Indigenous Voices, Part 11: Notre Dame's History with Native Peoples from Reunion 2026

Episode Topic: Notre Dame's History with Native Peoples from Reunion 2026 Drawing from the records of Fr. Badin, Fr. Sorin, and Fr. Hesburgh, as well as Chief Leopold Pokagon, the founder of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, Zada Ballew '19 tells a fuller, more complicated story of how Notre Dame was founded and why. In this telling, Indigenous peoples are neither missing nor absent from the narrative — they are central to the history of the land that became Notre Dame. Understand more fully how the early history of the Potawatomi and Notre Dame is remembered on campus.Featured Speakers:Zada Ballew, outgoing chair of NAA, University of Notre DameRead this episode's recap over on the University of Notre Dame's open online learning community platform, ThinkND: https://go.nd.edu/b0111b. This podcast is a part of the ThinkND Series titled Indigenous Voices.Thanks for listening! The ThinkND Podcast is brought to you by ThinkND, the University of Notre Dame's online learning community. We connect you with videos, podcasts, articles, courses, and other resources to inspire minds and spark conversations on topics that matter to you — everything from faith and politics, to science, technology, and your career.Learn more about ThinkND and register for upcoming live events at think.nd.edu.Join our LinkedIn community for updates, episode clips, and more.