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By Griff Wigley, on July 28th, 2010
 Mary Lethert Wingerd, author of North Country: The Making of Minnesota, was interviewed on yesterday’s Midday program on MPR: How the land of the Dakota and Ojibwe became the State of Minnesota.
…author Mary Wingerd describes the relationships between indians and whites in the 200 years before statehood and the early years of statehood.
By Griff Wigley, on July 25th, 2010
In yesterday’s StarTribune: Mendota tribe struggles to keep language, culture alive
The two-story house in dot-on-the-map Mendota (population: 197) is more ragged than rustic. White paint is peeling off doors. A side porch has collapsed. On the front lawn, weeds have won the turf war against grass.
But on Wednesday nights, supporters of the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community try to forget they have trouble making rent on their ramshackle community center. There is important work to do here along Hwy. 13: There’s a language and culture to preserve.
The band of 200 to 300 people is working locally to increase the dwindling number of people who know the Dakota language and nationally to gain federal recognition as an independent tribe, a designation that would bring much-needed financial help.
See the video, Learning the language.
By Griff Wigley, on June 6th, 2010
Update 7/8/2010: I’ve been informed by the owner of the Awicaunhdipi Kte: We Will Bring Them Home blog (no longer viewable) that this event has been canceled.
Beloit College News has some information: Organizers postpone Ohiyesa ‘Journey,’ July 8 event at Beloit College cancelled.
Organizers have indefinitely postponed plans for the reinterment of American Indian author and former Beloit College student, Ohiyesa. The week-long journey, which was to return the remains of the physician, writer and activist to his tribal homeland in South Dakota, has not been rescheduled.
In recent months, organizers had been working with Beloit College to host a Dakota ceremony and celebration on campus outside South College, the building in which Ohiyesa studied during his years in the college’s former preparatory program (1876-79). As a result of the postponement, that ceremony – originally scheduled for Thursday, July 8 – has been cancelled.
On the website set up for this event, organizers pointed to the reasons for the postponement, and write that the “family will begin a process of careful consideration as to the proper course of action for the next year.” No additional details are available at this time.
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I got an email from book author Marybeth Lorbiecki a few days ago. (I blogged about her in May of 2008 when she wrote me with information about the Dakota communities who were exiled from the state after the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. See her new blog, Ohiyesa-Eastman: Beyond Wounded Knee.)
Marybeth wrote:
Various members of the Eastman members of Dakota communities from Flandreau and Sisseton (Lillian Goodeagle and Emmett Eastman) and from Ohiyesa’s direct descendants as well as Adrienne Brant James from the Turtle Island Learning Circle are working on a re-internment of Ohiyesa and his son Ohi from Detroit to Flandreau at the July Pow Wow. They will be moving the bodies from Detroit to Flandreau via Beloit College and will be preceded by a procession with the 38 riders on horseback. Darmouth and Beloit are part of the process.
The blogsite for the re-internment of Ohiyesa is titled Awicaunhdipi Kte: We Will Bring Them Home and has this overview:
 The descendents of Ohiyesa (Dr. Charles Alexander Eastman) come together to celebrate the life and legacy of our esteemed ancestor. We seek to pay tribute to the great contributions he made in his writing and activism, and we honor his life as a physician and as a representative of his people. Ohiyesa worked tirelessly in the hopes that we could all live in a nation more accepting of the Dakota Oyate. His goal was to ensure opportunities for us as Dakota people who follow the Dakota Wicohan (way of life) in a western world.
Dr. Eastman’s lifelong devotion to the preservation of Dakota life ways, culture, and history serves as an inspiration and a source of strength to the Flandreau Santee Sioux community, and it is only fitting that he be laid to rest here, among the people that he loved.
 We will be moving his remains, along with those of his son Ohiyesa II, from Evergreen Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan to the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribal lands in South Dakota. There, they will be reburied in a Dakota ceremony with honors at the historic First Presbyterian Church cemetery. The new gravesites will be situated alongside that of Ohiyesa’s father, Tawakanhdiota “Many Lightnings” (Jacob Eastman) and older brother, Hinhan Duta “Red Owl” (John Eastman), as well as many other Dakota relatives and tribal members.
Everyone is warmly invited to participate in this journey, which will include celebrations at important locations along the way in Beloit WI, Shakopee MN, Redwood Falls MN, and Flandreau SD.
