Perry Ground’s Talking Turtle Stories: “Haudenosaunee Women – From SkyWoman to Influence on American Suffrage

Perry Ground is a Turtle Clan member of the Onondaga Nation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy. He has been a master storyteller and cultural educator for over 25 years and enjoys working with people of all ages to teach about the history and culture of Native Peoples.

During this story, Perry will discuss the role that women play in Haudenosaunee communities throughout history. Beginning with the Creation Story and SkyWoman, his talk will highlight the important responsibilities women have with the culture, government, and communities of the Haudenosaunee. He will also compare these responsibilities and freedoms to those of American women, and the role that Haudenosaunee women played in influencing the ideas of early suffragists will be discussed as well.

This presentation is best suited for families with students in 7^th grade or higher and all adults.

Perry will return in November 2023 to present two of his amazing programs: Stories from the People of the Longhouse and Re-thinking Thanksgiving – A Native American Perspective on an American Holiday.

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes. Hornell Public Library’s director and staff are very grateful to be a grant recipient of the 2023 NYSC SCR Community Arts Grant, and they are excited to start offering the programs this project supports.