He Sapa Woihanble He Sapa WoiHanble Dream

EditEd by Craig Howe, lydia Whirlwind Soldier, and lanniko l. lee

Living Justice Press St. Paul, MinnESota living Justice press St. paul, Minnesota 55105

Copyright © 2011 oak lake Writers’ Society all rights reserved. published 2011 First edition

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, please contact: permissions, living Justice press, 2093 Juliet avenue, St. paul, Mn 55105 Tel. (651) 695-1008 or contact permissions through our Web site: www.livingjusticepress.org. library of Congress Cataloging-in-publication Data

He sapa woihanble : black Hills dream / edited by Craig Howe, lydia Whirlwind Soldier, and lanniko lee. p. cm. includes bibliographical references and index. iSbn-13: 978-0-9721886-9-2 iSbn-10: 0-9721886-9-X 1. Dakota indians—land tenure—black Hills (S.D. and Wyo.) 2. Teton indians— land tenure—black Hills (S.D. and Wyo.) 3. assiniboine indians—land ten- ure—black Hills (S.D. and Wyo.) 4. american literature—black Hills (S.D. and Wyo.)—indian authors. 5. black Hills (S.D. and Wyo.)—History. 6. black Hills (S.D. and Wyo.)—Race relations. i. Howe, Craig phillip. ii. Soldier, lydia Whirlwind, 1942– iii. lee, lanniko l., 1949– iV. oak lake Writers’ Society. e99.D1H4 2011 978.004'975243—dc23 2011018911 iSbn-10: 0-9721886-9-X iSbn-13: 978-0-9721886-9-2 ebook iSbn: 978-1-937141-09-7

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Cover design by David Spohn Cover photo by George brennaman interior design by Wendy Holdman Maps created by loretta Draths and Craig Howe printed by Sheridan books, ann arbor, Michigan on nature’s book recycled paper Contents

Oak Lake Writers’ Society ix Acknowledgments x Introduction 3 Dialogue 7 oak lake Writers Buffalo Gap 33 lydia Whirlwind Soldier Back Home from Paha Sapa 35 Kathryn akipa Letting Go 41 alice Sherman The Buffalo Cosmos 42 elizabeth Cook-lynn The Soul of This Heart 46 Gabrielle Tateyuskanskan “He Sapa Kin Wakan, Oheniya Kiksuyape” 47 Charmaine White Face Paha Sapa: The Spiritual Mecca 57 elden lawrence The Heart of the Earth 66 Zion Zetina Foolish Gold 70 Karen pratt That Hole in the He Sapa 72 Roseanna Renaud Posts from En Route 75 Kim Tallbear Toksa Black Hills 82 patty bordeaux nelson A Declaration of Affirmation of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 85 Teton nation Treaty Council Lots for Sale 88 Ronya Hoblit He Sapa: Our Spiritual Shrine 89 Vi Waln In the Spirit of Mato Tipila: An Honoring 92 Craig Howe Change the Name of Harney Peak 97 lydia Whirlwind Soldier The Flight to Cedar Canyon 104 lanniko l. lee What About ART? 106 elizabeth Cook-lynn The Violence of Silence 108 edward Valandra Old Deal/New Deal 117 Gladys Hawk Now You See It . . . 120 lucy Keith Elk Songs in Church 122 ben Sherman Turning Stone 125 Tasiyagnunpa livermont Spirit Calling 133 Mabel picotte The Black Hills at Sunset 137 lucy Keith Treaties and U.S. Documents 139 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie 141 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie 146 1877 Act 165 1980 Supreme Court Ruling: v. Sioux Nation of Indians 172

Contributors’ Notes 191 Glossary 199 Additional Readings 203 Index 205

About Living Justice Press 220 Authors’ Home Towns

Kathryn Akipa Albuquerque, NM Patty Bordeaux Nelson Madison, SD Elizabeth Cook-Lynn Rapid City, SD Gladys Hawk Wakpala, SD Ronya Hoblit Mandan, ND Craig Howe Martin, SD Austin Keith Rosebud, SD Lucy Keith Rosebud, SD Elden Lawrence Peever, SD Lanniko L. Lee Java, SD Tasiyagnunpa Beth Livermont Brookings, SD Mabel Picotte Chamberlain, SD Karen Pratt Sioux Falls, SD Roseanna Renaud Martin, SD Alice M. Sherman [deceased] Ben William Sherman Louisville, CO Kim TallBear Berkeley, CA Gabrielle Wynde Tateyuskanskan Enemy Swim, SD Edward Charles Valandra Vermillion, SD Vi Waln Mission, SD

