Miami U. of Ohio changed name from ‘Redskins’ to ‘RedHawks’ in 1997

By Steve Hammons

Miami University of Ohio in Oxford, located in southwestern Ohio near the Indiana state line, changed its mascot name from "Redskins" to "RedHawks" in 1997 after the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma made a name-change request of the university.

The university's decision to change the name sparked debate, according Miami University’s Director of Miami Tribe Relations Kara Strass. 

In a July 13, 2020, article from ABC9 News in Cincinnati under the headline, “Miami University was decades ahead in dropping Redskins nickname,” Strass was quoted as saying, “I think this was a very controversial decision. I don’t think it was one that was made lightly."

She noted, “There was a lot of alumni pushback to people who saw Redskins as part of their Miami identity, part of their experience of going to school at Miami, and felt like I think something had been taken away from them. It’s been pretty controversial ever since then.”

Miami University was founded in 1809 – not long after many native people, including the Miami, Myaami or Myaamia of southwestern Ohio and Indiana, and the Shawnee of Ohio and Kentucky had been pushed out of the region by force, after much bloodshed and loss of their lands.

MYAAMIA CENTER

Miami U. is in an area that was an interface between the Miami people to the west and northwest, and the Shawnee tribe who lived to the east in central and southern Ohio and Kentucky, south of the Ohio River, or as it reportedly was called then, the “Ohi yo” or “Ohiyo.”

Today, Miami U. is home of the Myaamia Center, begun in 2001 as the Myaamia Project, with wide-ranging activities in partnership with the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. That tribe is the only U.S. government-recognized Miami tribe, though there is also a Miami tribal group in Indiana.

According to their webpages on the Miami U. website, “The Center focuses on conducting in-depth research to assist the Miami Tribe’s educational initiatives aimed at the preservation of language and culture.”

Additionally, “The Center also emphasizes exposing undergraduate and graduate students at Miami University to tribal efforts in language and cultural revitalization.”

Also on the Miami U. website, "The Myaamia Center is directly supported by both the Tribe and the University. Anyone committed to helping perpetuate Miami language and culture for future generations is welcome to participate."

The Myaamia Center describes its mission: “The Center, a Miami Tribe of Oklahoma initiative located within an academic setting, serves the needs of the Myaamia people, Miami University, and partner communities through research, education, and outreach that promote Myaamia language, culture, knowledge, and values.”

Relationships that have been established between Miami U. and the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. “Over the years, a thriving and mutually enriching relationship has developed between the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University.”

“Each activity, project, class, and visit is one piece of a much broader, continuously developing relationship,” the Myaamia Center webpages explain.

PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

The center is involved in research and conferences. “The Myaamia Center's offices explore research on a breadth of topics, from language and education to cultural ecology.”

“We present our research regularly at events such as the Myaamiaki Conference. We also make our research available to members of the Miami Tribe community and the public, in many cases as free downloads.”

Also from the center’s webpages:

- 125 Myaamia students have enrolled at Miami University since 1996.

- 89% graduation rate for Myaamia students at Miami University as of 2017.

- In 2022, the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University will celebrate 50 years of relationship building.

According to Cincinnati’s ABC9 News article, “The Miami Tribe formally asked the university to change its nickname and mascot in 1996. A year later, it did – to RedHawks.”

Miami U.’s Strass is quoted as saying, “That is a first step, and that there is so much more work to be done, before people truly understand what it means to be a native person, to honor native communities.”

The article explained, “At Miami, Strass says without the name change a lot of what’s happening now, like the creation of the Myaamia Center and a program that’s bringing 30 tribal students to attend school there this fall, wouldn’t have been possible.”

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For more information, visit their website: Miami University’s Myaamia Center

(Related articles "Navy Research Project on Intuition," "Human perception key in hard power, soft power, smart power" and “Storytelling affects human biology, beliefs, behavior” are posted on the CultureReady blog, Defense Language and National Security Education Office, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, U.S. Department of Defense.)