A collection featuring diverse voices defining the story of Wisconsin and essential to our national narrative.

Part of the Voices collection

First Nations Stories

Two women from the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin smile for the camera while in a kitchen making Oneida white corn soup.

Connect to programming and resources that bring visibility to First Nations and Indigenous populations in Wisconsin and across the globe, and the historical debts owed to original occupants of these lands. Native American, First Nations and American Indian are terms used interchangeably, with use determined by personal preference. If possible, use a tribal nation’s name and self-reference. The term Indigenous generally refers to those peoples with pre-existing sovereignty who lived as communities prior to contact with settler populations.

Land Acknowledgment Statement

PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio broadcast to the homelands of 12 Native American nations and their people. We acknowledge their resilience, ingenuity, contributions, and inherent sovereignty. And we remain committed to collaboration with these nations to ensure the public media landscape includes these stories and perspectives now and in the future.

Featured

Wisconsin Life

Decolonizing Science

In the high desert of Wyoming, two UW-Madison scientists, Ethan Parrish and Dave Lovelace, Ph.D, discuss their collaboration to decolonize their scientific disciplines in order to promote a more inclusive future for the next generation.

PBS WISCONSIN EDUCATION

Wisconsin Biographies: Electa Quinney

Electa Quinney was a Mohican educator and mentor who is known to many as Wisconsin’s first public school teacher.

Wisconsin Biographies: Walter Bresette

Walter Bresette of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe) embodied an intelligent, inclusive model of activism and education.

Wisconsin Biographies: Chief Oshkosh

Chief Oshkosh was crucial to the Menominee staying in their homeland and developed forest management practices used widely today.

The Ways

Hear stories of culture and language from First Nations community members around the central Great Lakes.

Re/sound: Wade Fernandez

Wade Fernandez lives on the Menominee Reservation in Northeastern Wisconsin and tours internationally performing his music, finding inspiration in nature.

Wisconsin First Nations

Resources providing educators with accurate and authentic educational materials to teach about the American Indian Nations of Wisconsin.

WISCONTEXT

Wisconsin's Act 31

Learn why Wisconsin's schools teach native and indigenous history and culture.

Tribal Sovereignty and Native American Gaming

Explore the history and long legal path of tribal gaming in Wisconsin.

Preserving Native Languages

Wisconsin linguists and teachers work to build future generations of fluent speakers.

Wisconsin's Remaining Effigy Mounds

Wisconsin burial sites provide a crucial window into the re-Columbian period.

PBS Wisconsin News

Ada Deer (1935-2023)

Ada Deer, influential Native American leader from Wisconsin, dies at 88

Lac du Flambeau Roadblocks

Federal judge dismisses lawsuit to stop Lac du Flambeau roadblocks

Enbridge Line 5

Federal judge gives Enbridge 3 years to close Line 5 on Bad River tribal land

Lac du Flambeau

For Lac du Flambeau, healing is remembering their boarding school experience

Fish Consumption Advisories

Why fish consumption advisories in Great Lakes states carry their own risks

Ojibwe Rights

How Ojibwe tribes in Wisconsin resisted efforts to deny treaty rights

More Indigenous Voices From PBS

Wisconsin First Nations communities have shared struggle with Indigenous cultures across the world. The term Indigenous generally refers to those peoples with pre-existing sovereignty who lived as communities prior to contact with settler populations. Indigenous is a broadly inclusive term owing to Indigenous peoples’ presence on every continent in the world, fighting to remain culturally, economically, and politically intact amid ongoing dispossession and erasure. What follows is a selection of PBS National content that represents the diverse voices of Indigenous communities across North America and worldwide.