Linda Langen in front of the Southeastern Oneida Tribal Services.
For many people with Native American heritage, finding a connection to their history and customs is a healing process and an identity that they can carry on from their ancestors. Linda Langen felt this way when she finally discovered her Oneida heritage as an adult. She found a support system in the Milwaukee Native community and made it her life’s work to help children and adolescents do the same. While finishing her master’s degree in School Counseling, she worked at the First Nation’s Studies Program at Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), helping students understand the customs and history of their tribes. Now a full-time school counselor in MPS, she continues to work with students to help them develop their identities.
As a child, Langen grew up with little knowledge of her Indigenous roots, and the little she knew was negative. Coming of age in the 1970s was a very different culture than what we know today. At the time, it was not widely accepted to stand out as a minority. Langen explains, “We tried to be erased, we tried to assimilate. It wasn’t a good thing to be different. You wanted to be accepted into the white majority. I wanted to be like everyone else.”
Langen’s father had always been a quiet man who didn’t speak to her much about their tribal background. Her grandmother, on the other hand, had issues with alcohol, which frightened her as a child. As Langen describes, there’s a historical trauma that many Indigenous people carry due to the oppression and forced assimilation they have faced in this country. That trauma is carried through generations, which contributes to the high rates of alcoholism and suicide among Native people. For Langen, the childhood experience was negative and made her distance herself from the Native culture.
Decades later, the culture in the country shifted. Being an individual and having pride in one’s diversity became more widely accepted, but Langen didn’t find her connection to her tribal identity until her 40s. She reached out to the Southeastern Oneida Tribal Services (SEOTS) on the south end of Milwaukee with questions about her heritage. She may have been searching for answers, but she instead found a community. The people of SEOTS shared the customs, stories and history of the Oneida tribe with her, and she soon realized that her childhood experiences weren’t a reflection of all Native culture.
In her work with MPS students, she uses that experience of finding her tribal identity to help youth find theirs. For students looking to understand more about their Native history, she will share stories of frybread, ceremonial customs, historical events and other traditions relevant to their tribes. That understanding offers healing from historical trauma, Langen explains, and it also gives youth a culture to identify with. “It means a lot being in a group and having customs that you share,” she says.
In a country that has tried to erase Native culture and force assimilation on Indigenous people, the traditions and practices of their ancestors are vital to uphold. Langen’s work in schools and her other volunteer work in the community focuses on connecting Native people to their culture so they can build a stronger support system in the community for future generations. “We matter. We’re still here and we’re not going away. We are something else.”
Read this story on the Shepherd Express, part of the regular column Hero of the Week.