The following posters were created for the 2025 Amplifying Indigenous Narratives Educational Summit held in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Summit was the culminating event for a grant-funded project, Amplifying Michigan Indigenous Histories & Cultures. The project aimed to build educator capacity to teach the fullness of American history through learning to center Michigan Indigenous voices, experiences, and narratives through a framework of inquiry that will support deep student learning.

Ojibwe author Angeline Boulley was the keynote speaker for the Summit. Boulley has worked to improve education for Indigenous children. Her debut work, Firekeeper’s Daughter, was named one of the top 100 young adult novels of all time by Time magazine. It was also a New York Times best seller, and won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel in 2022.

Essay by poster artist, Stacie Sheldon

This poster is meant to share some special things about the way we exist in this world. Right now, it’s summer, and we are on Anishinaabe Akiing—Anishinaabe Land.

And with us for the Summit is Angeline Boulley, who has shared the Seven Grandfather Teachings with the world in her beautiful debut novel, FireKeeper’s Daughter. So at the heart of the poster are the Seven Grandfathers, represented as seven stones. These teachings are:

1. Zaagi’idiwin (Love)
2. Minaadendamowin (Respect)
3. Aakode’ewin (Courage or Bravery)
4. Debwewin (Truth)
5. Gwayakwaadiziwin (Honesty)
6. Dibaadendiziwin (Humility)
7. Nibwaakaawin (Wisdom)

These teachings from our ancestors guide us in what it means to live a good life.

Then I thought of all the educators I have met and of all the young people. And I remembered a quote from Ojibwe artist and teacher, Isaac Murdoch, of Serpent River First Nation.

He said, “Take young people on the land and get them feeling really good and proud. That will help protect them. The trees watching over them, the clouds, they will get to know these kids. Then they will be well looked after. Even the stars. Take them out under the stars. The stars will look at them and say oh these kids are back, I like these kids. They’ll look after them. They’ll protect them. Things like that really help. It is not a fable or a fairy tale. These things really do work.”

These things brought me to the designs you see today.

In Ojibwe cosmology, the patterns on the back of the loon—maang—are believed to mirror the starry sky, so loons appear here to reflect that connection. They will look over the children.

The constellations shown are Ojibwe constellations visible at this time of year, during Manoominike Giizis, the Ricing Moon, or August. These include Ojiig (Fisher), Maang (Loon—with Polaris within it), and Ajijaak (Crane).

The fireflies—waawaatesiwag—light up the sky like stars, echoing their glow.

In the river, the fish live in relationship with the trees along the banks. The salmon and cedar, in particular, share an important bond—cedars are nourished by the salmon when they enter the rivers to spawn. The hearts and lines drawn on the fish are their heart lines or spirit lines, symbols that show we recognize and honor their spirit.

And lastly, the quote by Richard Wagamese-ba. The “ba” means he has walked on. He wrote:

“Magic’s born of the land and the ones who go places in life are the ones who take the time to let that magic seep inside them. Sitting there, all quiet and watching, listening, learning. That’s how the magic seeps in.”

Richard was a very beloved Ojibwe author. At the age of two he and his siblings were abandoned in the woods in Ontario. They found their way out when they were hungry. At the age of nine Richard was adopted by a family that refused to allow him to maintain contact with his First Nations heritage and identity. The beatings and abuse he endured in foster care and in his adoptive home led him to leave at 16. Richard ended up living on and off the streets and spent some time in prison and then began to shelter in libraries where he loved to read. At the age of 23, Richard found his family and reconnected with his heritage. After he recounted his experiences to them, an elder gave him the name Mushkotay Beezheekee Anakwat – Buffalo Cloud – and told him that his role was to tell stories.

And he did! He is well known for his book Indian Horse which was adapted for film. The quote on this poster, though, comes from his debut novel, Keeper’n Me. The book is about the redemptive power of community and tradition.

And this quote tells of how the land can give us what we need to know how to live. The Ojibwe word for magic is manidoowiziwin. It has in it, manidoowi = to be spiritual, or magical, or to find magic. We are all spirit, we are all magic, we just have to let that seep in.

Richard also once wrote: “All that we are is story. From the moment we are born to the time we continue on our spirit journey, we are involved in the creation of the story of our time here. It is what we arrive with. It is all we leave behind. We are not the things we accumulate. We are not the things we deem important. We are story. All of us. What comes to matter then is the creation of the best possible story we can while we’re here; you, me, us, together. When we can do that and we take the time to share those stories with each other, we get bigger inside, we see each other, we recognize our kinship – we change the world, one story at a time.”

This poster is about just that – seeing each other, recognizing our kinship, finding the spirit, the magic, letting the land and water and sky tell us how to be. Leaving behind the best possible story. Let’s all do that today and everyday. Mi’iw! That is all.

These posters were created through a collaborative effort between Sault Ste. Marie tribal member and Ojibwe.net co-founder Stacie Sheldon, and her dear friend and Tsalagi descendant, Jasmine Culp — a full-time veterinary receptionist who, in her free time, is dangerous with an iPad and a sketch pencil.

Download Poster One

Download Poster Two