Burt Medicine Bull is a professor at Chief Dull Knife College in Lame Deer, Montana where he teaches Cheyenne language and arts. He says the Cheyenne and the Jewish people share a history of struggle and persecution. The Northern Cheyenne were forcibly removed to Oklahoma following their defeat at the hands of the U.S. military. They were later returned to their homeland in Montana where around 5,000 tribal members live on the reservation, an additional 5,000 live in other parts of the U.S.  

Medicine Bull says the Cheyenne are survivors, having withstood what he calls a program of genocide by the US government during the late 19th century. Medicine Bull says only about 100 Northern Cheyenne speak Cheyenne as their primary language, and he's concerned that it could fade away altogether. He's encouraged by the revival of the ancient Hebrew language as a model for cultural preservation.  

Lippman School teacher Matt Russ says this week's cultural exchange with the Northern Cheyenne is the third of their visits to Ohio, and he says next spring students from The Lippman school will travel again to Montana for the third time. He says the two cultures share a sense of tribal identity that connects them to traditions and to the land. As part of this visit, students made bread together, sharing traditional Jewish challa bread alongside Cheyenne fry-bread.

Tonight they invite the public to join them for an evening of traditional Cheyenne drumming, dancing, and singing, starting at 7pm at Firestone Metro Park  -