Personal story and available resources shared in final lecture
Victor, NY—The impact of children being adopted “out” of their traditional Native American culture has long-term ramifications both for the individual and for the culture left behind, often erasing Native identity and compromising a sense of self and personal and cultural “belonging.”
On Thursday, November 21 at 7 pm, Ronnie Reitter (Seneca), Ganondagan State Historic Site interpreter and former foster child, is joined by Native genealogy expertJack T. Ericson as guest speakers in “Adopting ‘Out,’ Researching and Reclaiming Identity,” the third and final lecture in Friends of Ganondagan’s Native American Lecture Series at Nazareth College’s Shults Center.
Reitter, who grew up in a non-Native foster home, will share her very personal story aboutfinding family, pride and fulfillment through identifying her traditional roots. As an adult she re-connected with her Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) community, found members of her family who still live on the Cattaraugus Reservation in Western New York, and became deeply involved with learning and teaching Haudenosaunee traditional arts and storytelling.
Ericson will address available resources and strategies for searching out one’s roots. He is former curator of Special Collections, Reed Library, SUNY Fredonia; past trustee of Seneca Iroquois National Museum; and former family historian for the Cornplanter Descendants Association. Discussion also will include the Indian Child Welfare Act and its ramifications.
The 2013 Native American Lecture Series is a collaboration between the Friends of Ganondagan and Nazareth College’s Department of History and the Center for Service-Learning. This lecture is funded in part by a grant from New York Council on the Humanities.
Lecture prices are $15; $10/Friends of Ganondagan members; $5/students with ID. Tickets will be available at the event beginning at 6:30 pm. Visitwww.ganondagan.org/events.html.
