Turbans aren't just for Muslims

While most people associate turbans with Sikhs or Muslims, the turban headdress was a style common to most of the Algonkian-speaking tribes of America and Cananda, including the Ojibwe.

The earliest illustrations of Ojibwe people wearing turbans is a depiction by James Otto Lewis during the treaty negotiations at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, in 1825. In his “Tomahawk Dance of the Chippeway Indians,” painting, three turban headdresses may be seen. This was issued as a lithograph, each print variously colored, in 1836. 

In some cases, sashes (such as the assumption sash) would be worn around the head as a turban, providing a very colorful headdress that would be impressive to onlookers. These were often used during treaty negotiations and other ceremonies where looking one's best was important.

Turbans were quite common in many paintings and sketches by early missionaries and explorers, and they were commonly associated with the Ojibwe people.

​They remained a very popular headdress for many years until it finally gave way to the effects of colonialism and the adoption of European clothing by many Anishinaabe people.

Kade M. Ferris, MS