American Indian Culture and Research Journal

The Ojibwa have a tradition of unique forms of dress which have served as a medium of communication and as an expression of cultural values. How has this dress changed over the years, and when did change occur? The goal of this study was to identify changes in Ojibwa dress occurring within seven time periods encompassing the years 1820-1980. It focused on the modal type of dress worn by the Ojibwa, that is, the garments which are most often worn together by a majority of people within a particular time period. Historical Background and Indigenous Ojibwa Dress Little, if any, written information exists concerning the Ojibwa before 1640, although the societal make-up and some information about dress can be partially reconstructed from early written accounts of missionaries and traders, archaeological evidence, and oral traditions. In 1640, French missionaries reported that Ojibwa villages were located around the waterway that connects Lake Superior and Lake Huron-Sault Ste. Marie. Because the region was sparsely populated, it could support the Ojibwas' hunting and gathering society. Beginning in the 1690s, some Ojibwa moved out from the Sault Ste. Marie area and by the onset of the nineteenth century could be distinguished as separate cultural group. Hickerson classified the Ojibwa into four main groups: the Bungee or Plains Ojibwa of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the Saulteur or northern Ojibwa of the Laurentian upland region north of the Great Lakes, the Southeastern Ojibwa of Ontario and the lower peninsula of Michigan, and the Southwestern Ojibwa of northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. This discussion addresses the last of these groups.