You may be familiar with the photograph ‘lunch atop a skyscraper’–an iconic image taken in 1932 featuring a group of ironworkers having lunch atop a steel beam hundreds of feet above the Manhattan pavement.  

What you may not know about this photograph is that several of the men on that beam are part of a legacy of Indigenous ironworkers whose participation in the high-steel workforce began in the 1880s throughout the northeastern United States and Canada.  

Allan Downey, an associate professor in the Department of History and the Indigenous Studies Department, is currently researching the history of Indigenous ironworkers i including the generations of Haudenosaunee ironworkers who were, and continue to be, an integral part of the high-steel workforce in New York City.  

On March 20th, as part of the School of Labour Studies Speaker Series, Downey will be hosting a discussion on the digital history of Indigenous resurgence where he will screen his award-winning animated short, Rotinonhsión:ni Ironworkers—a film that highlights the role of Rotinonhsión:ni (Haudenosaunee) ironworkers, particularly from the Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk) communities of Ahkwesáhsne and Kahnawà:ke, in building some of the most iconic landmarks in New York City. 

“Since its release, the film is serving as a great tool to spark conversations around Indigenous resurgence and history,” says Downey. “This film is an Indigenous history, told from the Indigenous inside and the hope is that this story, and others like it, will inspire future generations to develop ways of telling their own stories.”  

Telling the story of the Rotinonhsión:ni ironworkers not only highlights an important part of Indigenous history, it also provides the opportunity to explore how Haudenosaunee culture was influenced by this labour-related re-location to New York.  

The influx of Haudenosaunee families from Akwesasne and especially Kahnawake was at its peak by the 1920s and many of these families settled in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. They opened boarding houses for workers and established the new community of “Little Caughnawaga”–the anglicized version of Kahnawake. 

In his presentation, Downey will explore the ways in which ironworking and “Little Caughnawaga” served in redefining and articulating Haudenosaunee nationhood, family practices, gender, and self-determination. 

“Ironworking, and Indigenous women’s work, has been a powerful axis in which nationhood and self-determination has been centered,” says Downey.  “I look forward to sharing a small piece of this powerful story for audiences to reconsider how and where Indigenous nationhood operates.” 

Event details

Rotinonhsión:ni Ironworkers: A Digital History of Indigenous Resurgence with Dr. Allan Downey 

• March 20, 2023
• 3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
• L.R. Wilson Hall Community Room (1003), McMaster University
  

No pre-registration required