And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 21:58:58 -0400 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Lynne Moss-Sharman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: James Alexander Teit: anthropologist BC Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Anthropologist fondly remembered July 19, 1999 Kamloops BC James Alexander Teit, a leading anthropologist of the Interior Salish people, was remembered Friday at Spences Bridge. Seventy-eight years after his death, about 100 people -- both white and native -- filled the Chief Whistemnitsa Community Centre to salute Teit’s efforts to explore, record and promote the culture of the Nlaka’pamux nation. The afternoon ceremony opened with a song by the Morning Star drum group, the national anthem and a prayer by Mary Anderson, an elder from the Cook’s Ferry Indian Band. “Today is a good day. Today is a powerful day,” said David Walkem, chief of the Cook’s Ferry band. “Even now we are relearning the songs he recorded and trying to bring them back into our culture.” Teit, whose ethnological classic The Thompson Indians of British Columbia was published in 1900, will be honoured with a plaque at the Five Nations campground. His published works remain one of the primary written sources of information about southern B.C.’s Interior Salish tribes, as well as the Dene and the Kootenay. Cook’s Ferry band member Bill Walkem, 85, shared memories of Teit with the audience. Having met the Scottish scholar in 1919, he was able to draw on personal and family tales. “Jimmy Teit started the Indian meetings at Spences Bridge and formed the Allied Indian Tribes of British Columbia,” he said. “This was known as Teit’s country. ... and at the last, big meeting a Vernon chief did this great war dance. Teit said ‘you dance very well but that will never win your country back’” from the federal government. “We have heard of the achievements of James Alexander Teit and his role in helping to preserve, through recording, the traditions and lifestyle of our First Nations culture,” said Arlene King, manager of heritage programs at Parks Canada. Although he is credited with 42 publications during his lifetime, Teit was also an outspoken advocate for aboriginal lobby groups. He represented numerous bands in Victoria and Ottawa and was appointed to a special committee when the Kwakiutl were persecuted for potlatching in 1922. Also in attendance was Teit’s 84-year-old son, Sigurd Teit, curator of the Nicola Valley Museum Archives Association. King noted the need for Canadians to identify the people, places and events that deserve recognition as historic sites. “The Parks Canada vision. ... requires the involvement and support of others (such as) volunteers, community groups, provincial and municipal governments and other agencies,” she added. Reflecting on Teit’s legacy, Chief Walkem said the Parks Canada monument “is only the first step in recognition. He was taught by our people. ... and we should also recognize all of the people who helped him get those songs and stories.” "Let Us Consider The Human Brain As A Very Complex Photographic Plate" 1957 G.H. Estabrooks www.angelfire.com/mn/mcap/bc.html FOR K A R E N #01182 who died fighting 4/23/99 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.aches-mc.org 807-622-5407 Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&