Grand Marais author Staci Lola Drouillard was awarded first place in the 32nd Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards nonfiction category for her impeccably well written Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe.
Earlier this year Staci was named this year’s winner of the Hamlin Garland Prize in Popular History given out by the Midwestern History Association for her book Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press, this finely crafted, well paced page turner of a book tells the story of the families and individuals who lived in Chippewa City. Located one mile east of Grand Marais, Chippewa City was nestled near and on the shore of Lake Superior. At the turn of the 19th century there were about 200 Anishinaabe families living in Chippewa City, but slowly and surely the people left their homes.
Today, all that remains is the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church and the Chippewa City Cemetery.
A Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Anishinaabe tribal descendant, Staci began taping interviews of former Chippewa City residents in 1987. It took her 30 years to write this book, she said, but those 30 years of searching for the truths behind the demise of Chippewa City and its people are fascinating, if not troubling at times for the reader to comprehend. Its 300 pages aren’t all sadness. There are plenty of heart-warming accounts and some humorous stories in the mix.
While Staci recounts the stories of daily life at Chippewa City, she also explores the prejudice many of the Anishinaabe faced, why they were living in Chippewa City, how they lost their land and homes, and why in 1904 the Old Road became impassable. If you want to learn more, you can find it locally for sale at Drury Lane Bookstore, Birchbark Books and Gifts, and the Lake Superior Trading Post.
Established in 1988, NEMBA seeks to honor books that capture the spirit of northeastern Minnesota.
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