The Traverse de Sioux Treaty Site History Center

Yesterday, I took a trip to the Treaty Site History Center in St. Peter. While we lived in St. Peter for a year, I never got a chance to go there, so I was looking forward to seeing the exhibits, and wondered how they would tell the story of this area of Minnesota. I also wanted to get my knowledge of the Dakota back up to speed; while we have a pretty good section in our home library on Native American/American Indian topics, I haven't read them in a while. By extension, I thought I could know something of the Lakota and American Indian cultures in general.

It started out as a beautiful, warm-ish day, so I decided to snowshoe through the guided prairie/river trail that had interpretative signs about the treaty that took place here. The Treaty of Traverse de Sioux of 1851 sold the millions of acres of Dakota homelands to the U.S. government. I knew a little bit about the treaty, but after reading some of the signs on the trail, I started to realize that this area is so full of history, that my investigations into Native American culture have to keep the tragedy of colonialism in mind. I also need to recognize my own cultural biases, and try to view the drumming (and singing and dancing, because these, too, are not easily separated) in the context of this often tragic history.

After paying my museum admission to the two polite teenage girls at the counter, I was first greeted with a large room for viewing an excerpt of a documentary about the U.S./Dakota Conflict. It gave me some really good background about the conflict that I had not grasped before; such as how the huge debt that traders in this area (at least) encouraged the Dakota into, forced them into a terrible position to lose their homelands. Also, how through the system of hunka--or adoption of non-Indians into Dakota life with the understanding that the traditional Dakota ways would be followed--more and more interaction and intermarriage happened between the settlers, traders, and Dakota.

In another large room with local history exhibits, I gravitated toward the wall panels that talked about several hallmarks of Dakota society and culture. Of course, knowing my own interests and background, I was very interested in the panel about "Dakota Governance". This talked about how decisions were made communally, through a consensus process. I am always attracted and fascinated by this aspect of Indian society, and I wonder how I might use it in group drumming facilitation sessions. Another panel talked about reciprocity, binding groups of people together through gift-giving.

Overall, seeing these exhibits on an historic treaty (as well as knowing its historic echoes in the hanging of the 38 Dakota in Mankato, the largest mass execution in U.S. history, 10 years after the treaty signing) had an emotional mpact on me. I felt a sense of sadness, a subtle sense of history being repeated in the 21st century, and the question: "what has been lost?". But, this is tempered by my knowledge that the history and traditions of the Dakota (and Lakota) are still being practiced and given voice to today.