The Black Hills-pictures & perspective

A FORGOTTEN PEOPLE…

As Buddy and I rambled across the S. Dakota Plains, our conversation seemed to do the same while reflecting on the Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore historical monuments we had recently visited.  We also shared our personal recollections of learning about and experiences related to this part of our American history.

Buddy grew up one of the Plains states and has often shared his favorite phrase describing the area of his birthplace, ”It’s not the end of the world but you can see the end of the world!”  As we each described our individual perspectives of Native American history, it became apparent that Buddy’s education as a youth was more experiential while my understanding came purely from high school and college American History classes.

I have to be honest and say that my perspective of our First Nation was likely influenced by the ‘good vs bad’ culture that I grew up with: having family dynamics with the good girl or boy label, being a ‘good Catholic’ or watching the Hollywood ‘spaghetti westerns’ and being part of the neighborhood kids shouting about who got to be the cowboys in our childhood game of ‘Cowboys and Indians’. As my education progressed, I don’t recall hearing any professorial perspectives or having any discussions/debates of perceived injustice toward our American Indian peoples during the time when our nation was being explored by our early settlors.

Fast forward to our present day, we now have literary works that are attempting to correct earlier accepted written history of how the Western plains were settled.  And we did hear and see evidence of this while visiting the local Plains area. My heart aches as I learned of treaties that were made and broken to our First Nation peoples- all for the sake of moneymaking commodities like gold and oil.

In our current society, we live in an atmosphere of heightened racial and social injustices that takes many forms.  What is personally bothersome for me, having just visited two incredible National Monuments in the Dakota Plains, is the lack of NATIONAL attention to the challenges that faced the American Indian people in the past as well as today. I believe they can be considered a forgotten group of citizens in our nation’s political arena.

Buddy shared that the same social injustices experienced by African Americans and have received national attention were also pervasive in the American Indian culture as he was growing up in North Dakota.  Being denied entrance to places of business was common for the Sioux population as Buddy often witnessed. Talking further, we agreed it may come down to a disparity in awareness and cultural education about the American Indian on a regional rather than national level.

This is the FIRST time I have traveled through this part of the country; and this trip has ignited my interest to revisit our First Nation history with fresh eyes and be sensitive to the many and not well known consequences of our forefathers’ exploration westward.  And I certainly do not consider myself qualified to make any historical determinations without first doing my homework!

 

Hope you enjoy the pictures and descriptions!

“Spurred by rumors of gold, many prospector groups attempted to enter the Black Hills in the 1870’s. Without regard to the Fort Laramie Treaty, they planned to enter the region and explore the untapped wealth. A group of 28 people headed west from Sioux City, Iowa, and eluded the calvary across the Dakota Territory. Following the wagon trail of the Custer Expedition, they made a permanent camp in this area December 1874. Named after their leader, John Gordon, their structure became known as the Gordon Stockade…”

This stockade is located just outside of the town of Custer and next to the Custer State Park

                          

 

    

Custer State Park

                    

                

Mt. Rushmore

Crazy Horse Monument

Letter from Henry Standing Bear to Korczak Ziolkowski requesting his help to sculpt the Indian Chief

         

 

 

Custer, South Dakota