parents and grandparents weren't (Pow-wow?) singers and dancers.
She talks about being a good ally at points but then proceeds to name-drop as to validate anything she has done. She appeals to the heart strings as a victim of malicious posters, I think if she were honest and say I am not Ojibwe at all, but I have learned it, and just want to help and I understand my place as a helper, it would have removed the need for any posts or research on her, and people would respect that.

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Posted by Noodin

Re: Margaret Noodin Ojibwe Professor
« Reply #92 on: March 27, 2022, 08:51:19 pm »

So, I'm really not one for confrontation and I have been hoping things would blow over on here but it might be helpful for me to say a few things. I can appreciate some of the questions people are asking and I would be happy to answer them myself. I know issues related to identity are important.

I thought maybe when I put a statement on my work website and my email was posted here, people would reach out to me directly and I sure hope anyone worried about my ancestry, ethnicity and life experiences will actually contact me but that hasn't happened yet.  I can't see who some of the most concerned forum members are in real life, but I think a few of you might be here in Milwaukee where I currently live. I would be happy to meet with anyone to answer questions if it would help us all get along.

In short, it's been a little painful watching some of the things posted and some of the questions asked so I am trying again to see if I can help clarify. I do teach Ojibwe which I heard around me as a kid growing up south of Minneapolis and in listening to stories of my own family came to believe is one of the languages to which we have a connection. As you have noted here, I also speak French and lived there for a time while in college, and have recently had the amazing opportunity to learn Irish. Many people have helped my family get closer to sorting out details of ancestry but early in my twenties it become obvious that there is not enough clarity regarding Indigenous ancestry for any of the current generation to become enrolled. And most importantly, given some of the advantages I've had, it has always seemed very important to not seek that. I am an American like many others who has a rich and complex family tree. The reason I kept learning, and now teaching, Anishinaabemowin, is because many friends and mentors in the Ojibwe community encouraged me to honor my own history and help preserve the language. The ancestry.com tree that was made public by someone other than me is not quite right. A few people are missing and there are some no longer with us. In particular, Elizabeth Meyers Bean's birth father Henri Lavallee. I may live long enough to understand exactly which part of the Great Lakes her family was from and I may one day have time to do research in Montreal, but until more information is uncovered what I have are family stories recorded by my relatives and other documents which are still not enough to place that family clearly on any roll. Because I was initially encouraged to research this branch of my family tree, and to help with language and cultural revitalization by people at Mille Lacs, Fond du Lac and Grand Portage, these are the communities I have remained closest to. There may still be connections, in particular with Grand Portage, that could be made, but I have always been very clear that I am not enrolled.  I still work with folks in all these places, and many other Anishinaabe nations, and would be happy to give you names if you would like references. Again, I do understand the need to confirm that I am not seeking to represent any nation and that my fluency and experience is what I say it is.

I have really tried throughout my life to stay in my own lane. My gift is song and language.  I have tried to learn and teach what I can to keep the cycle of knowledge going. I definitely don't come from a family of pow wow dancers and have made a point to never dance in contest pow wows. But if you'd like to see the first dress an elder helped me make way back in the late 1980s or hear about some of the many ways I've tried to support these traditions, I would be happy to talk about that or share pictures. It just doesn't seem like something to post here. As noted, many of my significant mentors and friends have walked on, but there are others who could confirm that I've had this same story for a long time - never enrolled - but honored to connect part of my past with efforts today.

I don't want to start any kind of back and forth debate and hope I have not offended anyone by trying to share my response to this nearly year-long conversation. Please, read my poems, my essays, my work on www.ojibwe.net. If you have questions, please email me directly, come talk to me in person and share a coffee. I'd like to keep honoring my own story and hope you can accept it for what it is.

Margaret O'Donnell Noodin     noodin@uwm.edu

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Posted by WINative

Re: Margaret Noodin Ojibwe Professor
« Reply #93 on: March 27, 2022, 11:54:30 pm »

Hi Noodin,
I appreciate the fact your on here to speak for yourself to all these allegations and documentation.
You have actually verified that all the family tree research that has been done by our members is accurate and correct and your are Not Native American at all. I think you have yet to say that though, since you start off saying you are not then go back to say you might be in each writing.
There is plenty of documentation in your own words going back over 10 years that you do claim Ojibwe blood and a cultural identity not your own.
The damage has been done, and it's too late for the "I don't know who I am so it's not my fault," speech.
You took over a Native American University office and turned it into a all white women's club to cater to your own ego and insecurities. You have misled students, the public, and community members as to your real lineage and intentions. You have taken up valuable educational and cultural space reserved for authentic Ojibwe speakers and Native American Historians. You are fishing for sympathy now that are your lies are becoming public and you cannot maintain the charade anymore.
The people know who you are now, and even if the university refuses to act on it the community can choose to.

