Description
Mohawk Reporter The Six Nations Columns of George Beaver contains 70 newspaper articles written by George Beaver for the "Our Town" column in the Brantford daily newspaper, The Expositor. Beaver is a retired school teacher from Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario. From 1986 until the present, George Beaver has written about life on Six Nations in this regular column. This reprint collection of Beaver's articles contains work that previously appeared in A View from an Indian Reserve, Historical Perspectives and a Personal View from an Indian Reserve published by the Brant Historical Society in 1993. The current collection contains an additional 27 articles, maps, list of Chiefs, photographs, and a biographical sketch of the author. The articles are arranged chronologically beginning with articles that appeared in 1987 and ending with one article from 1995. The topics reflect the author's personal interests that include sports; Mohawk hymn singing; education; historical events and people; and oral history. He includes articles about people from history such as Molly Brant, Joseph Brant, Rev. Peter Jones, Tom Longboat and Norman "Trump" General. Topics range from Halloween pranks and Easter egg-breaking to Bread and Cheese Day (May 24th), the Six Nations Pageant, and the Grand River Powwow. George Beaver's articles introduce local Brantford readers to familiar events and some they would likely never encounter. In this way, his articles serve to inform the Non-Native community about the everyday life and rich history of the Six Nations and New Credit Reserves. Photographs accompany most articles, and the editor includes lists of historical dates, Confederacy Chiefs titles, and local churches. There are maps of the original Haldimand land grant along the Grand River as well as a map of the current reserve. This is an important contribution to Six Nations local history written from a Mohawk perspective. Readers can simply open the book at any point and find an article of interest that will most likely introduce new information.