Summary:

Perry Ground looked out at the students and local residents who packed the small, round tables in front of him and asked them to imagine it was 500 years ago. They now belonged to the Haudenosaunee confederacy and spent their cold winters in a longhouse with 80 to 100 people, mending clothes and making tools.

“Would you want a storyteller to come to your house?” he asked. He invited the audience to suggest what items, such as food or clothes, they would offer in exchange for a story.

Tuesday night, Ground told stories that he said reflect the ideas and values of the Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois. Ground is a member of the Onondaga, one of the confederacy’s six tribes. His night of storytelling was the last event of the college’s Native American Celebration Month.

Freshman Laura Henry said the dynamics of the stories engaged her.

“He had a lot of expression,” she said. “It made it a lot more interesting than if he just stood up there and spoke to us.”

Subjects Covered: diversity training, education

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