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Posted by Smart Mule

Re: Margaret Noodin Ojibwe Professor
« Reply #94 on: March 28, 2022, 03:35:11 pm »

Hi Noodin,

Thank you for coming here and participating.

WINative cover a lot of what I wanted to say so I won't repeat what they covered.

It concerns me that while this is a community issue, that you would prefer to communicate about it in private. It also bothers me that your responses both on your work website and here read more like self-promotion than ownership. Finally, there is something unsettling about your ownership of ojibwe.net It seems as though you've done a whole lot of cultural data mining and you are profiting off of that with zero feelings of guilt or remorse.

SM

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Posted by educatedindian

Re: Margaret Noodin Ojibwe Professor
« Reply #95 on: March 28, 2022, 05:33:27 pm »

Quote from: WINative on March 27, 2022, 11:54:30 pm

You took over a Native American University office and turned it into a all white women's club to cater to your own ego and insecurities. You have misled students, the public, and community members as to your real lineage and intentions. You have taken up valuable educational and cultural space reserved for authentic Ojibwe speakers and Native American Historians.

This is an argument I've seen before and it's simply false. What makes it disturbing is that Natives repeat the same lie that white racists go on and on about.

No such thing as a "Native office" or "reserved for Native historians." No one gets an office or position or tenure or anything else "just for being Native." That's a myth spread by racists full of resentment who believe POC are inferior, who claim that POC are too incapable and couldn't do anything, esp get a job, without it being handed to them. There are no set asides, no quotas, no jobs reserved for NDNs or anyone else based on race, ethnicity, color, or nationality.

That's actually been explicitly illegal since the late 70s. It wasn't even widely done before then. What does happen on rezzes and in the BIA is that enrollment with a nation is taken into consideration for the sake of self governance. But universities don't do that, other than tribal colleges, nor should they.

Noodin didn't get her job based on being Ojibwe or not. She got it for being a fluent Ojibwe speaker. Big difference. Myself, Steve Russell, Angela Cavendar Wilson, Robert Warrior, Vine Deloria, and many other scholars far better than me, none of us got any position based on race etc. We got our jobs based on our training, teaching, and scholarship. Period.

Having said that, your point in the middle of an otherwise false claim, bizarrely take from believing white racists who hate us, is still true. Lying or being deceptive about your background makes a professor or anyone else less trustworthy.

And did you not notice the start of her earlier published statement? She stepped down. You won, but don't seem to realize it.

But I agree with SM that her owning or running Ojibwe.net is a problem. I think everyone would prefer the domain name be turned over to or the site at least mostly run by Ojibwe.

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Posted by WINative

Re: Margaret Noodin Ojibwe Professor
« Reply #96 on: March 28, 2022, 08:36:47 pm »

"When whistleblowers are subject to ridicule and harassment by race shifters and their defenders, the ridicule often takes the form of accusations that Indigenous critics are engaging in “lateral violence” and “jealousy.” Whistleblowers are disparagingly compared against the supposedly more talented, intelligent, accomplished, and superior race shifters. Thus, usually white race shifters and their defenders perpetuate racist civilizational discourses common in earlier centuries that portrayed Indigenous people as less evolved and therefore less deserving of their land, resources, and autonomy than the superior whites who sought to appropriate and control. Today, arguments that race shifters are superior seek to portray them as not only superior humans, but superior and more noble Indians who are more deserving of the wealth and resources they lay claim to and who are more qualified to speak on behalf of us. It’s a new twist on a centuries-long settler-colonial strategy, a final act of colonial theft of our very identities and the resources that accompany them."
Kim Tallbear

Thanks for pointing out your divided loyalties Educated Native, I don't see how you can defend this person? Your gonna shame me for not knowing how University hiring and policies work? You don't know what my community wants or needs. I think we would benefit most from her leaving the community entirely not just receiving a promotion to something higher in the University. I think we would benefit from her not working with our youth anymore at the Indian Community School. We would benefit from her not being the point person the media contacts on any subject dealing with Native Americans in Milwaukee.

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Posted by mackinackwe

Re: Margaret Noodin Ojibwe Professor
« Reply #97 on: March 29, 2022, 12:19:40 am »

When registering for this website it says, "You agree, through your use of this forum, that you will not post any material which is false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, adult material, or otherwise in violation of any International or United States Federal law."

How is this not harassment (most especially by WINative) that is happening here? It is certainly bullying and likely it is defamatory. Margaret has never claimed to be an enrolled member or misrepresented her identity.

Margaret has worked tirelessly for over 30 years to support Anishinaabemowin teachers, students, and interested community members. She has had a huge positive impact on the revitalization of the language. I am one of her partners on Ojibwe.net (which is a stand alone website that we pay for ourselves and is not affiliated with a university or tribal community) along with fluent elder, Alphonse Pitawanakwat. It is sickening to look at this thread.

