This is an American story that has not been told. It is a story of
courage, freedom, and wilderness.
In early America, Jean Bonga escaped slavery with his wife and three
children and made their way up the Mississippi River to Mackinac Island
on Lake Michigan during the height of the fur trade. It was in this
wilderness of the northwoods that the Bongas found freedom and left an
indelible impression on the land and the people--A safe home in the
wilderness.
Jean's children married into the Ojibwe tribe which mingled the blood of
Africa and North America and produced men and women who had a monumental
impact on the wilderness that would become Minnesota. They were
interpreters and were involved with politics, the economy of the fur
trade, and lead early European cartographers deep into the wild. Their
story is full of intrigue and political ramifications.
From the late 1700s to the late 1800s, three generations of Bongas lived
in the wilds of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. This book is
incredibly important to Americans alike as it is what is best about our
history--a struggle for freedom and the power of wilderness.
