Thursday binaakwe-giizis 10, 2019

October 10, 1940  Notable Historic Events in Palmville
 Tip, World's Greatest General Purpose Dog, is killed in accident.

Notable Books
"The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: 

Native America From 1890 To The Present," 

by David Treuer, Riverhead Books, New York, 2019.

    
I've only just begun reading this book. Its subject interests me greatly as I've thought much about what it promises to cover in its 500-plus pages, and that is how generations of Native Americans have persevered after the events of Wounded Knee and the aftermath of literal and cultural genocide, dispossession and forced relocation, boarding schools, and the result of intergenerational trauma.

It's written by Leech Lake Ojibwe author, David Treuer, whose perspective lends a unique credence to the work. I've read one other of his books and enjoyed it, "Rez Life: An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life."

My interest in American history was ignited in 1972 after reading, "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," by Dee Brown. Moving to Minnesota, in 1979, I learned of the 1863 Dakota Uprising. In the late 1990s, frequent travels to South Dakota afforded me the opportunity to follow the obituary of Edwin Evans, a Civil War cavalry soldier, who participated in the Indian Wars of 1864 and is buried in a cemetery in a corner of our farm.

In 2008, my wife and I took part in a Minnesota Sesquicentennial project that involved learning about the Metis and the Red River Ox Cart Trails from Winnipeg to St. Paul, Minnesota and walking 250 miles of the 440 mile distance beside an ox and two-wheeled cart; another project required that I read about treaty history for a subsequent essay concerning the Treaty of Old Crossing of 1863.

As I have written before, the birth of our grandson, 'Ozaawaa,' who was born nine years ago and lives on the Red Cliff Ojibwe reservation in northwestern Wisconsin, has caused me, a non-Native, to learn as much as I can about his culture in a respectful and factual way; I don't want to be ignorant about the history between our two nations, so I pore myself into it when I get the opportunity; The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee is one.