The center was founded
by Jacob Thomas, Hadajigre:ta’ (Descending Cloud), a Cayuga Chief. Jacob Thomas’ list of accomplishments is
incredible. He was an interpreter and advocate of Iroquoian culture and
language, longhouse speaker authority on the Great Law of Peace, and Assistant
Professor with the Department of Native Studies at Trent University. This long
list of notable achievements led to Jacob Thomas’ recognition as a well
respected leader.
Jacob Thomas dedicated his entire life to public
awareness of Native contributions to society. One most notable contribution
that he developed awareness of is the message of environmental consciousness
through Ganohonyonk. His dedication and
advocacy led the Learning Center to acquire a collection of over 90,000 hand
written documents in the languages of Onondaga, Cayuga and Mohawk. Among these documents are great law recitals,
condolence ceremonies, and the Thanksgiving Address.
The
center also offers an extensive library collection of native resources and
workshops on beading and corn husk moccasins. In order to teach and preserve the
Iroquoian language, Thomas also developed a Language Development Program. After searching around the Jake
Thomas Learning Center online resource website, it was apparent that his work
to preserve the culture is continuing even after his death in 1998.
I was left reminded of another online source that
I was introduced to during this module. From the page entitled “Reflections”
from the online source “In the Light of Reverence” the words of Waubishmaa’ingan (white wolf) have left a deep
impact on me. He wrote “To honor is to
voice what is in one's body and heart and mind to gift to another or others—it
is to express simply and clearly and directly what is most beautiful and
meaningful in our living, it is to make the soul manifest in the world, through
the performance of meaning and beauty, through truly naming in language and
song our passage ….”
These
words of Waubishmaa’ingan’s hold true and I believe apply to Jacob Thomas. His
work, dedication, and advocacy for history have not only honored the past, but the
future generations as well.
Great post! I find that I'm learning so much from this class and it's opening my eyes to so many things I never knew existed like the jake Thomas Learning center. thanks for posting this!
ReplyDeleteWe would all be wise to find whatever resources are close to us that we can visit and make a point of learning as much as we can and introducing others to the information so the history and culture can be disseminated to as many as possible.
ReplyDelete