Collection
Jim Northrup: A Profile
Jim Northrup was an Anishinaabe newspaper columnist, poet, performer, and political commentator. His Anishinaabe name was "Chibenashi" ("Big little-bird"). Northrup lived a traditional life of the Anishinaabe in the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation of northern Minnesota. He was featured on MPR numerous times discussing his writing, his experience as a Vietnam veteran, and his activism on Native American hunting and fishing rights. Northrup passed away on August 1st, 2016.
Northrup's regular column, the Fond du Lac Follies, was syndicated through several Native American papers. Northrup was nominated and/or won numerous awards for his writing, including “Walking the Rez Road,” which won a Minnesota Book Award and a Northeast Minnesota Book Award. The book comprises forty stories and poems that feature character Luke Warmwater, an Ojibwa Vietnam veteran who survived the war but has trouble surviving the peace.
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14 Collection Items
- Matthew Northrup remembers his father, Jim Northrup
Ojibwe author, poet, playwright Jim Northrup died at 73, due to complications from cancer. As part of a wake, a traditional fire is being started at his residence in Sawyer. Matthew Northrup, joins MPR’s Tom Crann to talk about his father, and what it was like being raised by Jim, who was known and quoted as being a tough man.
- Remembering Jim Northrup
MPR’s Tom Crann reports on the death of Ojibwe author, poet, playwright Jim Northrup. Report includes audio clip of Northrup reading from his poem “Grandma’s Hair.”
- Jim Northrup settles down and contemplates mortality
MPR’s Euen Kerr talks with Ojibwe author, poet, playwright Jim Northrup. Northrup is dying, but he's OK with it. The author of the popular Fond du Lac Follies, several books, plays and TV shows, says he's helped by his traditional life style on the Fond du Lac Reservation - and his sense of humor.
- Fates of wild rice, mining Intertwined in Northern Minnesota
MPR’s Dan Kraker reports on wild rice, the iconic grain that grows across much of the northern half of the state, being at the center of a contentious debate over mining and the environment. Kraker conducts interviews with individuals from both sides of the debate.
- Ojibwe columnist Jim Northrup looks back on "Follies"
MPR’s Euan Kerr talks with Ojibwe writer Jim Northrup. For almost 22 years, Northrup has entertained and chastened readers of his syndicated “Fond Du Lacs Follies” newspaper column. He's covered everything from the rise of casinos and treaty rights, to his love of tapping trees for syrup, and harvesting wild rice…and he always included lots of jokes.
- Saving the Ojibwe language
MPR’s Elizabeth Stawicki presents report on attempts to save the Ojibwe language. Report includes various interviews, including Jim Northrup. At one time more than 300 American Indian languages were spoken in the U.S. But with each passing generation, many of the indigenous languages have died; others are on the verge of disappearing. With that in mind, tribes from northern Wisconsin and Minnesota are trying to keep their Ojibwe language from going silent and along the way gain new insight into how their ancestors viewed the world.
- Bill Holm, Michael Dregni, and Jim Northrup on stories that make up "Minnesota Days"
MPR’s Katherine Lanpher talks with Minnesota writer Bill Holm and editor Michael Dregni of the book, "Minnesota Days: Our Heritage in Stories, Art and Photos." This Midmorning program includes call-in from listeners.
- Fond du Lac Treaty on hunting and fishing rights
Public and private landholders are challenging Chippewa Indian's plans to take fish and other game in eastern Minnesota, under terms of an 1837 treaty. But miles north of the region under contention, Chippewa Indians have been harvesting fish and wild rice and hunting moose and deer on public lands with little fanfare, and no public protests.
- Jim Northrup talks about film, writing, and family
MPR’s Marianne Combs interviews Native American author Jim Northrup about writing, his film projects, and family.
- Voices of Minnesota: Jim Northrup on "Walking The Rez Road," family, and traditional ways, part 2
On this Voices of Minnesota segment, MPR’s Dan Olson interviews Ojibwe writer Jim Northrup about his book Walking The Rez Road. Northrup discusses boarding school, teaching writing, his family tree, and traditional ways.