The Magna Carta, better known as the Great Charter in English, helped solidify relationships between the king and a group of rebel barons.

Rick Hill, a famous Native American activist and researcher at Six Nations Polytechnic, Canada, came to California University of Pennsylvania to share the fact that the English were not the first to make such a charter. The Native Americans were the first, as he discussed at a 7 p.m. speech Nov. 10 in Cal U’s Eberly Science Center, room 110.

It was the Great Law of Peace, as he described it, in C.E. 970.

At the beginning of the speech, which felt a little like an early American history lesson, English professor Keat Murray awarded Hill with a flash drive of Native American documents that Murray and more than 50 students of his worked on for much of the preceding school year.

More than 130 students attended the speech, which lasted almost one hour.

Hill also spoke about the importance of family, wampum belts, as well as chain links.  Chain links are together and very hard to break apart, and that is how a community should be. Hill repeated the latter word throughout the speech, and elaborated on the importance of community for human beings.

The Great Law of Peace treaty was an agreement between people, and Hill said it is very important to have community. He illustrated respect, trust, and ongoing friendship as qualifiers of good community.

  Keat Murray was interviewed afterward about his work with Hill and his own work on Native American studies. Murray, whose research specializes on early Native Americans and literature, did research through Hill’s Indigenous Studies program at Murray’s previous college. He did this through that college’s chapter of the American Philosophical Society in which Hill is also a member.

Murray said he very much enjoyed the program, and said his favorite part was seeing the wampum belts in front of him. Murray looks to collaborate with Hill for future academic projects with Six Nations Polytechnic.