Who Are the Mohawk?
The Mohawk (Kanien'kehá:ka, "People of the Flint") are an Iroquoian-speaking people who serve as the "Keepers of the Eastern Door" of the **Haudenosaunee Confederacy** (Six Nations/Iroquois). Today numbering approximately 45,000 members across communities in New York, Ontario, and Quebec, the Mohawk have maintained their political sovereignty and cultural identity through centuries of colonial pressure. Originally inhabiting the Mohawk River valley in present-day New York, they became famous in the 20th century for their ironworkers who built the skyscrapers of New York City—a story of adaptation where traditional fearlessness found new expression. The Mohawk remain politically active, having asserted sovereignty through dramatic confrontations including the 1990 Oka Crisis.
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy
The Mohawk were founding members of the **Haudenosaunee Confederacy** (People of the Longhouse), one of the world's oldest participatory democracies, established centuries before European contact. According to tradition, the **Peacemaker** (Deganawida) and **Hiawatha** united five warring nations—Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca—under the **Great Law of Peace** (Kaianere'kó:wa). The Tuscarora joined in 1722, creating the Six Nations. The Mohawk, positioned at the confederacy's eastern edge, guarded the "Eastern Door" against threats from that direction. The Great Law established principles including checks on leaders' power, women's authority (clan mothers choose and can depose chiefs), unanimous consent for major decisions, and peaceful conflict resolution. Some scholars argue the confederacy influenced the US Constitution; the Founders definitely knew of it. The Haudenosaunee Grand Council still meets at Onondaga, maintaining traditional governance alongside newer tribal governments, demonstrating indigenous political philosophy's contemporary relevance.
Skywalkers: Mohawk Ironworkers
The Mohawk became famous as **structural ironworkers**—the men who built America's skyscrapers, walking steel beams hundreds of feet above city streets. The tradition began in 1886 when the Dominion Bridge Company hired Mohawk men from Kahnawake (near Montreal) to work on a cantilever bridge over the St. Lawrence. Company managers discovered the Mohawk showed no fear at heights; soon, Mohawk crews were in demand for dangerous high steel work across North America. A 1907 bridge collapse at Quebec killed 33 Kahnawake men—the community's response was not to abandon ironwork but to spread crews across multiple projects, ensuring future disasters couldn't devastate the community so completely. By the 1920s, a Mohawk community had established in Brooklyn, sending men to build the Empire State Building, George Washington Bridge, and World Trade Center (including its post-9/11 reconstruction). This tradition—requiring balance, courage, and teamwork—draws on cultural values while providing economic independence. The "Skywalkers" remain a source of tremendous Mohawk pride.
The Oka Crisis and Sovereignty
The **Oka Crisis** (1990) demonstrated Mohawk willingness to assert sovereignty through direct action. When the town of Oka, Quebec, planned to expand a golf course onto Mohawk burial grounds and a sacred pine grove at Kanesatake, Mohawk warriors erected barricades. A police assault killed one officer; the Canadian army deployed 4,500 soldiers in a 78-day standoff. Images of masked Mohawk warriors facing down soldiers captured worldwide attention. The crisis ended without further violence; the golf course expansion was cancelled. Oka revealed both the depth of Mohawk resistance and Canadian society's conflicted responses to indigenous sovereignty. The crisis built on earlier confrontations including the 1971 Akwesasne blockade and later contributed to establishment of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Mohawk communities continue asserting sovereignty: Kahnawake maintains border crossing rights, operates independent institutions, and restricts non-Native residency. These assertions of nationhood—backed by willingness to resist—distinguish Mohawk politics within indigenous North America.
Contemporary Mohawk Communities
Mohawk people today live in several communities spanning the US-Canada border. **Akwesasne** straddles New York, Ontario, and Quebec—a single community divided by two international and one provincial border, complicating governance but asserting Mohawk refusal to recognize boundaries that postdate their nation. **Kahnawake** near Montreal maintains strong traditions and economic enterprises including construction companies and a radio station. **Kanesatake** (site of the Oka Crisis) continues land claims struggles. In New York, the **Mohawk Nation** territories include communities maintaining traditional Longhouse religion and governance. The Mohawk language (Kanien'kéha) has perhaps 3,000 speakers; immersion schools at Akwesasne and Kahnawake are teaching new generations. Cultural practices including lacrosse (the Mohawk "Creator's Game"), social dances, and Longhouse ceremonies continue. Contemporary Mohawk include artists, academics, athletes, and activists; the community produces disproportionate numbers of professional lacrosse players. The Mohawk navigate complex jurisdictional issues—sovereignty, border-crossing, taxation—while maintaining identity forged over centuries of strategic resistance and adaptation.
References
- Blanchard, D. (1983). Kahnawake: A Historical Sketch. Kanien'kehaka Raotitiohkwa Cultural Center.
- Fenton, W. N. (1998). The Great Law and the Longhouse: A Political History of the Iroquois Confederacy. University of Oklahoma Press.
- Mitchell, M. K. (1989). High Steel: The Daring Men Who Built the World's Greatest Skyline. Random House.
- York, G., & Pindera, L. (1991). People of the Pines: The Warriors and the Legacy of Oka. Little, Brown and Company.