ONAWAY TRUST

Among the Onaway Trust archives are a pristine collection of native peoples posters. Many were published by the venerable Indian bimonthly newspaper, Akwesasne Notes, based during the 1970's in Mohawk/Six Nations Territory in upstate New York. The man in this poster is identified as Hinmaton Yalatkit ("Rolling Thunder in the Mountain") also called Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce.

For more than 20 years Onaway Trust has been a strong and vital partner in Plenty's programs with native and indigenous peoples. Founded the same year as Plenty, 1974, Onaway and Plenty share a similar world view and philosophy. Onaway's founder, John Morris is an unassuming visionary who has dedicated his life's work to assisting people in their struggles to overcome poverty and oppression and reclaim the essential grandeur of their cultural heritage.

Among the many Plenty programs Onaway has supported is our work with the Maya in Guatemala and Belize, the Huichol people in Mexico, and the Oglala Lakota at Pine Ridge.

In May, my wife Anita and I visited John and Onaway's Administrator, David Watters, at their offices in Leeds, UK. They're about to move their headquarters to a stone house in Pitlochry, Scotland that was built in 1780. The house sits on two acres and is large enough to host meetings and seminars and display some of the incredible collection of books and posters and photographs that Onaway has collected over the years. When we were together we discussed the importance of protecting the Onaway Trust archives, one of the most extensive collections of books, pictures and documents related to Native Americans I have ever seen.