Waunetta McClellan Dominic facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Waunetta McClellan Dominic
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| Born |
Waunetta G. McClellan
July 23, 1921 |
| Died | December 21, 1981 (aged 60) Petoskey, Michigan
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| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Waunetta McClellan, Waunetta Dominic |
| Occupation | Native American rights activist |
| Years active | 1948–1981 |
| Known for | co-founding the Northern Michigan Ottawa Association |
Waunetta McClellan Dominic (born July 23, 1921 – died December 21, 1981) was an amazing Odawa leader. She worked hard to make sure the United States government kept its promises to Native American people. These promises were often written in old agreements called treaties.
Waunetta helped start the Northern Michigan Ottawa Association. She became very well known, especially after winning a big case in 1971. This case made the government pay money that was owed from treaties made long ago. She also strongly supported Native American fishing rights. In 1979, The Detroit News newspaper called her "Michiganian of the Year." Later, in 1996, she was honored in the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.
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Early Life and Family
Waunetta G. McClellan was born on July 23, 1921, in Petoskey, Michigan. Her parents were Elizabeth and Levi P. McClellan. Her great-grandfather was an important leader of the Grand River Band of Ottawas.
She went to school in Petoskey. Then, she finished her studies at the Haskell Indian Institute in Lawrence, Kansas. In 1940, she married Robert Dominic. They lived in Detroit and Flint before moving back to Petoskey in 1944.
Working for Native American Rights
In the 1940s, the government started a plan called the Indian termination policy. This plan aimed to end the special relationship between tribes and the government. As part of this, the Indian Claims Commission was created in 1946. Its job was to pay tribes for land taken or for broken promises.
For the Odawa people, there was a problem. An old agreement, the 1855 Treaty of Detroit, made it seem like their tribal governments no longer existed. To make a claim, they first had to prove their groups were still "distinct, self-governing nations."
Starting the Northern Michigan Ottawa Association
In 1946, Waunetta and Robert Dominic invited local tribes to a meeting in Petoskey. Only 20 people came, which showed them they needed to get more organized. They traveled all over Michigan to find descendants of Odawa people listed on an old record called the Durant Roll (1907–1910). They found 3,000 Native Americans who might be able to make claims against the U.S. government.
In 1948, Waunetta, her father, and her husband started the Northern Michigan Ottawa Association (NMOA). Robert was the president, and Waunetta was the secretary. This group included eleven Odawa bands from northern Michigan. These bands had signed the 1836 Treaty of Washington and the 1855 Treaty of Detroit. The next year, they filed a claim with the Claims Commission.
Fighting for Health and Education
Many of the tribes the NMOA represented did not live on reservations. Waunetta was worried they didn't have access to health care. She fought for NMOA members to be treated at the Kinchloe Indian Clinic in the Upper Peninsula.
She also noticed that few Michigan Native Americans went to college. Waunetta found federal programs that could help. She worked to assist Native American students in getting money for school. She was also a big part of creating a program that allowed Native American students to attend Michigan State University without paying tuition.
The Long Fight for Land Claims
In 1959, the government admitted that the Chippewa and Odawa bands had given up almost 13 million acres of land. They agreed that the tribes should get a new evaluation of whether they were paid fairly. Some tribes, like the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, had reorganized under a law called the Indian Reorganization Act. Their members were removed from the lawsuit.
The case then went to a process called arbitration to decide how much money should be paid. Waunetta traveled across Michigan, looking at old land records. She compared what Native Americans were paid for their land to what white settlers sold their land for. She found that in the 1800s, Native Americans were paid very little—from half a cent to seventeen cents per acre. But white people sold land for much more, usually between ninety-two and ninety-seven cents per acre.
Finally, in 1971, they won a $12.1 million settlement. This amount was later reduced to $10.3 million because some money had been paid before. But the fight wasn't over. The next challenge was how to share the money. The Claims Commission recognized the NMOA, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) would not let the NMOA officially reorganize as a tribe. The BIA said each band needed to get its own recognition.
Waunetta rejected the first plan for distributing the money. It didn't include Native Americans who didn't live on reservations. It also didn't include the "blood quantum" rules that tribe members wanted. Blood quantum is a way of measuring how much Native American ancestry a person has.
Protecting Fishing Rights
Waunetta was the main spokesperson for the NMOA on fishing rights. She often helped solve disagreements between Native and non-Native fishermen. In 1975, a lawsuit called United States v. Michigan was filed about these rights. Waunetta explained how tribes issued fishing licenses and what happened if rules were broken.
In 1979, the court ruled that tribes could continue using gill nets for fishing. However, arguments over fishing rights continued until 1985. In 1976, after her husband passed away, Waunetta became president of the NMOA. She led the group until her own death.
Throughout the 1970s, she helped Odawa people with their family records. This helped them prove they were part of the claim for the settlement money. She also fought to make sure $1.8 million of the funds were saved for tribes that didn't have federal recognition. She was known as one of the most important Native American leaders in Michigan. The NMOA became the largest American Indian organization in the state under her leadership. In 1979, The Detroit News named her "Michiganian of the Year."
Death and Lasting Impact
Waunetta Dominic passed away on December 21, 1981, in Petoskey. She was at Northern Michigan Hospital. In 1996, she was honored and added to the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.
Eventually, all the bands of the NMOA gained recognition from the government. However, some bands, like the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the Swan Creek Black River Confederated Ojibwa Tribes of Michigan, the Mackinac Bands of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians, and even her own Grand River Band of Ottawas, are only recognized by the state, not the federal government.
In 1998, the federal government finally agreed to give out the money awarded to the Odawa people. The money had been held in trust since 1971, and the final amount was nearly $74 million. In 2014, Waunetta Dominic was honored again by the Michigan Women's Historical Center and Hall of Fame. They held an exhibit to celebrate six women who fought for Civil Rights.
