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Geneva church to host program on preserving Potawatomi heritage

The Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva will present a special Friday Features program featuring award-winning photographer, animator and graphic designer Sharon Hoogstraten. She will discuss “Dancing for Our Tribe,” her book of photographic portraits of contemporary Potawatomi people in full tribal regalia.

The presentation will be held at 7:15 p.m. Friday, March 21, at the church, 110 S. Second St. in downtown Geneva. It is free and open to the public.

Hoogstraten will share the images in her book as well as her 10-year quest to locate and photograph her Potawatomi subjects. She also will discuss the Potawatomi heritage in Illinois and what the future of native tribes in our area means to our community.

Hoogstraten spent a decade capturing the powerful photographic images in her book, and during the process she also discovered her own Potawatomi roots, which she was unaware of at the time.

Beginning with the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, her home reservation in Shawnee, Okla., she visited all nine nations of the scattered Potawatomi tribe to produce photographic evidence that, as she puts it, “We are still here” in today’s America.

Signed copies of her book will be available for purchase after the presentation.

Lynn Steele of the church’s Social Justice team will moderate the program. “As Potawatomi people return to their recently restored reservation in DeKalb County, our church is committed to being informed about the Potawatomi and sharing programs with the community about native life today,” Steele said. “Sharon’s presentation will provide us with a window to view how the Potawatomi people can preserve their tribal heritage while living in our modern world.”

About the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva

Founded in 1842, the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva is the oldest church in Geneva, Ill., part of a centuries-old liberal religious tradition that values reason and free thought over dogma and creed. Led by the Rev. Scot Hull, UUSG is a unique religious voice in the community, offering worship services and religious education programs that draw on diverse spiritual traditions, as well as outreach initiatives that advance social justice causes locally and around the world. Learn more at www.uusg.org.

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