Dakota Land

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Land is incredibly important to the Dakota, both economically and spiritually. Dakota aboriginal territory extends across the Midwestern Plains of southern Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, and South Dakota (Peterson 2008). They've had an intimate connection with the land since time immemorial. The land gave them the resources that once sustained them and is the backbone of their traditional spirituality. The Dakota creation story takes place where the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers connect, a location called Bdote Minisota (or Mdote Minisota).

Prior to treaty with the United States, the Dakota had over 54 million acres of land. Euro-American settlers took nearly all of that land by coercion and force. Today the Dakota land base is reduced to about 0.006% of what it originally was (Waziyatawin 2008).

Treaties with the United States

The Treaty of Traverse de Sioux of July 23, 1851 transferred most of the Dakota land in southern Minnesota to the U.S. Government. In return, the Dakota would retain a reservation and the U.S. would provide assistance with schools, trade, and farming, and yearly payments in food and gold. The government promised to pay $500,000 to move Indian villages and pay for debts the Dakota owed to traders. This amounted to less than $0.03 an acre in return for the Dakota homeland. In fact, the Dakota saw very little of the $500,000. It went directly to traders to pay Dakota debts.

U.S. officials coerced Dakota leaders to sign the treaty by threatening to withhold rations or take the land by force. Still, the U.S. Senate refused to uphold its own responsibility in the treaty. Before ratifying the treaty, the Senate eliminated the passage granting the Dakota a reservation. Governor Ramsey had to gain presidential permission to allow the Dakota to live on the reservation for five years. Before long, a massive influx of immigrants began to encroach on the Dakota reservation. The government redrew the boundaries of the reservation, which severely crowded the Dakota, yet allowed most settlers to stay. Prices were high, government payments were often late, and food subsidies were frequently rotten. Widespread hunger soon led to the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.

After the war, soldiers held most of the surviving Dakota at Fort Snelling through the winter. When spring came, they took the prisoners down the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. They left the men in a prison in Davenport, Iowa. The women and children were taken to another prison camp in Crow Creek, South Dakota. The government declared the various land treaties negotiated with the Dakota as null and void. No Dakota was permitted to live in Minnesota and the bounty on Dakota scalps was raised. Indian annuities were ended and given to settlers.

Diaspora

The only Dakota people who were allowed to stay in Minnesota were the "Loyal Mdewakanton," who did not participate in the war. They were given the Lower Sioux, Prairie Island, and Shakopee (Prior Lake) reservations on the condition that they sever all tribal ties (Waziyatawin 2008). There are also Dakota reservations in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Montana and reserves in southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Not all Dakota people live on a reservation. Historically, there have been few economic opportunities on the reservation and people had to leave to find work. American Indians lived in urban areas throughout the 20th century, but the population of urban Indians increased dramatically post-World War II because there were more jobs in the cities. From the 1950s to 1970s the Bureau of Indian Affairs ran a relocation program to encourage Indians to migrate to urban areas (Beck 2002). Dakota people relocated as far as the San Francisco Bay Area seeking income to support their families (Kemnitzer 1970).

Land Recovery

Control over land is necessary for the economic and cultural survival of Native peoples. Like other Native peoples across the United States, Dakota communities are attempting to recover their land. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is purchasing land and restoring it to native prairie using profits from the Mystic Lake Casino. So far they have increased their reservation nearly tenfold (Peterson 2008). The Upper Sioux Community has purchased over 600 acres of ancestral lands, increasing their reservation to 1,440 acres (Upper Sioux). However, these cases are the exception rather than the rule; most reservations do not have the funds to purchase land.

In recent years, Dakota communities have been trying to get back the sacred Coldwater Spring within the Bdote Minisota area. The U.S. Bureau of Mines currently owns the site and is preparing to transfer the land to the National Park Service, despite the fact that Dakota people have asked for it back. In 2008, members of the Dakota nation reoccupied the land around Coldwater Spring for four days, with little result. If the land is returned they would use it for ceremonial purposes, language initiatives, youth camps, and to grow traditional gardens (Indymedia 2008).

Links

The content of this page was carefully researched, but the author is not an expert on Dakota culture.

If you are Dakota, your feedback is much appreciated.

Bibliography

Beck, David R.M.

2002   Developing a Voice: The Evolution of Self-Determination in an Urban Indian Community. Wicazo Sa Review

17(2):117-141.

Kemnitzer, L.S.

1970   Familial and Extra-Familial Socialization in Urban Dakota Adolescents. In The Modern Sioux. Ethel Nurge, ed.

Pp.246-267. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

MinnesotaHistory.Net

2006   Bdote/Mdote EIS: The Back Story from 2006. Electronic document, http://minnesotahistory.net/?page_id=401, accessed November 1, 2009.

Pp.246-267. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Peterson, David

2008  Tribe is reclaiming a lost legacy. Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, South Metro, May 3.

Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community

2009  Caring for Unci Maka (Grandmother Earth). Electronic document, http://www.shakopeedakota.org/3enviro.html, accessed November 1, 2009.

Twin Cities Indymedia

2008   Defend Camp Coldwater! Support the B'Dote Defenders! Electronic document,

http://tc.indymedia.org/2008/sep/defend-camp-coldwater-support-bdote-defenders, accessed November 1, 2009.

Upper Sioux Community

     Our History. Electronic document, http://www.uppersiouxcommunity-nsn.gov/pages/history.htm, accessed December 2008.

Waziyatawin

    2008  What does Justice Look Like? Liberation in Dakota Homeland. St. Paul, MN: Living Justice Press.

Written by: Melissa Lorentz, 2009.