APS, Perkins Mansion Host Observances

Posted on 10/11/2019

North American First People's Day was deemed "most successful" by Dave Lieberth, who produced a weekend and a day's worth of events to celebrate.

Akron City Council adopted the local holiday in 2018 to celebrate Native Americans on their own day.

Lieberth created events in a four-day celebration, from Friday to Monday, featured a new art exhibit at The University of Akron and lessons in Akron Public Schools classrooms led by Native Americans at Litchfield, Resnick and Portage Path community learning centers Monday.

Sunday saw 260 people participate in the fourth annual walk of the Portage Path organized by the Summit County Historical Society, the Lippman School and Summit Metro Parks. Celebrants performed tribal songs and tribal attire followed by dancing and drumming at Perkins Stone Mansion.

In Monday's performances at the three APS schools, Lieberth counted an audience of 100 fourth-graders and 50 kindergartners at Resnik, and 50 fourth-graders and 50 kindergartners at Portage Path CLC. At Litchfield, about 100 eighth-graders watched the celebration.

On Sunday, we had 260 in the march to Perkins Mansion.