Oxford and Beyond

Myaamia Center staff featured on ‘First America’ podcast

Podcast tells part of the story of America's 250th anniversary from different perspectives

by Margo Rutledge Kissell • Published 6/02/26

Oxford and Beyond

Myaamia Center staff featured on ‘First America’ podcast

Podcast tells part of the story of America's 250th anniversary from different perspectives

by Margo Rutledge Kissell • Published 6/02/26

Three Myaamia Center staff members — Cameron Shriver, Kara Strass, and George Ironstrack — will be featured on the “First America” podcast, which will tell part of the story of the 250th anniversary of the United States from different perspectives.

The podcast is hosted by Indigenous journalist Rebecca Nagle in partnership with other Indigenous scholars.

“We really respect Rebecca Nagle's work as a Cherokee journalist and storyteller and were excited to host her in Myaamionki (Myaamia homelands) as she worked on sharing the story of this period of our history with her audience,” said Ironstrack, assistant director of the Myaamia Center.

Strass, Van Zant Director of Miami Tribe Relations for the Myaamia Center, said, “At the time of the nation's founding, the U.S. was in conflict with the Tribes in the Ohio River Valley. We talked a lot about the history of those conflicts, war, treaties, and the loss of land.”

Journalist Rebecca Nagle interviews Kara Strass of the Myaamia Center on the bank of the St. Mary's River in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The river is frozen over and it was a windy day, so they're using an umbrella to block the wind (photo by George Ironstrack).

She and Ironstrack also spent a lot of time talking about “what that means for Myaamia people and what that means for the language and cultural revitalization that is happening today,” she said.

Shriver, also was interviewed on the podcast, is an adjunct assistant professor of History and research associate with the Myaamia Center.

The Myaamia Center continues groundbreaking work in language and cultural revitalization that has led to the first generation in about 100 years learning to speak the Myaamia language and reconnecting with their cultural heritage.

When asked about what was going on with the Myaamia people and this region 250 years ago, Ironstrack referred to a blog post on the Mihši-maalhsa Wars - Part 1 that he published in 2014.

“The short answer is that squatters were flooding into what is today Kentucky at the end of the Revolution and this sparked a conflict over control of the Ohio River Valley,” he said. “At the end of the American Revolutionary War, the Treaty of Paris ceded British control of what is today the eastern U.S. to the new nation, but tribal nations in the Ohio Valley had signed no land treaties with the British, so this cession was fraudulent from a Native perspective.”

Ironstrack said it’s important to remember that the state of Ohio didn’t exist in 1776.

“This land would remain Indian Counry for a couple of decades after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Specifically for Miami University, this land would only be officially ceded to the U.S. in 1795 at the Treaty of Greenville,” Ironstrack said.

Established in 1809, Miami University is located in Oxford, Ohio, with regional campuses in Hamilton and Middletown, a learning center in West Chester, and a European study center in Luxembourg. Interested in learning more about the Myaamia Center? Visit the website for more information.