Oceti Sakowin Reservation Lands Lydia Whirlwind Soldier Rosebud, SD 1 River 7 Pine Ridge Charmaine White Face Rapid City, SD 2 Crow Creek 8 Rosebud Zion Zetina Albuquerque, NM 3 Flandreau 9 Santee 4 Fort Peck 10 Spirit Lake 5 Lake Traverse 11 Standing Rock 6 Lower Brule 12 Yankton

Oak Lake Writers’ Society

This book is a publication of the oak lake Writers’ Society, a state-wide organization of lakota, Dakota, and nakota writers. The Society is an outgrowth of the summer retreats for aspiring tribal writers that have taken place at State University’s oak lake Field Station since 1993. The primary goal of the Society is to contribute to the strength- ening and preservation of lakota, Dakota, and nakota cultures through the development of culture-based writings. other Society publications include Shaping Survival: Essays by Four American Indian Tribal Women, edited by Charles Woodard and Jack W. Marken and published by Scarecrow press, Memory Songs, by lydia Whirlwind Soldier and published by The Center for Western Studies, augustana College, and This Stretch of the River: Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Responses to the Lewis and Clark Expedition and Bicentennial, ed- ited by Craig Howe and Kim Tallbear and published by pine Hill press. Acknowledgments

The process of bringing this book to fruition spanned five years, three editors, and one dedicated mentor. Many individuals and institutions contributed to its creation, and we wish to give special thanks to some of them. an edited volume is, by definition, comprised of the work of a number of authors. in this case, twenty-three lakota, Dakota, and nakota writers contributed their work. in many ways, this book is theirs. Without their work, there would be no book. Charles Woodard read and commented on nearly every page of this book at least once, but typically multiple times. His skill in handling an editorial pen and his camaraderie in mentoring us editors and the contributing writers encouraged all of us to do our best in seeing this book through to publication. He is a co-founder of the oak lake Writers’ Society, organizes our annual retreat at South Dakota State University’s oak lake Field Station, and works behind the scenes to promote and support the work of the Society and its individual members. We are great- ly indebted to him for his friendship and enduring commitment to the Society. We also wish to thank the South Dakota Humanities Council, the brookings Reconciliation Council, and South Dakota State University for their support of the oak lake Writers’ Society, our annual retreats, and the editing meetings that resulted in this book. and a heartfelt thank you to all of the other people who contributed in countless ways to the creation of this book.

Wopila Tanka. He Sapa Woihanble

Introduction

The vision of this book, its dream, its woihanble, is to present Native perspectives on He Sapa, the spiritual center and homeland of the Oceti Sakowin, the Seven Council Fires people. The Oceti Sakowin people, col- lectively but incorrectly referred to as “Sioux,” are comprised of three major subdivisions: Lakotas, Nakotas, and Dakotas. He Sapa refers to a breathtakingly beautiful ecosystem of pine-covered hills, steep-walled rock canyons, countless caves, and meandering meadows that rise out of the northern Plains like an ocean island. In the Lakota language, “he” means a ridge of mountains, and “sapa” means black. From a distance, the blue and gray haze and the dark dense green colors of the pines and cedars shift subtly and settle deeply into black, thus the name. Today this area is known in English as the Black Hills of South Dakota. The purity of the wind’s whisper that sweeps across He Sapa holds memories and stories of Lakota history from the time of creation. In the beginning there was only Inyan, a pulsing amorphous entity who gave his blood to create Maka, the earth, the waters upon her, and the sky above. After giving all of this away, Inyan shrank into the hard brittle form that we know as rock. And at the center of He Sapa is its foundation— Inyan, the Rock. Lakotas believe that countless generations later, our ancestors left the under world and emerged onto this earth through a hole, or connecting cave, in Inyan. Lakotas believe that emergence place is Wind Cave. He Sapa is part of a profound concept in Lakota philosophy that is called “Lakol wicoun,” the Lakota way of life. He Sapa is a precious re- source that Lakotas have always held in trust for the coming generations. He Sapa to Lakotas is a wizipan, a repository from which we can draw physical and spiritual sustenance. It is a place of prayer and ceremony. We cannot look upon it without thinking of the power that created it. We are part of it, as it is part of us. We breathe in the air created by the tree and plant nations, and the mists that gather in deep falling ravines and val- leys. The four-legged nations, a great variety of bird nations, nations that live in the water—all of these nations sustain us. The water that runs into

