George Bonga

George Bonga
African American and Ojibwe
Born	(1802-08-20)August 20, 1802 Northwest Territory near modern Duluth
Died	1874 Onigum, Minnesota
Occupation(s)	Fur trader Government interpreter Entrepreneur

George Bonga (August 20, 1802 – 1874) was a fur trader, entrepreneur and interpreter for the U.S. government, who was of Ojibwe and African descent, fluent in French, Ojibwemowin and English. At the age of eighteen, he served as an interpreter for Governor Lewis Cass of Michigan Territory during a treaty council with the Ojibwe at Fond du Lac near present-day Duluth, Minnesota. Bonga worked for the American Fur Company from 1820 to 1839, progressing to the role of clerk or sub-trader working under the head trader William Alexander Aitken. In 1837, he was involved in the first criminal trial held in Minnesota when he tracked down and successfully apprehended Che-ga-wa-skung, an Ojibwe man who was wanted for murder, transporting him 250 miles (400 km) back to Fort Snelling.

In the 1850s, Bonga worked for the United States Indian agent at Leech Lake, serving as interpreter and superintendent of the government farm. Later, he traded in dry goods and opened a lodge on Leech Lake with his wife. In 1867, Bonga served as an interpreter during treaty negotiations which resulted in the creation of the White Earth Indian Reservation.

Baptized Catholic and educated in Montreal, George Bonga was the son of Pierre Bonga, a Black man who worked in the fur trade, and an Ojibwe mother, Ogibwayquay, and the brother of Stephen Bonga and Margaret Bonga Fahlstrom. George and his Ojibwe wife, Ashwewin, had four children, including William Bonga, who joined the followers of Waabaanakwad at White Earth.

Bungo Township in Cass County, Minnesota is named after the Bonga family. George Bonga was featured in the "Black American Pioneers" exhibit at the National Great Blacks In Wax Museum and was mentioned in the United States Congressional Record during the introduction of the National Great Blacks Commendation Act of 2003.^[1]