Another Day

So there isnt much to report from today. We were in the classroom all day, learning so much information. In the morning sessions we heard from Dr. Brewer, a recent graduate from ASU PhD program. His background is actually in American Indian Law and tribal resource management, just like I am interested in, so it was good to meet him.

After lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon in the classroom with Dr. Woodard, a long time faculty member of SDSU, discussing Native American Literature. He is actually good friends with N Scott Momaday and has co-written a book with him that I would love to read soon. We learned a lot from him as well.

Its cool because even though there are specific subjects we discuss with each of our teachers there are always greater life lessons we gain from all of them, and much other stuff we discuss as well. Soon I will post some of the poems prof Woodard gave us.

One interesting thing we did discuss was that there is a great deal of racial seperation in South Dakota between Native and Non-Native people. There are a lot of misconceptions still today and its evident in the way society works and people interact (or don't interact). I would like to learn more about this.

Tomorrow we are traveling to Sissiton, about 3 hours away, and visiting a Boys and Girls Club and meeting Carly's host family. In the afternoon we are learning to cook a traditional Lakota / Dakota meal. This weekend we are volunteering to help make food for and set up for the annual Pow-Wow put on by the Native American Club at SDSU, so I am looking forward to that

It is supposed to snow over 8 inches starting tonight, so that should be interesting! There is much reading and work to do, so I am off to get started on that. Keep reading!

Dakota History , People and Place

Today was a really great day. I am feeling VERY greatful to be here, and really feeling like I made a great choice in this program. I feel as if I am exactly where I should be right now, and learning so much thats is going to stay with me forever and help me in my future career.

Today we spent the morning in the classroom learning about the Dakota conflict and exile. The Dakota people originally lived in Minnesota. They at first lived peacefully with the settlers, making kinship ties with fur traders, etc. However, eventually, the settlers and government wanted their land. They signed the Treaty of Traverse-de-Sioux, giving up some of their land for reservation land, annual annuities (food, monetary payments) , aid with education, etc. However, the whites did not fulfill this promise, and the Dakota lived with no money, no hunting rights and no food. Eventually they were told they had to give up even more of their land, and the BIA manager of the area said if they were starving they could eat grass. The money promised never made it to the Native people, fur traders took it all because it was arranged that it had to go through them first. Eventually, there was a conflict. Many whites and Natives died, but it was seen as a brutal native attack on white settlers. Little Crow, a Dakota Chief, did not support the fighting but he said he would die with his people. Throughout his entire life, despite many bribes, pressures, etc, Little Crow never abandon his culture, changed his way of life, dressing, or his spirituality. Finally, the Dakota people had to flee; some went to Canada, some to Nebraska, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota. Today the Dakota people are in all of these places, never able to return to their ancestral homeland in MN.

After the conflict 300+ Dakota people were sentanced to death for crimes against whites during the conflict. Some of these men had actually protected whites at certain points. Lincoln was suppposed to sign the sentances, but did not want to condemn that many men. After demanding much more research, Lincoln only signed the death sentances of 38 men. They were all hung together, it was the largest mass execution in US history, the day after Christman. Lincoln signed the sentances the same day he signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

After the morning in the classroom and learning this sad story, we visited the grave of Little Crow. It was in a small roadside graveyard in eastern SD, no pomp and circumstance surrounding it or any effort to memorialize him for the heroic person he was. Chief little Crow was killed by a farmer while he and his son were picking berries, attempting to return to MN to face what would befall them there. At the time, there was a bounty for killing native people, $75. The farmer who killed Little Crow was given $500 more when they realized who he was. Then, the body of Little Crow was on display in the state of MN, until he was finally laid to rest in 1973, over 100 years after his death.We spent a while there, discussing such things, paying respects, etc.

Then we visited an Indian Boarding School, one of the only ones left, run by the BIA. We had earlier discussed the disastrous cultural affects of Boarding schools as they were in the late 1800s, attempts to assimilate and squash the culture out of Native children. Eventually this changed, and this boarding school is of course not like that. American Indian children come from all over the country to get an education there. The school has a partnership with SDSU in hopes that the students will continue their education.

Then we drove to Pipestone, MN. This is the site of Pipestone National Monument, run by the NPS. This is the nationally known place where the stone used in making sacred pipes is found. Some of you may know these as the peace pipes, which is what white settlers called them because they only saw them used in times of peace making. The pipe was actually used for much more than that and has significance in almost every native culture in the country. Although it is run by the NPS, Native people that get permits are allowd to still dig for the stone there, and we saw where that happens. We hiked there for a while. It was a beautiful, sunnny day, probably at least 50 degrees, so we were lucky there!