. 3 . 4 . IntroductIon

ravines and over rock formations into clear streams and gleaming pristine lakes is wiconi. Without water, there is no life. Stones and rock formations intricately sculptured against the sky are part of us too. In Lakol wicoun this is “Mitakuye Oyasin.” They are all our relatives, and we are all related. All of this we know and hold in our hearts. For many centuries, our tribes established their winter camps in the He Sapa foothills. Ceremonies were held throughout these sacred moun- tains. The Welcome Thunder ceremony was held each spring on Hinhan Kaga (Harney Peak). In the summer months, Sun Dances were held at Mato Paha (), Mato Tipila (), and Pesla (Reynolds Prairie). These and other ceremonies are still practiced by many today. Our claim to the Black Hills can be traced through countless centu- ries, from our creation stories to the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868. However, the Black Hills then became a ripe target of America’s and Americans’ political and capitalist interests. After gold was discovered by Custer’s illegal expedition into the Black Hills in 1874 and Custer and his command were subsequently wiped out at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876, the Black Hills were seized through a contrived “purchase”—the Act of 1877—that violated provisions of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. Though the obstacles were formidable, in 1923 the filed compensation claims in the Court of Claims to redress this wrong. Fifty-seven years later, in 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Claims ruling that the Black Hills had been taken and awarded “the Sioux nations” $17.5 million plus interest from the date of the taking (1877), which resulted in an award of $106 million. But not one of our nations accepted the money. Instead, the federal government deposited the money in an interest-earning bank account that now totals nearly $1 billion. Still today, in 2011, not one of our nations has accepted the money. This is part of the back-story to He Sapa Woihanble. As editors of this volume, we asked our fellow members of the Oak Lake Writers’ Society to answer this question: What do the Black Hills, He Sapa, mean to you? The genres of their responses were wide-ranging: traditional and contem- porary stories, mythical accounts, personal reminiscences, poems, essays, and historical perspectives. Collectively, they address such issues as the spiritual, social, psychological, and environmental ramifications of the exploitation of He Sapa that began in the late nineteenth century. The authors assert that, in spite of debilitating forces, the Oceti Sako­ win people have survived. Our ancestors suffered, yet they responded with IntroductIon . 5 courage and refused to accept the theft of He Sapa. Even though the his- tory of He Sapa is powerfully perceived by Society members as a shameful example of American injustice—both historical and ongoing—the authors also manifest the courage of our ancestors to stand up for what they hold dear and to hold America to the stipulations in its treaties. Therefore, in addition to the works of these writers, four key docu- ments related to Lakota claims to the Black Hills are included in this vol- ume: the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty; the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty; the 1877 Act; and excerpts from the 1980 U.S. Supreme Court decision, United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians. These are critically important documents that we believe are crucial for Oceti Sakowin people and all citizens of South Dakota to have access to and to read. It has taken over four years to bring this volume to publication. Lydia Whirlwind Soldier has been involved in the entire process. During the first years, Lanniko Lee teamed with Lydia to handle the editing work; Craig Howe and Lydia then worked together to prepare the final manuscript. With the ex- ception of the terms “Lakota,” “Dakota,” and “Nakota,” words and phrases in Lakota, Dakota, or Nakota are italicized throughout the volume. These words and phrases, along with brief descriptions, are later defined in the glossary. Finally, a few words about the “Dialogue” that begins this text. The dialogue is an edited transcript of an Oak Lake Writers’ Society conver- sation that occurred during our annual retreat in the summer of 2008. It is similar to the dialogue that is foundational to the Society’s previ- ous publication, This Stretch of the River: Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Responses to the Lewis and Clark Expedition and Bicentennial. In this case, the group conversation inspired personal revelations as well as fascinat- ing commentary about a place—He Sapa—that binds together all Oceti Sakowin peoples—past, present, and future. As we wrote in This Stretch of the River, the purpose of the dialogue is to create a conversation that em- phasizes the variety of our experiences, thereby foregrounding both our differences as well as the histories that bind us together as tribal writers. Our hope now is that this volume will contribute to an increased un- derstanding of the shared histories of all citizens of South Dakota, as well as the shared histories of all the peoples and nations who know and love the Black Hills. This dream is our He Sapa Woihanble.