The ugliness you have created here will never take away the beauty that Margaret has added to this world with her poetry, support of others (especially our elders and teachers), and tireless devotion to Anishinaabemowin revitalization.

-Stacie Sheldon and Alphonse Pitawanakwat

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Posted by Smart Mule

Re: Margaret Noodin Ojibwe Professor
« Reply #98 on: March 29, 2022, 12:45:41 am »

mackinackwe, she bold face lies. Watch this video that WINative posted https://aadl.org/node/370469 go to 2:46 "the tribe that we were enrolled in is the Minnesota Chippewa from Grand Portage". She states she never claimed status but she very much did. She also claims Metis from Montreal, I'm sorry but there is no such thing. I have barely looked into this issue (mind you she is only in research needed, not frauds) and I quickly found a lie. It's nice that she's done some good things but if she is lying to people how is that work beneficial? She is deceiving or has deceived the people she is supposed to be helping.

SM

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Posted by educatedindian

Re: Margaret Noodin Ojibwe Professor
« Reply #99 on: March 29, 2022, 03:16:14 pm »

Quote from: WINative on March 28, 2022, 08:36:47 pm

Thanks for pointing out your divided loyalties Educated Native, I don't see how you can defend this person? Your gonna shame me for not knowing how University hiring and policies work? You don't know what my community wants or needs. I think we would benefit most from her leaving the community entirely not just receiving a promotion to something higher in the University. I think we would benefit from her not working with our youth anymore at the Indian Community School. We would benefit from her not being the point person the media contacts on any subject dealing with Native Americans in Milwaukee.

And how would it benefit the community to have one less teacher teaching them Ojibwe? Would you also demand the nurse or doc at an IHS clinic has to be NDN, even if illnesses go untreated?

But apparently you've gotten your wish, the equivalent. One less teacher, and it's that much harder to hold onto the language. At ASU when I went there, they offered Dineh, Hopi, and O'odham. But they didn't demand enrollment cards from every teacher or student.

It might surprise you, but every single professor for my degrees was not an NDN. Some like Wilson, Donna Akers, and James Riding In were. Others like Don Parman and Peter Iverson weren't. Look them up. These white guys had records of accomplishment too. They also did quite a lot of good working with rezzes, activists, community groups, you name it. Iverson, until his recent passing, was one of the most respected names in Navajo Studies. There was a long list of tributes to him coming from Dineh.

And guess what? I also teach Western Civ and I'm going to be teaching African American History soon. They don't tell me I can't because I'm not white or Black. They recognize that'd be racist.

I will shame you for buying into and repeating a long time racist argument and lie, that NDNs and POC are just so inferior they have to have quotas to get a job. You absolutely should be ashamed of peddling such racism and naively falling for it.

I absolutely don't defend her telling falsehoods about her background, as SM just uncovered and others have, including you.

« Last Edit: March 29, 2022, 03:36:59 pm by educatedindian »

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Posted by educatedindian

Re: Margaret Noodin Ojibwe Professor
« Reply #100 on: March 29, 2022, 03:26:54 pm »

Quote from: mackinackwe on March 29, 2022, 12:19:40 am

I am one of her partners on Ojibwe.net (which is a stand alone website that we pay for ourselves and is not affiliated with a university or tribal community) along with fluent elder, Alphonse Pitawanakwat.

-Stacie Sheldon and Alphonse Pitawanakwat

Thanks for pointing that out. So two out of three people running the site are Ojibwe? That would make it similar to NAFPS since we also have non Natives here.

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Posted by Noodin

Re: Margaret Noodin Ojibwe Professor
« Reply #101 on: March 29, 2022, 04:13:30 pm »

Please note that while researching the branch of my family this forum seems to want to overlook, various individuals at Mille Lacs and Grand Portage have said to me that they thought there could be a connection.  I have acknowledged that but have NEVER claimed to be enrolled. I agree that I cannot and should not claim any enrollment status. However, I do not think I should be told to cease researching this branch of the family and ignore my family's narrative. I have been told by many elders to keep speaking and teaching the language. I have asked many communities what they needed and done EXACTLY what they asked. I wish you would research that or my fluency for a change.  The questions to be asked are: what knowledge do you hold? why do you hold it? what were you told to do with that knowledge? and how do you raise up Indigenous individuals and communities? WINative should explain who they are and who in Milwaukee says I have lied to them.  Many people here would say that I have repeatedly and regularly insisted for many years now that I am not enrolled and simply have a family narrative of Anishinaabe/Ojibwe ethnicity through the Hill-Lavallee branch. Please stop saying that I am lying.

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Posted by Smart Mule

Re: Margaret Noodin Ojibwe Professor
« Reply #102 on: March 29, 2022, 05:05:30 pm »

Noodin, I posted a time stamp of where you claim your family is enrolled. You. Said. This.