After pipestone we traveled home, and tired after a long day I will probably go to bed shortly!
Sorry this was a long one. I like recapping what i learn for two reasons. 1) if people reading this do not have a background in American Indian history they can learn it and 2) it helps me
remember it!

PS the picture is Chief Little Crow

Classroom Days

Today was mostly classroom discussions and learning. We started at nine, and spent the morning discussing the program in depth and answering any questions. The classroom setting is actually just me, Carly and our various professors in a small conference type room, discussing readings, etc. I really like that is small and comfortable.

Valerian and our other professor we met today, Dr. Branum, have so much to teach us. We discussed a variety of topics today including early contact with settlers, cultural appropriation, myths and misconceptions surrounding indigenous people, tokenization, American Indian spirituality, American Indian etiquitte (sp?) and tons of other stuff!!

Thats pretty much it for today, lots of information and books to read, and the course work for the 15 credits is pretty hefty, if I was worried about being bored I am not now. It is a little overwhelming knowing I have all that school work plus service placement work plus registering for my senior year classes, researching my grad school, figuring out when to take the GRE, writing my speech for Western graduation and finding time to keep in touch with my friends and family! Its going to be an intense but fulfilling semester, I can tell.

After class I took Carly downtown and she experienced her first midwestern town (she is from Boston and has never been to the midwest). We had fun and went to goodwill. Now we are going to dinner and later tonight I will begin much reading and work!

Off to Great Start

Today was the first official day of my program, I am very excited about. It is excellently organized and the professor running our program is really great - his name is Valerian Three Irons. I met him and his wife today, Maryln, as well as the other girl in my program, Carly. Carly is going to be a first year student at Tufts University in Boston in the fall, and she is a really nice girl. Both of us are glad that there is at least one other person in the program! Our professor and his wife took us our to dinner tonight and we were given big binders detailing our time here, what is required of us, our schedule, etc. Lots of information and it is all very exciting!

We are currently staying in a hotel right down the street from South Dakota State University and this is where we will be while we take classes for the first week.

After the first week we are spending a week traveling with our professor and his wife around the state and also around sites in Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming! We will see different culturally significant sites and learn about them, history and current goings-on from an indigenous perspective.

After those travels we return to brookings for a few days of rest and are sent to our host families. I will be on the Yankton Sioux Reservation with host mom Faith and her son Kipp. I am very excited to meet them. Professor Three Irons told me tonight that Faith is extremely high energy, involved and excited all the time. She has also been arrested for protesting and is really into activism. What a great match for me! He said he can tell that we are going to get along well.

Dinner was fun because I got to talk to my professor and his wife and get to know them and we talked a lot about the American Indian Movement and AIM activism because I am really interest in that. The picture on the blog is something created to say Free Leonard Peltier. Peltier is an AIM activist accused of the murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in the 1970's during the most active years of the American Indian Movement. There is no real evidence he is guilty, and during the 1970's the FBI heavily suppressed and took action against the American Indian Movement so most consider him a political prisoner. My professor and I spoke about this a lot about this. Three Irons was supposed to go to where Peltier is imprisoned and lead a SweatLodge for him, but when he got there he was not allowed in, and no one would tell him why.

Anyway, not i am just wrapping up my first day getting ready to do some reading and check out my binder of information. I am so excited about being here and feel like its off to a great start!

First Day in Snow Land

Arrived in South Dakota last night, and will be staying in a hotel in Brookings, South Dakota this weekend. Brookings is home to South Dakota State University (SDSU) where I will be spending the first two weeks of my experience.

Brookings is a small town, almost makes me think of Oxford. There is a main street of shops, restuarants, book stores, etc. I really enjoyed walking around there with my mom, and we even found an organic food restuarant! We also got my rental car, which will be nice to have because there is a ton of stuff I want to do around the state, and will probably be traveling most weekends.

Mom and I walked around the campus of SDSU, and its really nice. It was freezing though! The campus is surrounded by a bunch of cute houses, I like the neighborhood a lot. During my time at SDSU I will stay on campus and take classes for 2 weeks on various parts of American Indian studies like language, history, culture, etc. After this is when I move in with my host family and begin my service work.

Its freezing here, as expected, about 7 degrees and extremely windy. Lots of snow on the ground. It doesnt really bother me though, I am prepared for it with the right gear and from a few months of winter canvassing under my belt!

Really looking forward to my time here. Keep following the blog!!