See the Awicaunhdipi Kte blog and subscribe to its RSS feed.
By Griff Wigley, on June 6th, 2010
 This blog has been dormant for over a year, as funding for the project ended when the MN Sesquicentennial (blog) ended.
But with the Sesquicentennial of the U.S. – Dakota War of 1862 less than two years away, I’ll post occasional items as they seem warranted.
To really keep up-to-date, however, historian Bruce White’s Minnesota History blog is the one to watch. Bruce is quoted in today’s Strib, in a column by Nick Coleman titled: Fort Snelling is state’s cradle — and stain.
 In this bloody cradle, Minnesota was born. And we’ve been trying to ignore it ever since. Hardly anything was said about Minnesota’s tragic Indian history during the limp observance of the state’s 150th birthday two years ago. And with the 2012 sesquicentennial of the Dakota Conflict coming up, reality is still hard to confront.
…
“Is history entertainment, or can it deal with the hard stuff,” asks St. Paul historian Bruce White, an expert on Indian treaties and a critic of the dumbing-down of history. “People died at Fort Snelling [probably a couple hundred in the 'squaw camp' alone, he notes]. There really isn’t a benign story to Fort Snelling. The historical society is afraid of controversy. It wants to tell a safe, happy story to kids. They have some radical decisions to make about the interpretation of the fort if they’re going to be able to tell the whole story. They’ve been vacillating for years.”
By Griff Wigley, on February 24th, 2009
 Historian Bruce White has added a blog to the home page of his MinnesotaHistory.net site, and he’s begun blogging.
Bruce is one of the state’s most respected historians and has written extensively about Native Americans.
I’ve added the RSS feed of his blog to the lower right sidebar here.
Welcome to the blogosphere, Bruce!
By Griff Wigley, on February 24th, 2009
 Here are the contents of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) 2006 CD that was handed out at last night’s Coldwater Spring open house. All the documents are PDFs.
Coldwater Spring/Bureau of Mines Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 2006
Final BOM DEIS July 2006 Separated document files
By Griff Wigley, on February 23rd, 2009
Earlier this evening, I attended the Coldwater Spring open house at the VA Hospital hosted by National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff. (See my January blog post for details.)
The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area web site has a set of web pages titled the Bureau of Mines (Coldwater) Current Status that contains some of the information and images/PDFs that were on display at tonight’s open house.
See the album of two dozen photos from the Coldwater Spring open house, or this slideshow:
By Griff Wigley, on January 22nd, 2009
I got this information (PDF) emailed to me today by Denise Niedzolkowski, Public Relations Specialist and Executive Assistant, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.
She wrote: “Attached is the announcement of the public open house for the Camp Coldwater Spring, the property formerly known as the Bureau of Mines.”
See my Dec. blog post National Park Service recommended to manage Coldwater Spring site for background.
Here’s the text of the Coldwater Spring Open House announcement PDF (I’ve added the photo of Superintendent Paul Labovitz):
January 22, 2009
Please provide an email address for future contact if at all possible. This measure saves paper and minimizes the cost of personnel and postage. Your information will be used for the sole purpose of communicating with you about the Bureau of Mines/Cold Water Springs. You can send that information to denise_niedzolkowski@nps.gov.
 Dear Interested Party,
In our letter of December 3, 2008, we told you public meetings would be conducted in the winter and spring of 2009 to help determine some of the details for restoration of the site.
An informational open house has been scheduled to give the public an opportunity to provide comment on planning for the reuse and restoration of federal property formally occupied by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.
The open house will be held Monday February 23, 2009 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the auditorium on the first floor of the VA Hospital, located at One Veterans Drive in Minneapolis.
National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff will be available to provide information concerning the DEIS preferred alternative, historical preservation and interpretation, and to gather input to guide planning for the future reuse and restoration of the site.
Sincerely,
Paul Labovitz
Superintendent
By Griff Wigley, on January 21st, 2009
Waziyatawin has letter to the editor in today’s Strib.
 As an indigenous person from occupied territory in Minnesota, Obama fever has eluded me. In fact, I find little in Obama’s rhetoric or proposed policies that indicate his presidency will be substantially different from the long list of white guys who have occupied the office before him.
My hope for the future, then, does not stem from my belief that President Obama will address the ongoing denial of freedom to indigenous peoples within our own homelands. Indeed, while many Americans are celebrating what they perceive as a victory over racism in the election of a black man to the White House, my only hope concerning his election is that it will clearly elucidate the difference between racism and colonialism in America.
