A Face in the Rock: The Tale of a Grand Island Chippewa

Off the south shore of Lake Superior lies an island eight miles long and four miles wide, shaped like the palm of a hand. Known as Grand Island, it was once home to a sizeable community of Chippewa Indians who lived in harmony with the land and with each other. The tragic demise of the Grand Island Chippewa began more than two hundred years ago when their fellow tribesmen from the mainland goaded the peaceful islanders into joining them in a senseless battle with their rival the Sioux. The Chippewa heroes are personified by Powers of the Air, a young brave who was the sole survivor of that fateful battle. He related this event and other Chippewa legends to Henry Schoolcraft, an early ethnographer of Native Americans. Powers of the Air witnessed the desecration of Grand Island by the fur and logging industries, the Christianization of the tribe, and the near total loss of the Chippewa language, history, and culture. The story ends with happier events of the past two decades, including the protection of Grand Island within the National Forest System, and the resurgence of Chippewa culture. In A Face in the Rock, distinguished historian Loren R. Graham tells the fascinating story of the Grand Island Chippewa, and in so doing, presents a morality play about the plight of populations destroyed by the violence of other cultures.