Closed Captions Audio Described

Brent Merrill presents a film documenting the history of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, from forced relocation via the Table Rock Indian Reservation in 1856 to tribal termination in 1954 and subsequent restoration efforts beginning in the late 1970s. He discusses the 25+ tribes consolidated at Grand Ronde, the hardships of relocation, and the leadership of elders like Margaret Provost, Marvin Kimsey, and Merle Holmes in achieving federal recognition restoration in 1983. Merrill emphasizes language preservation and tribal identity.

Transcript

0:17 Three. Bye.
0:21 That.
0:28 Why?
0:31 All right, I'd like to welcome everybody to the 10 of many voices. Once again, this is where the Park Service is working with all the communities we go to, for everyone to present something and have their voice heard it. It's a very special place to be. Um today for our four o'clock program, we have Brent Merrill and he's going to speak on tribal restoration. His program is entitled from Table Rot to Grand Ronde
0:55 and we're gonna turn it over to Brent. So please welcome him today.
1:00 Hi. How are you guys doing?
1:03 So, um
1:05 what I've got is a film that I made about the tribe and it's a tribal history. And uh in 2003, the tribal council asked me to make a movie about the tribe. And so I put together a 15 minute film about the tribe and its history. Um Tribe was terminated as you know, and had gone through some relocation and some things like that brought them here to Grand Ronde.
1:27 So the film tells about that and uh like I said, it's only about 15 minutes long. So rather than going to a whole lot of prepared statements. I'll just show the film and if you guys have questions about it, you can ask me about it after that. Does that sound OK? You guys wanna just go ahead and show the film, alright.
1:59 the Six Chato Delois Dig to the K. It was over for fifth chas io the on the, on the food, the swan, the cha great
2:24 to over on a Ya pik Chaske cha blood cell. One guy knows you may
2:38 We are not forgive.
2:41 We are from here.
2:44 This is not our land,
2:48 this is our land.
2:53 In the 1850 s, the United States government used the cavalry to round up Indians in the northwest to forcibly relocate them to what we call reservations.
3:05 The story of the people of the confederated tribes of Grand Ronde begins when the cavalry came through Northern Nevada, Northern California and Southern Oregon gathering Indians from as many as 25 tribes and herding them like cattle to the table rock, Indian reservation in southern Oregon territory. The time we got, we were having hard times. So when we come to the office,
3:29 you have to look at those tombstone. But where the is in there is half as bad as we think to actually be herded like cattle. The soldiers, we were better off. We could read and write and say our names and they couldn't, they had to use interpreters, we could speak for ourselves and we saw that was our duty to speak for them
3:54 on February 23rd of 1856 under the direction of Indian agent George Ambrose, 325 Indians, 106 cavalry members and eight wagon teams and all their horses and cattle set out from table rock to grand run by way of the Applegate trail.
4:15 The line would have stretched out for over a mile, a 263 mile journey through muddy deep wagon rutted trails took 33 days. They crossed rivers and streams and climbed through the mountains of southern Oregon and into the valleys of western Oregon. They walked, they walked with their Children, they walk with their elders. Eight people died
4:40 and eight babies were born, babies and burials in the rain.
4:49 There were many walks in all the Mary's River tribe walked in from Corvallis. The Tualatins had a short walk in from their valley to the north. Many tribes,
5:02 Umpqua Lower Umpqua Salmon River, Clatsop, Clackamas,
5:11 Nestucca, Rogue River, Northern Paiute
5:17 Tillamooks, Santiam Yoncalla Shasta Costa
5:27 Cow Creek, Ilahi Luckiamute Klatsky, Northern Malala, Chinook, Southern Malala, Kalapuya. The Yamhill tribal people were already here when the other tribes arrived on Tuesday, March 25th of 1856.
5:51 Upon arrival in Grand Ronde life was harsh. Each tribe spoke a different language. They had different forms of religion. They had different reasons for dressing a certain way or painting their faces. Each tribe had leaders and customs that were uniquely their own.
6:21 The Grand Ronde Indian reservation was established from 1854 to 1857 and encompass 69,000 acres of land at the headwaters of the South Yamhill River and the base of Spirit Mountain.
6:36 After a failed attempt by the government to make farmers out of a race of hunters and gatherers. 25,000 acres of the tribe's reservation were made available to settlers as surplus land in 1901, eventually the tribe's land base was reduced to a seven acre cemetery. 1954 brought about termination. And change.
7:01 Termination meant an end to the treaties that had been signed by our people. Only a century before. It meant the government's responsibility to tribal people had ended. Promises made would no longer be kept.
7:15 Termination, stole the tribe's identity and ate away at the social structure that made tribes unique termination was a gateway to the problems that had already begun to plague the dominant culture. Health problems, social problems, economic problems, and the demise of spirituality as a center of life. Following termination,
