History of Diversity Foundation's Dakota Homecoming and Reconciliation Programs
The Following are a list of articles from various publications that tell the history of the Diversity Foundation's Dakota Homecoming and Reconciliation Programs.
History of Dakota-US Relationships in Minnesota
The following is a partial list of events that took place up to the time that the Dakota were forced to leave thier homeland - Southern Minnesota. It explains the cause of Historical Trauma that now affects many of the Dakota people today and why forgiveness and reconciliation is so important.
The following article excerpt explains what Historical Trauma is (A cumulative emotional and psychological wounding over the lifespan and across generations, emanating from massive group trauma) and why some Native American Communities are facing problems such as depression, alcholism, and suicide.
Depression is thought to be caused by anger turned inward and is only one of the symptoms of the need to protect ourselves from the scorn associated with expressing feelings. Many other illnesses and particularly the addictions are theorised to be expressions of a deep level of emotional pain.
At St. Joseph, Missouri, all 1300 Dakota were loaded on one boat, Florence, creating conditions John Williamson bluntley labeled reminiscent of the slave ships. Living on musty hardtack and briny pork with no opportunity to cook, and sleeping in shifts with no room for all to lie down, the families of the prisoners at Davenport arrived at the mouth of Crow Creek in Dakota Territory on June 1.
"Bridges of Hope" are coming from schools, churches, businesses, and city leaders in Winona & across southern Minnesota. The story of the Dakota people inspires all who hear it to help reconcile and make things right..
In 2004 , the mayor of Winona, the Roman Catholic bishop and several other representatives of government and church groups apologized during an outdoor “truth and reconciliation” ceremony to members of the Dakota tribe, including direct descendants of the hereditary Dakota chiefs known as Wapasha, or Wabasha, whose Mdewakanton band of Dakota lived for generations beneath the Winona bluffs.
In an extraordinary confluence of troubled history and romantic myth, this city of 27,000 on the Mississippi River is preparing to welcome an anniversary flotilla of riverboats while at the same time attempting to find reconciliation with the Indian tribe that was displaced by the civilization that sent the original flotilla 150 years ago.
The Winona community and the Dakota people have started the reconciliation process, with an event that begins - but does not end - with the Grand Excursion, Winona officials announced Monday afternoon at City Hall.
Named after Chief Wapasha III and his father and grandfather, Wapasha Prairie was settled by whites and renamed Winona.
It was May 21, 1852, and white settlers were occupying Wapasha's Prairie on the Mississippi River at a place they would later call Winona. Whites in the region knew they didn't yet have the full backing of two United States treaties, agreed to by chiefs the previous summer but not formally approved by the U.S. Congress and President Millard Fillmore until 1853.
Now the Dakota people along with descendants of the white settlers will call upon sweet grass and its truth-telling powers during reconciliation ceremonies June 26 and 27 in Winona. Leonard E. Wabasha certainly hopes his people hear appropriate requests for forgiveness.
Organizers of this summer's "Hdihunipi: The Great Dakota Gathering and Homecoming" hope to transfer this summer's energy into even greater accomplishments.
The event June 26-27 united local citizens and Dakota Indians, the inhabitants of the sandy river island until European settlers and the U.S. military forced them out and named it Winona.
Hdihunipi's success connected exiled Indians and local leaders, said Lyle Rustad of the Diversity Foundation Inc. of Maple Grove, Minn.
"It's very optimistic, and I think the feedback from most of the Dakota was very positive, as well as from the Winona people," he said.
The Diversity Foundation is working on a documentary series and educational compact discs profiling the Dakota.
The following is a partial list of events that took place up to the time that the Dakota were forced to leave thier homeland - Southern Minnesota. It explains the cause of Historical Trauma that now affects many of the Dakota people today and why forgiveness and reconciliation is so important.
Dakota to Bring Second Annual Homecoming to Winona
Winona, at one time home to the Dakota American Indians, has recently become an annual reunion spot for them.
More than 100 years after the United States government removed the Dakota people from the Winona area, they will return again for the second Dakota Homecoming.
The Winona Dakota Unity Alliance, Diversity Foundation, Dacota Pathology and the Winona Community Foundation are sponsoring the event.
