Thursday Thinking - Lest We Forget

I recently read The American Soul by Jacob Needleman. I was most affected by the third part of this book which is titled "Crimes of America." This section covered the sad history of black slavery and the injustices suffered by Native Americans. As I read it, not only was I mortified by the history, I became acutely aware of my breathtaking ignorance of Native American history. With each page turned, I wondered, "How can I not know this history, and how have I not been more interested in it? After all, I live in a state where so many cities, rivers, counties, and landmarks have Native American names!"

Well, I'm coming to discover, it might very well be because there is a lot we Minnesotans would rather not think about or remember. This month marks the 150th anniversary of the final days of the US-Dakota War in 1862 which concluded with the hanging of 38 Dakota men in Mankato--the largest mass execution in US history.

Do you know much about this part of our history? Have you given it much thought? As Jacob Needleman points out in The American Soul, we cannot move forward toward a better American future if we fail to acknowledge the sins of our American past. Here are some terrific resources to help you learn and think about some important injustices most people would rather forget.

Radio Program:
This American Life: Little War on the Prairie

Online Resources:
Minnesota Public Radio Resources: Stories, Pictures, Programs

Book Recommendation:
North Country: The Making of Minnesota (Mary Lethert Wingerd)

In this book, Wingerd unlocks the complex origins of the state—origins that have often been ignored in favor of legend and a far more benign narrative of immigration, settlement, and cultural exchange. Moving from the earliest years of contact between Europeans and the indigenous peoples of the western Great Lakes region to the era of French and British influence during the fur trade and beyond, Wingerd charts how for two centuries prior to official statehood Native people and Europeans in the region maintained a hesitant, largely cobeneficial relationship. Founded on intermarriage, kinship, and trade between the two parties, this racially hybridized society was a meeting point for cultural and economic exchange until the western expansion of American capitalism and violation of treaties by the U.S. government during the 1850s wore sharply at this tremulous bond, ultimately leading to what Wingerd calls Minnesota’s Civil War.

A cornerstone text in the chronicle of Minnesota’s history, Wingerd’s narrative is augmented by more than 170 illustrations chosen and described by Kirsten Delegard in comprehensive captions that depict the fascinating, often haunting representations of the region and its inhabitants over two and a half centuries. North Country is the unflinching account of how the land the Dakota named Mini Sota Makoce became the State of Minnesota and of the people who have called it, at one time or another, home.