#PlaceValue and the MCTM Conference

Posted on by

I am attending my first NCTM Centennial Annual Meeting April 1-4, 2020 in Chicago. To prepare for this celebration of children and mathematics, I participated in the Twitter chat #ghostsintheschoolyard this past fall led by Tyrone Martinez-Black, Marian Dingle and Kelly Wickham Hurst. The chat was around the book Ghosts in the Schoolyard by Eve Ewing. The purpose of the chat was to help teachers understand the educational history that surrounds the city of Chicago. The chat opened my eyes to the “history, politics, and lived experience of school closures in (Chicago’s) Bronzeville.”

As I have reflected on this learning, I think of Tyrone Martinez-Black’s #PlaceValue, who we as educators value as contributors to mathematics, whose experiences are valued, and whose space is shared. It has led me to our own MCTM conference in Duluth, April 24th – 25th. I grew up in the area just outside of Duluth but when I started looking up the history of the land, there was much new learning. I was pleasantly surprised to find The University of Minnesota Duluth’s Land Acknowledgment, “The University resides on land that was cared for and called home by the Ojibwe people, before them the Dakota and Northern Cheyenne people, and other Native peoples from time immemorial.”

As I continued my search, I found An Ethnographic Study of Indigenous Contributions to the City of Duluth which offers a Timeline of Indigenous History of Duluth and the surrounding area. “The invisibility of Indigenous people was a prime factor in motivation for the Duluth Indigenous Commission” and within this study, I found this to be particularly important as our conference is held at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center (DECC).

We’re Still Here: Reconnecting and Renewing Native Heritage in Duluth is another resource I found valuable. It states, “Native people are the largest minority among a “majority” population in the city. The 2010 U.S. Census recorded the city’s 86,266 population as 90.4 percent white, 2.5 percent American Indian or Alaska Native, 2.3 percent Black or African American, 1.5 percent Asian, 1.5 percent Hispanic/Latino and 3 percent who identified with more than one race.” The interactive map of indigenous contributions contains important history about Canal Park, which is less than half a mile from the conference location.

Along with this is the need to know about the history of Duluth with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and the task force that was recently created. This billboard went up September 2019 to give a voice to what has been silenced in the past.

Other resources I found are not specific to the Duluth area but share the contributions of Ojibwe People.

With all this in mind, I think about questions to consider in the future.

  • How do we create a collaborative space with Indigenous Mathematicians from the area to co-create a conference that honors and displays their many contributions?
  • How do we leverage the talents and skills of the Indigenous People in Minnesota to share their experiences in math?
  • Is there an opportunity to bring in local artists to share their work?

It’s exciting to think about the possibilities. I would love to hear people’s ideas of what this could look like in the future! 

Laura Wagenman

Equity & Communication Committee