[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 23, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S1703]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  REMEMBERING JOSEPH MARTIN ROSE, SR.

  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the life and legacy 
of Mr. Joseph Martin Rose, Sr., Moka'ang Giizis or ``Rising Sun'' in 
the Ojibwe language, a beloved elder and member of the Eagle Clan of 
the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe. As a member of the Three 
Fires Midewiwin Grand Medicine Lodge, Joe was a teacher, culture 
keeper, pipe carrier, and treasure to his community. His life was one 
of far too many claimed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
  Joe was born on April 24, 1935, to Carl Rose, Sr., and Mary ``Dolly'' 
(Jackson) Rose in Oklahoma. When his father volunteered to repair naval 
ships in Alaska during World War II, his mother brought the family back 
home to Odanah to live with her parents on the Bad River Native 
American Reservation. Joe often told stories about growing up in 
Odanah, calling it a ``time of kerosene lamps, outhouses, and wood 
heat.'' He credited his grandfather, Dan Jackson, with instilling in 
him a strong connection to the natural world by teaching him about 
traditional plants, ceremonies, and medicines. He spent his youth 
netting fish in the spring, wild ricing in late summer, duck hunting in 
the fall, then ice skating and enjoying bonfires in the winter.
  He attended DePadua High School in Ashland, where he played nose 
tackle on the football team, wrestled, and sang in the school choir. 
His athleticism earned him a scholarship to Northland College, where he 
majored in biology and secondary education, earning a certification to 
teach high school science and math. After graduation, he spent the next 
10 years teaching in South Dakota and Wyoming, while coaching youth 
sports. With the help of his parents, he raised two children, taught 
full time, and earned a master's degree in guidance counseling before 
returning to Bad River in 1970.
  Back in Wisconsin, he became the homeschool coordinator and guidance 
counselor at Ashland High School. As an advocate for Bad River 
children, he taught them Native American arts and crafts and offered 
courses about culture. In 1974, he was asked to develop the newly 
formed Native American Studies Program at Northland College, one of the 
first such programs in America. As its director, he created a culture-
based curriculum that emphasized environmental stewardship and the 
connection Ojibwe people have with Lake Superior.
  Joe's experiential learning courses were memorable for the visits to 
his home on Waverly Beach, birch bark canoes, ceremonial lodges, and a 
round house built by his students. He helped create the Traditional 
Ways Gathering, an annual event celebrating Ojibwe crafts such as 
beading, basket making, and flintknapping. He formed a relationship 
with the recently dedicated David R. Obey Northern Great Lakes Visitor 
Center in Ashland and curated its exhibits on Lake Superior tribal 
history and culture.
  As a staunch defender of Native American treaty rights, Joe and his 
son, Joe Dan, were among Lake Superior Ojibwe who exercised their 
rights to spearfish lakes in the ceded territory. They did so in the 
face of sometimes violent demonstrations in opposition to those rights. 
He later served on the Voigt Intertribal Task Force, which facilitates 
the cooperative management of shared natural resources in ceded 
territory.
  Joe retired as an associate professor in 2007, although he continued 
to teach and serve in leadership roles until the end of his life. Even 
after retirement, Joe continued his activism against environmental 
threats facing Lake Superior, including nuclear waste, oil exploration, 
garbageincineration, factory farming, and taconite mining in the 
Penokee Hills. His most recent fight was against the Enbridge Line 5 
oil pipeline that crosses the Bad River reservation, one of his primary 
issues of concern as a member of the Ashland County Board. One way or 
another, Joe was a part of virtually every significant environmental 
and treaty-rights struggle in the region over the past half century.
  While soft-spoken, Joe had a voice that proved powerful and deeply 
resonant. He believed that he had the responsibility to ``go out and 
share this knowledge and wisdom of how to live in harmony and balance 
with the natural world.'' With this ethos and an indomitable faith in 
grassroots organizing, he never turned down an opportunity fight the 
good fight and share his knowledge with others. The countless people 
who were fortunate enough to know and learn from Joe Rose, Sr., will 
keep his memory alive and continue his good work for generations to 
come.

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