Chief Oshkosh controversy brings back painful memories

By Tanya Lee, Today correspondent

Story Published: Nov 2, 2010

Story Updated: Oct 29, 2010

OSHKOSH, Wis. – The decision by the mayor of Oshkosh, Wis., to use the name and image of Chief Oshkosh to promote beer drinking in his tavern highlights long-standing cultural dissonances between Natives and non-Natives. Though less than one percent of the population of Oshkosh is Native American, its proximity to the Menominee Nation of Wisconsin has made the mayor’s promotion a focus of the ongoing controversy over how and by whom names and images of Native American leaders may be used.

The tribe, having survived relocation in the mid-19th century and termination in the mid-20th, has a tradition of strong leaders, among them Ada Deer, who organized the group that went to federal court in an action that eventually led to the redesignation of the Menominee as a federally recognized tribe in 1972. Deer became the first woman to lead the tribe in 1974, following in the tradition of others, such as Chief Oshkosh (1795-1858), who served as head of the tribe from 1827 until his death. Among his accomplishments was the Wolf River Treaty, which allowed the Menominee to remain on the Wolf River in northeastern Wisconsin.

Objections to Mayor Paul Esslinger’s use of Chief Oshkosh’s name and image were quick in coming, with the Menominee Tribal Legislature passing a resolution to memorialize its opposition. The main thrust of people’s outrage is the suffering that alcohol has caused within the Native American community.

In a letter to the mayor, a great-great-granddaughter of Chief Oshkosh, Virginia Fredenberg-Nuske, wrote, “Historically and currently, our people have suffered enough with the introduction and use of alcohol. I take it personally as an insult to learn that this is being perpetuated by using my ancestor’s name and image to promote a tavern business.”

Descendant Roberta Robinson, at 85 an employee with the tribe’s Aging Division, summarized her point of view: “Alcohol has been the downfall of many a good Indian.” She also sent a letter to the mayor.
Esslinger said he responded to the tribe’s concerns when last summer he dropped the idea of naming the bar Chief Oshkosh Saloon after consulting with tribal members.

Tribal member Richie Plass, director of education for the nonprofit Changing Winds Advocacy Center and curator of the organization’s traveling exhibit “Bittersweet Winds,” said, “It’s disrespectful. In the 1800s there were a lot of our leaders who had to struggle with alcohol. This brings back all of those old memories. He should leave it alone. He can’t use the name and image [of Chief Oshkosh] without the family’s approval.”

How the chief’s name and image may be used could become the basis of legal action, for which there are precedents. Just last year, the State of Wisconsin banned the use of Indian names and images as mascots; the ban went into effect early this summer, the same time the Chief Oshkosh issue flared up.
Nuske said in her letter to the mayor: “Wisconsin has finally accepted the fact that the use of Indian names, logos and mascots in the Public School System causes irreparable harm to tribal people. This was always done through insensitivity and ignorance. The use of Chief Oshkosh’s name and image falls under this same venue and I want to see it stopped.”

In the early 1990s, a suit was filed against the manufacturer and distributor of Crazy Horse Malt Liquor by Lakota leader Crazy Horse’s descendants. The suit alleged that association of his name with an alcoholic beverage was defamatory. The case settled in 2004 with an apology, a symbolic gift-giving ceremony and a small cash award to the family. Other grounds for a lawsuit could be unpermitted use of the name and misappropriation or abuse of the name.

The City of Oshkosh has been associated with brewing since the mid-19th century when the Gambrinus Brewing Co. was founded. Two other breweries started soon thereafter and the three merged in 1866 to form the Oshkosh Brewing Co., whose main product was Chief Oshkosh Beer. The brewery closed in 1971. Esslinger said he has been a collector of brewing memorabilia since he was a boy growing up in Oshkosh. He maintains that Chief Oshkosh, like the other two founders cited in the beer-drinking promotion, is a part of the city’s history, and that including the Menominee leader in the promotion is motivated by respect. “What I’m doing now I do out of respect for Chief Oshkosh.”

Nuske has a radically different position: “My mother [Alice C. Oshkosh-Fredenberg] spoke of Chief Oshkosh with pride; to use it this way is to denigrate his memory. … It is not an honor or accolade in any way to use my great-great-grandfather’s name or image in a business associated with the consumption and selling of alcohol.”

The disagreement about what does and does not constitute respect for Native American leaders is not new in Oshkosh. In 1911, Col. John Hicks, the editor and owner of the Oshkosh Northwestern newspaper, raised money to build a monument to honor Chief Oshkosh. The inscription on the monument reads, “Chief Oshkosh, A chief of the Menominee Tribe of Indians whose greatest achievement in this life was in giving to this city the name which will make it famous while one stone remains upon another.” Not a statement at all in keeping with the accomplishments for which his tribe and his descendants honor Chief Oshkosh.