7:37 the government came up with what they called the Indian Relocation Act. Government representatives came into the area and offered jobs. But if you took the jobs, you had to move away from what was left of the tribal community. Today, the tribe has members located in nearly every state in the nation.
7:54 Generation of babies were born into a tribe. That officially did not exist. In the late 19 seventies. A core group of remaining Grand Ronde tribal members began the process of putting the pieces of the tribe back together again.
8:10 They met in a small building in the tribal cemetery that housed the lawn mower. Margaret Provost, Marvin Kimsey, and Merle Holmes began the process known as tribal restoration,
8:23 a core group of people then help these tribal elders achieve a dream.
8:30 20 years ago Today on November 22nd, 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed the Grand Ronde Restoration Act into public law. Five years later on September 9th, 1988 the government saw fit to return 9,811 acres of timberland to the tribe as a reservation land base.
8:51 And I have to be a strong believer unless you have some sense of where you were and just sort of floating in space, just not attached to anything. Uh But once you have that and understand it, then you become an identifiable partner
9:09 like uh Margaret Provost was the one who called the first meeting and we were there
9:16 and we of course encouraged her. Uh Marvin Kimsey and Merle Holmes were the three that began that effort and Jackie was the recording secretary, just kept the momentum going. It took a lot of years, I think more than we even thought it would.
9:40 But, no one gave up. Was at all the meetings and she stands on my mind. But there, there were several elders, they were the backbone of the tribe and still are, and they support the garage sales, the bake sales and they never give up. People have been trying to do the restorations. We sort of developed the old concept. It was time to make good those commitments that
10:03 have been made for treaties and other arrangements. It was an idea whose time was too long in coming. The early efforts were really for uh certain benefits that were health, education, welfare and self sufficiency. Those were the goals. And I think that it, it's very important that young people know that these things don't happen just because you want them.
10:27 There was nothing inevitable about restoration. That's hard work. I think people don't realize that we didn't snap our fingers, we had to convince the traditional people
10:39 something. I think a lot of our tribes can learn from us today. You know, I used, you were told by Elizabeth Senator, don't go back to this when you need something, make a trip to thank him.
10:53 How they could, those leaders of Indian tribes? How they could remain so calm
11:02 so un-agitated
11:05 I would be pounding the table? Now? Is this the time of hope?
11:09 Never heard a voice raised. They were always there to answer the questions, to offer information to coaching. That's what they were. I call them, not only my friends but my coaches. So I think it sounds, you know what I think people would ideally work together, because our community is a part of this. Yeah, the whole thing. I just so thankful that I was part of
11:32 the road to self sufficiency was just beginning. We are doing the things that we feel that will make sure the termination doesn't happen to us. Again.
11:46 The tribe today is a vibrant people.
11:52 The tribe today is a family of families.
12:09 the tribe has a dream for success.
12:23 China has learned to celebrate with success.
12:34 The tribe continues to look seven generations into the future.
12:39 We learned through those years that they would say, oh, you just want a handout. That's all you want. Now we paid already. We paid in advance for, we were just getting for our people in the future. I always said, you know, my grandson started walking but his first step with me, is up on our own land, he didn't take his first step, but he's walked up there and it means a lot to say this belonged to us.
13:02 It belonged to our past and I hope our grandchildren and great grandchildren, you know, several generations, they should be able to have that same opportunity, know your past and you will never have a future. And I think it's a rare part of God's plan because you look at the world and say, OK, run the ran and they need lots of red because that's strength.
13:24 If we didn't remember and if we didn't practice, then I believe that termination worked,
13:34 but it's really from uh our heart and all of the things that were instilled within those who went through that era was to bring all of our ways back again. And so, for me, it's really a matter of your identity, knowing who you are, how you believe and what your values are. So, in order to maintain that
13:59 we must involve our young people,
14:02 we must create in them and instill in them at an early age, just like I was with my grandmother. This is who you are. And this, this is why you're like this. You're from a family of chiefs. This is who your chiefs are. This is who your family is. This is what we believed. We are generous caring people.
14:26 We took care of others, we took care of each other.
