Madison Reporter

The Madison Public Library recently released a public "thank you" to Ho Chunk storyteller Andi Cloud for completing her Native American Storyteller Residency program at the library. 

In a tweet, the library said, “Over the past two months, @andijcloud has hosted dozens of events at our libraries. We’ve learned so much about Ho Chunk culture as part of the Native American Storyteller Residency. Please join us in saying PINAGIGI [Thank you] for all of Andi’s hard work!”

According to the city, the Madison Public Library hosted a storyteller in residence, beginning on Indigenous Peoples Day (Oct. 11) through Dec. 18. The program was in collaboration with Ho-Chunk Gaming, and the storyteller was Andi Cloud, a tribal member and storyteller of the Ho-Chunk Nation. The program was called “Ho-Chunk Through Story: The Origin, The Wayz, and The Life.” In addition to stories, the program included art workshops, activities and exhibits. Events were both virtual and in-person.

The Ho-Chunk are one of two of the First Nations of Wisconsin, originally from the Red Banks area near what is now Green Bay. Their government is now located in Black River Falls. There are around 8,000 members of the Ho-Chunk Nation living today, although only approximately 200 of them are fluent speakers of the Ho-Chunk language. Between 1832 and 1874, there were attempts to “ethnically cleanse” the Ho-Chunk people from Wisconsin and Illinois by moving them into Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, but the Ho-Chunk people kept returning to their homeland, finally resulting in them being able to purchase their ancestral land through the 1862 Homestead Act. Their resilience resulted the Indian Homestead Act of 1875, a new national law.

Cloud also tweeted, “Thank you for the opportunity @madisonlibrary I had lots of fun! And thank you to the people of Madison for your love!”