No one is saying you can't research your family. You should research you family and be able to back up claims with names that directly link you to descending from specific communities if you are claiming to be a descendant. Family narrative is a whole other thing. There needs to be proof to back up claims of ancestry, you know this. Otherwise it's just a story, a potential fairytale or potentially true. One simply can't go on narrative alone, that's why there is such an enormous problem with frauds (note - you are not listed in frauds), especially in academia. If your language skills are lauded by the community then great! Use those skills to help the community but don't present yourself as even a descendant if you simply don't know for sure. And please, don't push the eastern Metis narrative. It's incredibly damaging. Stop name dropping. Stop telling everyone how totally humble you are by doing this and that (because that's not really being humble now, is it). Own that you've messed up. Apologize authentically and make amends rather than making this about you.

I really don't care who WINative is. I respect their research over the years.

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Posted by Diana

Re: Margaret Noodin Ojibwe Professor
« Reply #103 on: March 29, 2022, 08:04:45 pm »

I went back again after Margaret mentioned another side of her family I did miss. Her great grandmother Lizzie Meyers was actually married to a William Bean. He appears to be the father of Margaret Hill her grandmother. Margaret Hill was born in 1907. As you can see by the marriage date 1906 and death 1907 Lizzie and William weren't even married a year before he died. And it appears she was left pregnant and a widow. I did read the obituary for William and it doesn't mention his wife Lizzie. I don't know if it was normal at that time early 21st century not to mention the deceased wife/widow??. I just don't know. Maybe there was bad blood between the family and Lizzie. We just don't know.

In 1909 she marries George Hill. And in the 1910 census this is where Lizzie and Margaret show up with George Hill.

I did look at William Bean's parents and again everyone is white. I will post their genealogy later. We are now going back to the early 1800s with William Bean's parents and still everyone is white.

 I don't know what Margaret is talking about. She keeps mentioning the Mille Lac and the Portage Tribes and she's some how related to them. Can you please show us the connection because I don't see it.

Lizzie Myers in the Massachusetts, U.S., Marriage Records, 1840-1915

Name:   Lizzie Myers
Age:   21
Birth Year:   abt 1885
Birth Place:   Canada
Marriage Date:   14 May 1906
Marriage Place:   Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA
Father:   
John H Myers
Mother:   
Agnes Lagunade
Spouse:   
William M Bean

William M Beanin the Massachusetts, U.S., Death Records, 1841-1915

William M Bean
Gender:   Male
Race:   White
Age:   26
Birth Date:   abt 1881
Birth Place:   Fitchburg, Massachusetts
Death Date:   18 Mar 1907
Death Place:   Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA
Father:   
Moses Bean
Mother:   
Cordelia Lapairsee
Wills and Probates:   
Search for William M Bean in Massachusetts Wills & Probates collection

Lizzie Bean in the Rhode Island, U.S., Marriage Index, 1851-1920

Detail Source
Name:   Lizzie Bean
Spouse:   George W Hill
Marriage Date:   4 Jan 1909

Margaret E Hall in the 1910 United States Federal Census
 
Name:   Margaret E Hall
[Hill]
Age in 1910:   3
Birth Date:   1907
[1907]
Birthplace:   Massachusetts
Home in 1910:   Providence Ward 8, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Street:   Sterling Avenue
Race:   White
Gender:   Female
Relation to Head of House:   Daughter
Marital Status:   Single
Father's Name:   George W Hall
Father's Birthplace:   New Hampshire
Mother's Name:   Lizzie M Hall
Mother's Birthplace:   Canada
[Canada French]
Neighbors:   View others on page
Household Members   Age   Relationship
George W Hall
35   Head
Lizzie M Hall
25   Wife
Margaret E Hall   3   Daughter
Harold G Hall
0   Son

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Posted by Noodin

Re: Margaret Noodin Ojibwe Professor
« Reply #104 on: March 29, 2022, 08:33:36 pm »

I sincerely apologize for making confusing statements over the years. This is not about me. I do not matter. I have learned a profound lesson about how important it is for me as a teacher of Ojibwe to make very clear I am not, and could never be enrolled. I hope this public statement can serve as an adequate apology for the hurt and frustration I have caused. I will ensure that all websites contain no implication of descendancy, ancestry or ethnicity. As noted, I have already hired a replacement at the Electa Quinney Institute. He is an enrolled member of a federally recognized nation. I will be sending resignation letters to all boards and organizations within a week.  They can then freely decide if an American speaker of Ojibwe is helpful to their organization.

@Diana - You seem skilled at genealogy. Lizzie's father was Henri Lavallee, her stepfather was John Meyers. I will refrain from mentioning anything publicly about them until I know more and will cease sharing the story she told about her sister attending boarding school until I can verify the school.