Thank you all for attending Jill’s talk last month on the theme Native.

On February, we delved into the many meanings of NATIVE with Jill Lyons. In true storyteller fashion, Jill Lyons took the Chicago audience through a journey of what it means to belong to a place, to remember where we come from and to honor those who came before, especially our parents and ancestors who often made difficult choices so that we can all be here today. 

Lyon’s also reminded the audience of the man who founded Chicago, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Just imagine that in the late 1700’s, a black man from Haiti moves to an area on the Chicago river to become a trader,  marries a local Potawatamie woman and speaks several native languages, in addition to European colonial languages. The city of Chicago inherits Jean Baptiste Du Sable’s adventurous and inclusive spirit. 

We could not speak on the theme NATIVE without honoring the indigenous First Nations tribes who inhabit this land and continue to teach us the wisdom of living in harmony with the earth. An especially fascinating portion of Lyon’s talk focused on how famed Psychologist, Abraham Maslow, of the ubiquitous Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pyramid, spent six weeks with the Blackfoot/Siksika tribe in Canada and and he basically stole their idea, but sadly, inverted it for the capitalist/industrial society he returned to. In the Blackfoot/Siksika community, everything begins with self-actualization! They believe it is only after this, that a person can go on to achieve the things they need and want. 

James Vukelich Kaagegaabaw, linguist and author of The Seven Generations and The Seven Grandfather Teachings
Fun Fact - Jill Lyons father is Gregory Bibb, a famed Chicago musician who led the 1970s group The Prophets of Soul and he was honored by Mayor Harold Washington as “one of Chicago’s most talented composers/musicians” and marked February 20th as Gregory Bibb Day!