Boundless K-12 Curriculum: CONTINUANCE

Why does continuing the use of traditional knowledge matter?

Quillwork on a traditional birchbark book. The front cover reads "G.W.O. Ypsilanti" in purple-dyed quill. The back cover has a red heart in the center. Both covers feature a green wreath.
Andrew Blackbird (Makadebinesi) (Odawa, American, 1814-1908), Margaret Blackbird Boyd, binding and illustrations (Odawa, American, 1817-1892).

History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan: A Grammar of their Language/ Personal and Family History, The Ypsilantian Job Printing House, Ypsilanti, Michigan, 1887. Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Collection of Native American Literature E99.O9 B6 1887 c.2
A roughly cut out black and white photograph of an indigenous person with a blue line drawn around its perimeter.
Photography of Margaret Blackbird Boyd
From, The Crooked Tree: Indian Legends and a Short History of the Little Traverse Bay Region.
By, Wright, J. C.
Thunder Bay Press, 1917.

This birch bark book is decorated with quillwork designs by Margaret Blackbird Boyd and written by her brother, Andrew Blackbird. The book is about the history of their tribe.

In addition to being a very skilled basketmaker and quillworker, Margaret Blackbird Boyd was passionate about defending and preserving the land rights of her people.

As a teacher and artist, she spent a lot of her life passing along and sharing knowledge.

By embellishing this important book with an expression of a traditional art form, Boyd uses her quillwork skills for a different purpose than most artists did at that time. 

Detail of the quillwork by Margaret Blackbird Boyd
Detail of the quillwork by Margaret Blackbird Boyd
Detail of the quillwork by Margaret Blackbird Boyd
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What important messages are communicated through Boyd’s use of traditional knowledge of quillwork?

Think about it in relation to the subject of the book and her life’s work.

Learn More About Margaret Blackbird Boyd
overlapping concentric circles made by ripples in water.

Boundless K-12 Curriculum

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