Today on the show we meet Jessica Engelking, a descendent of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, who is a researcher with the Great Plains Action Society, and the author of a new book geared toward younger readers, called “Peggy Flanagan: Ogimaa Kwe, Lieutenant Governor.” The book is part of the Minnesota Native American Lives series, a partnership between the Minnesota Humanities Center and the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council.
Jessica Engleking has both a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Philosophy and has worked in academia. And her passion for creativity and resisting colonization of institutions led her to help build the Great Plains Action Society, where she is Director of Research and Fundraising. We enjoyed hearing how Jessica seeks to Indigenize and decolonize, as she creates a curriculum to help Native students develop their logic skills, so they become lawyers and help decolonize the legal system.
Many thanks to Jessica for sharing your creative gifts and for this fun conversation.
And thank you to our young reader, Marvin, age 7 for reading to us and asking your question.
Great Plains Action Society is online at https://www.greatplainsaction.org/
Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund. Online at https://minnesotanativenews.org/