The migration took many generations and was fraught with danger for the Anishinaabe had to pass through lands long inhabited by other tribes

. 

When the survivors finally arrived on the southern shore of Gichigami, Lake Superior, they found the manoomin, wild rice, that signaled the end of their journey.  But here, in the dense northern forests of what are now Wisconsin and Minnesota, the Anishinaabe met their fiercest opponent—the Dakota, later named Sioux by the French.

 

In centuries of conflict, the Anishinaabe successfully drove the Dakota into the prairies to the south.

This bloody and long-running conflict provides the background for The Thirteen: Ashi-niswi—the story of 13 teenagers who take it upon themselves to regain the honor of their band by pursuing and attempting to punish the Dakota war party that had decimated their village.

​

The story is a parable posing the universal question: “What is the price of honor?” It is also a poignant coming-of-age story as the youngest of the youthful warriors struggles to come to grips with the aftermath of the quest.

​

Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation

​

​