Ojibwe, Activist, Priest: The Life of Father Philip Bergin Gordon, Tibishkogijik

213 Pages·2019·2.864 MB·English

by  Tadeusz Lewandowski

Ojibwe,
Activist, Priest
Father Philip Bergin Gordon in headdress, 1933. Courtesy of the Wisconsin
Historical Society, Image WHi-140674.
Ojibwe,
Activist, Priest
The Life of
Father Philip Bergin Gordon,
Tibishkogijik
Tadeusz Lewandowski
The universiTy of wisconsin Press
Names: Lewandowski, Tadeusz, 1973– author.
Title: Ojibwe, activist, priest: the life of Father Philip Bergin Gordon, Tibishkogijik / Tadeusz
Lewandowski.
Description: Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, [2019] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
The University of Wisconsin Press
Identifiers: LCCN 2019014991 | ISBN 9780299325206 (cloth: alk. paper)
728 State Street, Suite 443
Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1428
uwpress.wisc.edu
Wisconsin—Biography. | LCGFT: Biographies.
Classification: LCC E99.C6 G644 2019 | DDC 282.092 [B]—dc23
Gray’s Inn House, 127 Clerkenwell Road
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019014991
London ec1r 5dB, United Kingdom
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Copyright © 2019
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
All rights reserved. Except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical
articles and reviews, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, transmitted in any format or by any means—digital, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—or conveyed via the Internet
or a website without written permission of the University of Wisconsin Press.
Rights inquiries should be directed to [email protected].
Printed in the United States of America
This book may be available in a digital edition.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lewandowski, Tadeusz, 1973– author.
Title: Ojibwe, activist, priest: the life of Father Philip Bergin Gordon,
Tibishkogijik / Tadeusz Lewandowski.
Description: Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, [2019] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: Lccn 2019014991 | isBn 9780299325206 (cloth: alk. paper)
Subjects: Lcsh: Gordon, Philip B., Rev., 1885–1948. | Catholic Church—
Clergy—Biography. | Priests—Wisconsin—Biography. | Indian activists—
Wisconsin—Biography. | Ojibwa Indians—Wisconsin—Biography. |
LcGfT: Biographies.
Classification: Lcc e99.c6 G644 2019 | ddc 282.092 [B]—dc23
Lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019014991
The whole Indian Bureau system of managing Indian business
to the detriment of the Indian but for the benefit of a few greedy
and voracious whites is the most dramatic autocracy in
existence the world over.
—FaTher PhiLiP BerGin Gordon,
1923 letter to the Superior Telegram

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Author’s Note xi
Introduction 3
1 The Ojibwe and the Gordon Family 10
2 From Boyhood to the Priesthood 21
3 The Society and the Missionary 34
4 A Conference and a Scandal at Haskell 45
5 Carlos Montezuma, War-Whoop, and the Bureau 57
6 War in Europe, Battles at Home 77
7 A New Appointment at Reserve 90
8 Struggles and Injustices 98
9 Bitter Ends 108
10 Continuing the Fight from Centuria 117
11 Paul Villaume, a Journey, and Philip Gordon’s Final Years 128
Conclusion 131
Notes 135
Bibliography 181
Index 191

Acknowledgments
At the University of Wisconsin Press, I would like to thank executive editor
Gwen Walker for her extraordinary support throughout the publishing
process. Thanks also to acquisitions assistant Anna Muenchrath for her
kind help in numerous technical matters and to managing editor Adam
Mehring and copyeditor Scott Mueller for their excellent work. I especially
thank Mark Thiel of the Marquette University Archives in Wisconsin
for his generosity over the many years I have requested materials from
him. This book would have been impossible without his aid and advice.
Thanks, too, go to Professor Margaret Ann Noodin and Professor Rand
Valentine for their help with Anishinaabemowin. As well, I thank Lisa
Marine at the Wisconsin Historical Society for her help with acquiring
illustrations. I express my gratitude to my mother, Linda Lewandowski,
and my wife, Marzena, for their assistance with this biography. Thank
you to Arnold Krupat, who commented on an early version of the manu-
script. And finally, a very big thanks to Jane Vavala of Hinkle Library at
Alfred State College, New York, for her deeply appreciated tracking down
of numerous and varied sources.
ix