GCHS Book Club: Mni Sota Makoce

Join us as we continue the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States! While we know that Minnesota was not part of the U.S. during the Revolutionary Era, we can consider the “Power of Place” and what was happening here in 1776. Archaeologists know that Native peoples have lived in the Red Wing area for 13,000 years! Our next book, Mni Sota Makoce, focuses on the Dakota homeland from the Dakota perspective!

This event is free & participants are asked to provide their own copy of the book. Light refreshments will be served! Please RSVP to Bethany via phone or email at education@goodhistory.org

Synopsis: Much of the focus on the Dakota people in Minnesota rests on the tragic events of the 1862 U.S.–Dakota War and the resulting exile that sent the majority of the Dakota to prisons and reservations beyond the state’s boundaries. But the true depth of the devastation of removal cannot be understood without a closer examination of the history of the Dakota people and their deep cultural connection to the land that is Minnesota. Drawing on oral history interviews, archival work, and painstaking comparisons of Dakota, French, and English sources, Mni Sota Makoce tells the detailed history of the Dakota people in their traditional homelands for at least hundreds of years prior to exile.

“Minnesota” is derived from the Dakota phrase Mni Sota Makoce, Land Where the Waters Reflect the Clouds—and the people’s roots here remain strong. Authors Gwen Westerman and Bruce White examine narratives of the people’s origins, their associations with the land, and the seasonal round through key players and place names. They consider Dakota interactions with Europeans and offer an in-depth “reading between the lines” of historical documents—some of them virtually unknown—and treaties made with the United States, uncovering misunderstandings and outright deceptions that helped lead to war in 1862.

Dakota history did not begin with the U.S.– Dakota War of 1862—nor did it end there. Mni Sota Makoce is, more than anything, a celebration of the Dakota people through their undisputed connection to this place, Minnesota, in the past, present, and future.