IN THE GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND of my childhood, I knew of the “Indian Reservations” to the northwest near Granite Falls and then to the east near Morton. My hometown of Vesta sits between the two, no longer referred to as “reservations” but as the Upper Sioux Indian Community and the Lower Sioux Indian Community.
Today I live 120 miles to the east in Faribault, next to Wapacuta Park. Rice County is the homeland of the Wahpekute (not Wapacuta), a tribal band of the Dakota.
A temporary public art installation at the recent Earth Day Celebration in neighboring Northfield prompted me to reflect on Indigenous people in southern Minnesota. Growing up in Redwood County, my knowledge of area Native Americans focused primarily on “The Sioux Uprising.” History teachers then used that term, rather than the current-day “US-Dakota War of 1862,” which should tell you a thing or ten about how biased that perspective back in the 1970s. How thankful I am that my awareness and understanding have grown and that attitudes are shifting to better reflect all sides of history.
The NATIVE LIVES MATTER message bannering the art installation at Northfield’s Earth Day event reinforces a Land Acknowledgment Statement adopted by the City of Northfield in November 2020. That reads as follows:
We stand on the homelands of the Wahpekute and other Bands of the Dakota Nation. We honor with gratitude the people who have stewarded the land throughout the generations and their ongoing contributions to this region. We acknowledge the ongoing injustices that we have committed against the Dakota Nation, and we wish to interrupt this legacy, beginning with acts of healing and honest storytelling about this place.
NATIVE LIVES MATTER fits the spirit of the Land Acknowledgment Statement. Those three words caused me to pause, to think, to consider what I’d been taught all those decades ago and how my thinking has shifted as I’ve aged, opened my mind and learned.
The Rice County Historical Society, which exhibits a collection of Native American artifacts in its Faribault museum, shares a statement similar to the City of Northfield’s on its website:
We acknowledge that the land that is now Rice County, MN, was their (Dakota) homeland and for many tribal members today, it is still their home.
In all of this, I feel a sense of gratitude regarding increasing public recognition of the land history and contributions of Indigenous People in Minnesota. In my home area of Redwood County, nearly 1,000 individuals from the Mdewakanton Band of Dakota call the Lower Sioux Indian Community home. To the east in Yellow Medicine County near Granite Falls, nearly 500 individuals from the Dakota Oyate call the Upper Sioux Indian Community home.
I hope educators in my home area are today teaching students about the local Dakota and even bringing elders into classrooms. I graduated, after all, from Wabasso High School, the name Wabasso coming from a Native word meaning “white rabbit.” I would then go on to attend college in Mankato, site of the largest mass execution in the US with 38 Dakota killed in a public hanging on December 26, 1862.
I would be remiss if I did not share that, during the US-Dakota Conflict of 1862, family members on my mom’s side fled their rural Courtland farm for safety in St. Peter. They later put in a claim to the US government for crop loss.
Now, 160 years after that event in my ancestors’ history, I continue growing my knowledge, widening my understanding of Minnesota history and of the Indigenous people who first called this land home.
FYI: Please click here to read previous posts I’ve written on the US-Dakota War (also called Conflict) of 1862.
Also, I suggest you read an article on the Minnesota Public Radio website about efforts to change the Minnesota State flag. The flag depicts, among other details, a Native American in the background riding off into the sunset while a settler focuses the foreground, hands on a plow, rifle nearby. I agree that change is needed. But, as too often happens, the issue has become politically-charged.
© Copyright 2022 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
I am so happy to read of this, and I have learned so much in this last part of my life, about indigenous people, their culture, and what they have gone through in ‘real’ history.
Thank you for appreciating the topic of my post. And for caring so much about “real” history.
I went to high school in Redwood Falls. If it hadn’t been for my father’s interest in local history I might not have learned anything accurate about the war against the natives of that territory. Thanks for reminding me of that and of the things I’ve learned since.
Good to hear from you, Ken. And thank you to your father for enlightening you and then your efforts to learn more thereafter.
When I was in high school, I wrote a term paper about “The Sioux Uprising,” as it was then called. I expect it was a rather one-sided paper. I, too, am thankful for a broader history.
Me too. I’m interested in learning more of this past history that has was not portrayed accurately when I was growing up.
The Northfield Historical Society had a really good exhibit on the US-Dakota War. Here’s a link to the post I wrote about that 2012 exhibit:
https://mnprairieroots.com/2012/09/02/new-exhibit-highlights-rice-county-in-the-u-s-dakota-war-of-1862/
I do wonder what is being taught in schools today. At least some of the history, even if biased, was covered in your education. Unfortunately, I don’t recall learning anything about this in 6th grade history or in high school. It was only much later that I began to learn more. Have you read the book “Never Let Go” by Pamela Nowak? It is historical fiction and follows five women who experienced and survived the attacks in the Lake Shetek area. I think it follows the historical facts accurately but it makes me want to read more historical accounts. It does attempt to give the Native American point of view as one of the women is more sympathetic toward them even though taken hostage.
I expect there are a lot of Minnesotans who have not been, and still are not being, taught about the US-Dakota War 0f 1862. My husband grew up in central Minnesota and was not taught about it. Thanks for the book suggestion. I haven’t read it.
Thank you for this. The ancestors of my father’s family settled on a farm in Sheridan Township, Redwood County, in 1890, so they had no involvement in the conflict, but your article stimulated me to read more about it. I recall a family visit as a youngster going to Fort Ridgely and later seeing a marker along a highway indicating the nearby site of the birthplace of Little Crow.
You are welcome, Charles. I am humbled that I would inspire you to learn more.
This is heartbreaking.
Yes, it is.