Marvin Rainwater

65 years ago today, a great man was born. You’ve never heard of him. He never made headline news or shocked the world with his discoveries. Rather, he lived his life with a quiet ferocity- a calm, yet unalterable set of principles that challenged the beliefs and enhanced the lives of anyone who had the pleasure of knowing him.

His given name was Marvin and he was Aniishanabe. Marvin spent the majority of his life on the Ojibwe reservation Nah-gah-chi-wa-nong, because of the deep connection he felt to The People. Later in life he would earn the name Rainwater to acknowledge his serene nature and tranquil acceptance of his place in this world. He will always be an enduring example of what it means to live the ways.

From humble beginnings, Marvin Rainwater rose up to meet the challenges faced in reservation life. He never believed in cultural boundaries and fell in love with a white woman who he married in the early 1960’s. That alone was enough to cause both parties ostracization from the ‘socially acceptable’ and it didn’t stop there. Having seen the disproportionate allocation of advantages to his white neighbors- Marvin decided that true equality was never going to be possible. Instead he sought out Native-specific rights and freedoms.

He thought big. :) He took the state of Minnesota to court. State taxes were conspicuous in their absence from any Native assistance programs. Reservations were already required to provide their own money for community projects, maintenance of roads and facilities, etc. Marvin felt he shouldn’t have to contribute to the privileged majority. So he took Minnesota to court and lost. But his lawsuit was one of the first steps which led to the Supreme Court case that gained Aniishanabeg this freedom. Afterwards, Marvin became a member of the Ceded Territory Board which fought continually for Native ricing, hunting and fishing rights.

Marvin and his wife had three daughters. It was in his mixed-blood girls that Marvin saw both the salvation and continuation of the culture of the people and also, sadly- their inevitable demise. Until recently, Ojibwe heritage had been a jealously guarded secret world. Marvin Rainwater was a teacher and he wanted to bring the beauty of the Native world to as many people as possible. What is a delicate treasure if it is held by a select few, hidden away from other’s eyes- never to be shared and eventually forgotten? While The People couldn’t last- their culture could and Marvin was to become a key figure in preserving that life.

He became an artist- though he would have humbly claimed to have been a simple craftsman. His work has no compare. He started small, using traditional methods of gathering the materials for his craft. He would go to pow-wow every summer and trade his birch bark baskets, nooshkaachinaagan, and dikkinagun, sometimes offering them as gifts to any who admired them. He combined the ancestors’ ways of acquiring wiigob and wiigwaas with modern techniques of construction. And now Marvin’s work can be found in galleries in Minneapolis, Chicago, Seattle, and Washington DC- it’s there... hoping you’ll remember.

Marvin believed you teach by example. He understood the inexplicable nature of life. Things all eventually change and all we can do as mortals is- let go, understand it’s not personal, and realize that whether the change is good or bad, we are all so lucky to be here. And that’s how he lived his life, each and every day.

We once were a strong, proud, beautiful people... it was men like Marvin Rainwater who made us remember we still are, that we will always be. I think there was also a universal message to his life. You don’t have to change the way the world sees you as a people. It’s up to you to decide what you believe in. Choose- believe- stand fast to those values and let the world make up its own mind about you.

Happy Birthday Dad!

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