History of Diversity Foundation's
Dakota Homecoming and
Reconciliation Programs
Page 3
The Following are a list of articles from various publications
that tell the history of the Diversity Foundation's
Dakota Homecoming and Reconciliation Programs.
Dakota Winyan (Women)
Native Americans inhabited Minnesota millenniums before America was "discovered" and Europeans settled here. For a couple of hundred years Minnesota [Dakota] traded furs along the St. Croix River along the Mississippi River Valley, to the western prairies of the state.
Otakuye Hdihunipi- The Third Annual
Great Dakota Gathering And Homecoming
Winona, which means oldest daughter in Dakota is located in Southeastern Minnesota on land once occupied by Chief Wabasha the III and his band of Mdewakanton Dakota Oyate. Their encampment once sat along this stretch of the Mississippi River under the rock formation now called Sugar Loaf.
According to the Diversity Foundation website, the Wabasha Oyate lived, hunted and fished these areas up until 1851 when treaties were signed then ratified in 1853, forcing Chief Wabasha III to a remote reservation in western Minnesota, now called the Lower Sioux Indian Reservation.
American Indian Leaders at Great Dakota Gathering
Tell of Struggles
Growing up on the Santee Indian Reservation in northeastern Nebraska, Roger Trudell remembers days of husking corn with his grandfather as a young boy and working for area farmers as a teenager.
"Back in them days, the farmers didn't have the equipment they have now," said Trudell, the reservation tribal chairman.
Trudell, 59, has lived his life on the reservation, with the exception of three years in the Army and two in Omaha, Neb. He was in Winona on Saturday for the Dakota Gathering, an annual event for Dakota Indians from across the Midwest to reunite on their ancestral land.
Dakota Come Home: Annual Gathering Seeks Truth, Healing
A somber song rang out. Several joined in native tongue, singing along with their hats offs, faces down. The stories told were those of hardship, but also of healing.
Janice Badmoccasin spoke of her healing journey, which began when she left the Crow Creek reservation at 21 years old.
Healing Through History:
Native Americans Share Stories of Suffering
"Minnesotans are celebrating their connection to this place, and of course, it's beautiful," Kitto said. "But we can't celebrate 150 years when our people have been around for thousands."
Another Dakota woman, Janice Bad Moccasin, told about her life on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation, where many Dakota people living in Minnesota were exiled to after the 1862 Dakota War.
Ceremony to Mark Dakota Hangings Personal For Some
Both Peter Lengkeek and Mary Herbst had ancestors standing roughly where the Blue Earth County Library now stands in downtown Mankato on Dec. 26, 1862.
Lengkeek tells a story about an 8-year-old boy - his great-great-great-grandfather Joe St. John - who was watching that day as his grandfather was hanged with 37 other men during the largest mass execution in U.S. history.
Seeing The Big Picture: Elementary Students Learn
Dakota Heritage, Way of Life Firsthand
Leonard Wabasha was about to begin a presentation Friday at Whitewater State Park when a student approached him with a gift.
He paused and graciously opened his hands to accept the ceremonial tobacco. He began to talk in his people's language but quickly shifted to English so the children could understand.
Seventh Great Dakota Gathering and Homecoming Celebrated
They danced in the name of unity. They danced in the name of respect. They danced in the name of youth.
The seventh annual Great Dakota Gathering and Homecoming kicked off Saturday morning with dancing and a dedication to a new memorial flag platform at Unity Park.
Through the gathering, the Dakota people want to continue to honor their tradition - and set a positive example for youngsters..
Homecoming To Explore Roles Of American Indian Women
In anticipation of the upcoming Dakotah Homecoming during which several women will be recognized, this is the first in a series exploring the roles American Indian women have played both in their cultures and that of the white settlers.
There is perhaps no one more enamored with the legend of Princess Wenonah, said to be Winona’s namesake, than the town itself, with her image immortalized in bronze, advertising pieces and our imaginations for at least a century.
The festival is known as “Otakuye Hdihunipi” meaning All relatives have come home, and takes place every year in the city of Winona Minnesota. It is an experience like no other where Wasicun (Caucasian) and Dakota worship, dance, feast, share stories, and play together along the shores of beautiful Lake Winona. 2010 was the 7th annual inviting of the descendents of the original people who once called the Winona area their ancestrial home before the 1851 treaties.
As a child of the 1950s I was raised as a Catholic and attended an Indian mission school. My parents went through a bitter divorce with my Scandinavian father gaining custody of seven children. We moved off the reservation and converted to my father’s religion, Presbyterian, when I was a teenager. Both religions scared and confused me. Incidents occurred that triggered questions in my mind (even as a child) regarding the sincerity of the lessons being taught. As an adult I have chosen to try live as a Dakotah win (woman). I say, “try to live” because it is a most challenging way of life that has as its roots, spirituality.