Craig Howe, Martin, South Dakota Lydia Whirlwind Soldier, Rosebud, South Dakota

Dialogue

Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Craig Howe, Austin Keith, Elden Lawrence, Lanniko Lee, Tasiyagnunpa Livermont, Karen Pratt, Gabrielle Tateyuskanskan, Edward Valandra, and Lydia Whirlwind Soldier

A conversation between members of the Oak Lake Writers’ Society held at the South Dakota State University Field Station, July 29, 2008.

Lanniko What does He Sapa, the Black Hills, mean to you personally, your family, or your tribe? Liz I come from Crow Creek. I was born and raised at Fort Thompson along the Crow Creek. The first time I saw the Black Hills, I was maybe six or seven years old. We came out with my grandpa and grandma. My grandpa was on the tribal council, and he came out there for a meeting concerning land or treaty issues. That was the first time that I saw the Black Hills, though I had of course heard stories about it forever. I had an uncle who lived out there with his wife from Fort Thompson. So I was always curi- ous about it. I always knew it as a very special kind of place. It was about the time that they were going to open up Mount Rushmore, which tells you how old I am. It was a very curious thing to my relatives that they were opening up the faces, so they talked a lot about that. And then years later, I was coming with my fam- ily back from New Mexico driving through the Hills, and some young White college students were collecting money to go through the Hills and to see the faces. By this time I was about thirty-five years old. They stopped us. We had kind of a caravan; my mother was driving one car, my father another, and I was driving a truck. They

. 7 . 8 . dIalogue

stopped us and they said we had to pay. Well, my father got out and said, “What are you people doing? This was all Sioux country. Who are you people? What are you doing here?” And they said, “You have to pay four dollars to the park service.” And he said, “I’m not paying four dollars to go through my own country.” He argued with them until my mother got out and said, “Hey, Jerome, pay the four dollars. We have to go.” What he was saying is that this is Sioux country. It always was and it always will be. That is what comes through in stories like that. karen That makes me think of the first time I visited the Black Hills. My dad was also born on Crow Creek. I was born in Rapid City, but we made an eastward progression through the state. I was in Chamberlain, Mitchell, and finally Sioux Falls, before I moved away. I came back to this state last year. My first memory of the Black Hills was a family vacation that we took. I remember one of the things that we did on the vacation that made a big impact on me: we panned for gold. We went down to a creek and there was some arrangement that some- body had and we got to pan, and at the end of the ses- sion, we got to keep whatever gold we had panned in a little bottle filled with water. I still have that bottle. I guess seeing that shiny material in the bottom of that little vial of water made a big impression on me. To think that that little flake, those little flakes, are what made people go crazy in that part of the country. Craig According to published accounts, the Black Hills are central to the identity and spiritual beliefs of Lakotas. Before there were Lakotas on this earth, the ancestors of Lakotas lived in the underworld and were known as the Pte Oyate—the Buffalo People. They served the spirits down there. Eventually a few of the Pte People were en- ticed to come onto this surface through a connecting cave, and their descendants are the . Later some buffalos emerged from the cave and offered themselves as dIalogue . 9