14:31 The tribe pays respect to its loved ones.
15:02 If we forget, then it can happen again. So we must remember what happened and what that all meant. What are you, what are you most proud of? And, and do you, do you feel like there's a lot of, a lot of things for the tribal people to be proud of? Yes. The main one that stands out in my mind is bringing back the language. I'm still determined to be a part of that.
15:25 I know a couple were for the little kids when you sit there and watch them, never will forget to look at I La Da's face or when she sat there smiling.
15:40 flu flu
15:49 of the SA MA K is the of the
15:57 south of Goa
16:02 Mars.
16:06 I shop.
16:21 Thank you. So, uh that's the story of our people and how we ended up in Grand Ronde because there's no such thing really as a Grand Ronde Indian. And although members of our tribe are now referred to as members of the Grand Ronde tribe, there's no such thing as a Grand Ronde Indian. I myself am Northern Paiute, Kalapuya. You know, we're made up of many tribes. Um We're the confederated tribes of the Grand Ronde
16:46 So what that means is many tribes brought to one place. So there's as many as 26 tribes that were brought here. As many as 40 different bands of Indians families can be traced to this round up. And basically what happened was the cavalry showed up in the evening right before the evening meal and they gave our people a few minutes to pack what they could gather, what they can carry with them because they were moving,
17:10 they took them to a place called Table Rock in Southern Oregon. And it's a plateau, it's a flat topped mountain and they put them up there. They put all of our people up there. All these tribal people that they had gathered from Northern Nevada and northern California and southern Oregon. And they gathered them there because it was an easy place to put a lot of people. There was only a couple of ways up and down so they could put a lot of people on top there and keep them there.
17:34 And then what they did is they marched them 265 miles north to a place called Grand Ronde. So that's how we ended up here in Grand Ronde, known as the people of the confederated tribes of Grand Ronde. So it's important that, you know, that there's no such thing as a Grand Ronde Indian. There are, there are tribal people who now live in Grand Ronde who are known as Grand Ronde tribal people. So I think that's important that, you know, that I also think it's important that, you know, that
17:59 as a member of the tribe and I'm not here to honor Lewis and Clark. Um That's not my goal. Um I, I don't mind Commemorating Lewis and Clark and I don't mind using this opportunity to tell you my people's story, but I'm not here to honor them. You know, I, I, I went to school in the dominant culture and, and I'm a history freak and I love, I love history and I love adventure. And so I understand their place
18:24 in the dominant culture. I understand why they're respected and what they did. But as the harbingers of the Apocalypse, they came to our people, I, I want you to know that I'm not here to honor them, but, but I am here to commemorate that memory and, and, and I understand the place that they have in our culture. So I think it's a great opportunity to tell you about our people. And hopefully the movie helped do that. Um
18:49 The, the voice that you hear talking in our language is one of our elders that passed away in the last couple of years. Um Her name was Isla Dowd, one of the last fluent speakers of the language and somebody who I admired and loved greatly. Um Her sister was also a great teacher and a great speaker of the language. And we had always planned on
19:10 uh getting the language down on film and we'd talk about, well, we'll do it next time. We're together, next time we're together. Well, she passed away before I could do it. So as soon as I got back to Grand Ronde I grabbed the video camera and bee lined it to Ila's house and set it up in the corner and said, just talk to me, just tell me stories and just talk to me. And I let that camera run and I had no idea that it would end up being the centerpiece for the movie
19:34 that tells, it, tells you about our tribal history, but that's how that came about. So I'm, I'm happy to answer any questions that anybody has. And I wanted to just say thanks for allowing me to be here and talk to you about our tribe
19:48 at this point. Does anybody have any questions or comments for Mr Merrill.
19:58 Did you enjoy the film?
20:04 uh perhaps you're a little bit shy right now and asking questions. Uh You wanna make yourself available as you walk around. I'll be around to ask any questions. Yeah, the the film is available if you're interested. Um If you just contact the tribe, we have copies available at the tribe. You can get a hold of the film there and uh I guess that's about it. I appreciate you guys coming out. All right, thank you.
20:28 Um Everyone at five o'clock, we are gonna have Mr Spider Moccasin.

Tent of Many Voices

Brent Merrill on Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Restoration

Brent Merrill

Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde

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Brent Merrill on Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Restoration

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