As he invokes the memory of America’s founding fathers and refers to Americans as the "heirs of those early patriots," he reminds indigenous peoples that America was built at our expense. We paid the price of America’s nationhood with our blood, our lands, and our resources. America lives because indigenous populations were exterminated and dispossessed of much that was dear to us.
WAZIYATAWIN, GRANITE FALLS, MINN.; RESEARCH CHAIR, INDIGENOUS GOVERNANCE PROGRAM, UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA
By Griff Wigley, on January 6th, 2009
By Griff Wigley, on January 6th, 2009
A reception was held at the State Capitol this afternoon to close out the Sesquicentennial and thank everyone involved.
See the album of 15 photos or this slideshow:
By Griff Wigley, on January 3rd, 2009
 The current issue (winter 2008-09) of Minnesota History, the quarterly of the Minnesota Historical Society, arrived in the mail today. It contains a 14-page article titled Survival at Crow Creek, 1863—1866 by Colette A. Hyman, a professor of history at Winona State University.
(The quarterly apparently doesn’t make PDFs of its articles available on its web site but individual issues can be ordered for $5. See the order page for the Winter 2008-09 (61:4) issue.)
   
Here are photo snapshots of the first 4 pages. Click to enlarge as they’re somewhat readable.
I found it interesting that Professor Hyman used terms like “genocidal attacks,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “genocidal policies and actions” early in her article. The Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) deserves credit for publishing a piece in which those terms are used to describe the state’s treat of the Dakota, particularly in the aftermath of the U.S. – Dakota War of 1862.
Professor Hyman also refers to the concentration / internment camp at Fort Snelling as a “disease-ridden enclosure” and the accompanying photograph of the camp has the caption, “Tipis of the captive Dakota in a fenced enclosure on the Minnesota River just below Fort Snelling, 1862-63.”
I’ll contact her to see if she’ll comment here about those terms, as well as the larger article and the book she’s working on, tentatively titled Dakota Women in Exile.
By Griff Wigley, on December 26th, 2008
In today’s Strib: History Lesson
 Inspired by the 150th anniversary of Minnesota statehood, "States" asserts the primacy of Indians in Minnesota, recalls broken treaties and the bitter hanging of 38 Indians at Mankato in 1862.
A valuable counterpoint to official sesquicentennial celebrations, the show is more educational than confrontational, with flashes of ironic humor and quiet dignity.
The Franklin Area Business Association (FABA) has a blog post titled “States Dates Place” at Ancient Traders Gallery:
The exhibit brings together a group of established and emerging artists whose painting, drawing, photography and digital work present an indigenous perspective in the context of Minnesota’s celebration of 150 years of statehood.
Featured artists include Carolyn Anderson, Andrea Carlson, Gordon Coons, Jim Denomie, Tiffany Eggenberg, Robert Two Bulls, Jonathan Thunder, and Dyani Whitehawk.
and it includes a link to this flyer/poster on the exhibit (PDF):
By Griff Wigley, on December 23rd, 2008
MPR: On horseback, Native American riders make 300 mile trip
 A group of about 50 Native Americans will ride on horseback into the Mankato area later this week.
Their arrival will mark the end of a nearly 300 mile trip to mark the 146th anniversary of the largest mass execution in U.S. history.
The group has endured blizzards and long stretches of below zero temperatures in their journey from the Missouri River to the Minnesota River.
See the Dakota 38 + 2 Memorial Ride website for more.
By Griff Wigley, on December 21st, 2008
 Today’s Strib: A town square for the 21st century – A new series of blogs on our website taps into the collective wisdom of the community.
They call it YourVoices and Laura Waterman Wittstock is one of the bloggers. Her first blog post was Dec. 16 and is titled Obama and the Indians.
 So now that the election is over and Obama has visited more Indian reservations than any presidential candidate since probably Bobbie Kennedy, what will happen to elevate the issues and visibility of America’s smallest minority? Well, yesterday Obama appointed Wizipan Garriot as First Americans Public Liaison – a new position in the Obama transition team. Obama has underscored a "nation to nation" new relationship with tribes.
Although no one is saying what this means, it is a step never taken before. There are now seven American Indians on the transition team: John Echohawk, Keith Harper, Robert Anderson, Mary Smith, Mary McNeil, and Yvette Robideaux.
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