Dr. Carol Cornelius, Educator (Oneida)

   

     As Carol Cornelius stood in line to receive her Bachelor’s degree in Education at the State University of New York at Fredonia, a student behind her said, “I have to ask you something.  Do Indians still live in teepees?”

        “This guy was going to be a teacher,” Cornelius said, shaking her head.   “He didn’t know how to teach about Native Peoples without the stereotypes.  The Oneidas are one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederation.  Originally, we were from New York State.  We lived in longhouses which are bark-covered lodges that house an entire extended family.  This student didn’t know that but there he was, about to be a classroom teacher.  Right then, I decided that I wanted to help change that.  I wanted to educate the educators.”

     Realizing that many people have a very limited understanding of other cultures, Cornelius committed herself to correcting that.  She completed a Ph.D. at Cornell University.  Now retired as the Manager of the Cultural Heritage Department of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederation, Cornelius continues to teach at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay and the College of the Menominee Nation.  Her best-known book, Iroquois Corn in a Culture-Based Curriculum, discusses the role of Native cultivated food crops, such as the traditional Iroquois Three Sisters - corn, beans, and squash - that have contributed so much to the food supply of the entire world today.  Cornelius’ alma mater, Cornell University, has seed stocks that the Iroquois people gave to them.  These seeds provide a genetic reserve for saving the many varieties of corn that would have been lost in the process of developing commercial hybrids.   Corn, beans, and squash play a central role in traditional Iroquois culture; ceremonies are built around them.  It is impossible for traditional Oneida to separate their spirituality and thanks to the Creator from their food supply.  

      "The Oneida worldview is very different from what the dominant culture believes when it breaks the circle of life into parts, separating them from the unity of the whole," Cornelius said.  Humans are dependent on the natural world, she explained.  If we pollute our lakes and streams, we destroy our food supply  If we kill off all the wolves, the deer multiply beyond the capacity of the land to support them.  The circle is broken.  For example,  Ojibwe leaders insisted on having hunting, fishing and gathering privileges and the land that supports them written into treaties they made with the United States in the 19th century.  But local people did not understand those treaties or the logic behind them, and began a protest against Ojibwa who exercised those rights.   Beginning in the 1980’s, tensions heated up to the point that there were violent encounters and racist innuendoes near landings where fishing took place. 

       “Federal courts affirmed those treaty rights,” Cornelius explained.  “The Wisconsin state legislature then decided to pass Act 31.  Act 31 requires Wisconsin public schools to teach about Wisconsin Indian History, culture, and treaties at least twice during elementary school and once during high school.   In order for teachers to implement Act 31, they have to seek information and knowledge on Wisconsin Indians.  Universities need to require education students to take courses on Wisconsin Indians.  Some do and some do very little.”

       The Iroquois belief that the circle of life should be unbroken extends to other differences with the dominant culture.  First Nations people give thanks to the Creator for their way of life that includes survival in the natural world.  Mindful of the dependence of humans on all living things and on the Creator, the Iroquois have had a difficult time understanding why there was and still is so much rivalry between the competing Christian denominations that sent missionaries to them.   

      Cornelius remembers what a Lakota religious leader used to say: “When you get through arguing about your God, then you can tell us what to believe.”  This remark simply underscored the impact that the expansion of Europeans into the Americas had on the First Nations.  The European invaders assumed that they had a superior way of life and then began to conquer and displace the First Nations.  

     As the Iroquois saw it, the invaders seemed to have no respect for the circle of life, the unity of humans and the natural world. Respect for the natural world extends to people.  “People come first with the Oneida,” Cornelius explained.  “When there is a feast, our elders are always allowed to be at the head of the line. When the United States government makes cuts in help to the poor and to children and the elderly, they show to us how different their philosophy is from ours.  I see our influence out there, though,” she said, smiling.  “The Oneida came up with the idea that special parking privileges close to public buildings should be given to the elderly.  I’ve seen some of the big box stores doing that now.”   
        In order to further these values, the Oneida Nation started a tribal school in 1979 and in 1994, a high school.  The schools emphasize Oneida traditions and are teaching the language.  During the 1930’s, Floyd Lounsberry preserved many oral traditions in the Iroquois language, and these form the basis for current efforts to teach the language.  Today, Professor Cliff Abbot of the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay comes out to their school to help teach the language.  Currently, there are eight trainees in the Language Revitalization program for the enrollment of over 15,000 Oneidas.  Cornelius knows that reviving the language will be a slow process.  “Our goal is to produce fluent speakers who can teach our language to the rest of our tribal members so that we hear the language spoken on a daily basis,” she said.  

The University of Wisconsin – Green Bay has a major in First Nations Studies and there is emphasis on learning the Native languages.  “We are reviving the language, but it takes time,” Cornelius said, noting that the revival of languages like Maori in New Zealand and Hebrew in Israel were not accomplished overnight. She also believes that the Oneida schools can help correct the view that English should be the only language and that courses in Western Civilization should be the only requirement in universities.  “The College of the Menominee Nation is a step in the right direction,” she says.  There, courses emphasize the history and culture of the First Nations people.  

“Everything I do is about teaching respect for other cultures,” Cornelius said, underscoring the Iroquois worldview that people should not be killing other people.  “Instead, we should listen to the birds singing their songs and a thankfulness mind set every day of the year to the Creator.” Around her house on the Oneida Reservation, she has planted many things that help her create a sense of peace and remind her of how humans must live in an unbroken circle with all other living things.  “ The deer come up here, and the birds sing their songs and remind me of how we should give thanks to the Creator for all that we have, and keep our traditions.”