Blackbird, Andrew J. (Makade-binesi / Mack-e-te-be-nessy)

File — Box: 51, Folder: 29

Scope and Contents

From the Series:

This series consists of portrait photographs and is arranged alphabetically by surname. First names are used when known, otherwise information is taken directly from the photo. A question mark in parentheses indicates that identification is tentative. Group photographs of people associated with a specific organization are found in the subject series.

Dates

Creation: circa 1837-2011

Biographical / Historical

Andrew Jackson Blackbird (Odawa name Makade-binesi / Mack-e-te-be-nessy, “Black Hawk”) (c. 1814–1821 – 17 September 1908) was an Odawa (Ottawa) leader, interpreter, and historian from the L’Arbre Croche (Harbor Springs) area of northern Michigan. The son of an Odawa chief, he served as an intermediary between the United States government and the Odawa and Ojibwe (Chippewa) peoples and became the first postmaster of Harbor Springs. He is best known for his 1887 book "History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan", one of the earliest histories of the region written by an Indigenous author.