Rarely accessible to the general public, Ojibway mythology is as rich in meaning, as broad, as deep, and as innately appealing as the mythologies of Greece, Rome, and other Western civilizations. In Ojibway Heritage Basil Johnston introduces his people's ceremonies, rituals, songs, dances, prayers, arid legends. Conveying the sense of wonder and mystery at the heart of the Ojibway experience, Johnston describes the creation of the universe, followed by that of plants and animals and human beings, and the paths taken by the latter. These stories are to be read, enjoyed, and freely interpreted. Their authorship is perhaps most properly attributed to the tribal storytellers who have carried on the oral tradition that Johnston records and preserves in this book.

Ojibway Heritage (English and Ojibwa Edition)

Johnston, Basil H.

Columbia University Press

Ojibway Heritage

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

MCCLELLAND STEWART

Indian School Days

This book is the humorous, bitter-sweet autobiography of a Canadian Ojibwa who was taken from his family at age ten and placed in Jesuit boarding school in northern Ontario. It was 1939 when the feared Indian agent visited Basil Johnstonâs family and removed him and his four-year-old sister to St. Peter Claverâs school, run by the priests in a community known as Spanish, 75 miles from Sudbury.Spanish! It was a word synonymous with residential school, penitentiary, reformatory, exile, dungeon, whippings, kicks, slaps, all rolled into one,â Johnston recalls. But despite the aching loneliness, the deprivation, the culture shock and the numbing routine, his story is engaging and compassionate. Johnston creates marvelous portraits of the young Indian boys who struggled to adapt to strange ways and unthinking, unfeeling discipline. Even the Jesuit teachers, whose flashes of humor occasionally broke through their stern demeanor, are portrayed with an understanding born of hindsight.

Biographies & Memoirs

Univ of Oklahoma Pr

This book is the humorous, bitter-sweet autobiography of a Canadian Ojibwa who was taken from his family at age ten and placed in Jesuit boarding school in northern Ontario. It was 1939 when the feared Indian agent visited Basil Johnston’s family and removed him and his four-year-old sister to St. Peter Claver’s school, run by the priests in a community known as Spanish, 75 miles from Sudbury. “Spanish! It was a word synonymous with residential school, penitentiary, reformatory, exile, dungeon, whippings, kicks, slaps, all rolled into one,” Johnston recalls. But despite the aching loneliness, the deprivation, the culture shock and the numbing routine, his story is engaging and compassionate. Johnston creates marvelous portraits of the young Indian boys who struggled to adapt to strange ways and unthinking, unfeeling discipline. Even the Jesuit teachers, whose flashes of humor occasionally broke through their stern demeanor, are portrayed with an understanding born of hindsight.

Community & Culture

University of Oklahoma Press

The Anishinaubae (Chippewa/Ojibwe) language has a beauty in the spoken word, a deliberate rhythm, simplicity, and mysterious second meanings. When Basil Johnston began teaching the Anishinaubae language, in the late 1960s, there were no related manuals or dictionaries that were suitable for beginners. To fill this void, Johnston wrote a language course and a lexicon to fill for the course materials. Now he has broadened this labor by compiling Anishinaubae Thesaurus, which goes even further to fill a deep cultural and linguistic void. This thesaurus contains a useful sampling of the 400,000 words that comprise the Anishinaubae language, and it is intended to be a practical reference tool for teachers, translators, interpreters, and orthographers.

Anishinaubae Thesaurus

Michigan State University Press

In the tradition of Tales the Elders Told and Tales of the Anishinaubaek, Basil Johnston's newest work, The Bear-Walker, brings to the printed page the spoken myths of his people, myths that have inspired exquisite paintings by David Johnson. Here is the native spirit, as told by the elders, tales of wisdom and humour, vision and fantasy, alive with a sense of the magical possibilities of life lived close to nature.

The Bear-Walker: And Other Tales

Royal Ontario Museum

Think Indian is a collection of essays and presentations that Mr. Johnston has delivered to numerous educational conferences and gatherings across Canada and the United States. Topics covered, while all relating to the critical need to protect and encourage our language include how we are One Generation Away From Extinction, Cowboys and Indians to You can't tell stories in the summertime and the title essay Think Indian. Think Indian bumper stickers pleaded and advocated in the 60's, Think Indian. And while the plea may have been intended for general consideration, it represented in many instances a personal appeal for the exercise of a greater degree or intensity of Indianness, particularly by those who were prevented, for a variety of reasons, from practicing real Indianness. (Excerpt from book)

Think Indian: Languages Are Beyond Price

Kegedonce Pr

History

Americas

Key Porter Books

Indian School Days is the humorous bittersweet authobiography of Basil Johnston, a native Ojibway, who was taken from his family at age 10 and placed in a "residential" school in northern Ontario The book opens in 1939 when the feared Indian agent visits Johnston`s family and removes him and his four-year-old sister to St. Peter Claver`s School, a boarding school run by Jesuit priests at Spanish, 75 miles from Sudbury, Ontario. In describing the years that follow, Basil Johnston creates marvelous portraits of the young Indian boys as they struggle to adapt to a harsh and strange environment, and of their Jesuit teachers, whose flashes of humour occasionally break through the discipline with which the institution is run.

Memoirs

Basil Johnston is one of the foremost Anishinaabe writers and storytellers, and his comedic stories about life in Residential School, Indian School Days, is a classic. Candies is Johnston's first collection of humorous works in decades.Excerpt from "Indian on Bicycle" found in Candies:Both cars raced off. Tires squealed. Rubber burned. 50 ... 60 ... 70 ... 80 miles an hour.Behind, the old Indian, his hair flying, his shirt flapping and snapping like a wind-blown flag, was desperately ringing his bell, "ding, ding, ding." ..."Better get ready to flag down a couple of fool kids racing down the road about 80 miles an hour. But you won't believe this ... there's an old Indian on a bicycle trying to pass them!"

Candies: A Humour Composite

Literature & Fiction

United States

Kegedonce Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Johnston, Basil H.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Johnston, Basil H.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Johnston, Basil H.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Ojibway Heritage (English and Ojibwa Edition)

Ojibway Heritage

Indian School Days

Indian School Days

Anishinaubae Thesaurus

The Bear-Walker: And Other Tales

Think Indian: Languages Are Beyond Price

Indian School Days

Indian School Days

Candies: A Humour Composite