sustenance to their Lakota relatives. Thus there is a close and abiding relationship between Lakotas and buffalos. At one time in the far distant past, however, that relationship was strained to the point where buffalos were hunting and eating Lakotas. To settle who should hunt and who should be hunted, they agreed to a great race, with the winner being the hunters and the losers being the hunted. The race followed a very large circular course around that emergence cave. Some accounts say the course was approximately 500 miles and that the race was 100 laps. Untold thousands of the four-leggeds and two-leggeds participated in the race. It was a tremen- dous spectacle. The stampeding creatures crushed their slower brethren, pounding their carcasses into the soil, staining the earth red with their blood. The thundering horde shook the earth so much that the ground around the cave began to rise up, eventually taking the form of the Black Hills, obscuring the site of that cave. At the very end of the race, a magpie beat a buffalo to the finish line and won for the two-leggeds. Ever since then, buf- falos have offered themselves as sustenance to Lakotas. Though the exact site of the emergence cave was lost when the Black Hills were formed, most spiritual lead- ers believe it is at what is now known as Wind Cave. Lydia When I take my kids or my grandkids to the Black Hills, I tell them, “This is Lakota land.” I say that every time just to impress on them that maybe we don’t have the paper title, but it was taken from us illegally. It wasn’t paid for. In my mind and heart, it is still our land. gabrieLLe I learned about the Black Hills through the people in my grandparents’ generation when they would come to the house and talk. As children, you weren’t allowed to participate in adult conversation, but you could hear. Say you were eating cookies under the table, or going in to get a drink of water; you heard the conversation, everything from the spiritual importance of the Black 10 . dIalogue

Hills to the creation stories, how it came to be, and how that landscape will always belong to tribal people. At that time for Dakota people, the focus was on the land in southern Minnesota that we weren’t paid for either. There are these unresolved issues about the land—about how we are going to reclaim it and how we are going to use it and how we are going to keep those ideals that the land represents to the oyate. It was just understood that when you became an adult, those were the shoes you were going to have to step into; to keep the people alive, you were going to have to keep that resistance alive. The land is a living thing just like you’re living, and it’s up to you to keep that life going. And it was going to outlive you, but you had to do your part to protect it. The creation stories showed that. I remember my grandmother saying that Wambdi Gleska became human and married a Dakota woman and how the pipe came to be made from the blood of those who perished in the flood. And she said, “See, when it looks like there is no other chance for survival, don’t give up hope. This woman didn’t give up hope and the eagle saved her and the Dakota people were re- newed and the twins started the nation again.” So there is always the hope of renewal and rebirth. The land is older than anything, and the ideals that are important in the landscape are always going to live on, even though your lifetime might pass. Many lifetimes of Dakota people have passed, and this land still is the creator’s gift to us. There are landscape stories about creation and rebirth and renewal, and these stories show that life is hard and you have to have the courage and the strength to live life and to do what is right in life. That is what warrior societies are all about: resistance and fighting and hanging in there when times are tough. Which other people stake themselves to the ground and say, “I’m going to give my life for this issue”? Today you know that, as a Dakota, you are expected to be a strong dIalogue . 11

person. As a woman, you have to be strong. As a man, you have to be strong. From a young age, hearing the stories, that is the job you have to do, whether you are an artist, or a teacher, or a lawyer; whatever you choose to do, you have to resist. You have to. That’s your purpose in life. As a Dakota you cannot sit around and say, “Gee, I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life.” By the fact that you are born Dakota, you already have that purpose. It is to be part of the land. And even further than that, what you do on earth is mirrored in the uni- verse. It is not just you; it is not just the earth itself. You are part of the universe, and the creator gave Dakota people the responsibility of being caretakers of the earth. That is your job, however you choose to do it. Lanniko When I was three or four years old, we were going to the Sioux San to see some of our relatives who were sick with tuberculosis and some other relatives who were in Hot Springs. It was in the spring of the year. I remember my grandmother going into the road ditch and picking herbs. I remember following her around with a stem of a plant and slapping at the grass, and she got after me for doing that. I remember her say- ing that we were going to get some different plants, and when we got there, she said, “This is a place where there are many things for healing, and we are going to see Auntie and we are going to visit with her.” So I remember going to Sioux San and sitting in a little room—I wasn’t able to go back with the older people, so I sat with a cousin out front—and even- tually they all came out, and then we went to Hot Springs. But before we went up to the hospital, we went up to the Kidney Springs and spent a whole after- noon in the water. I listened to my grandma talking to some of the older members of the group. It seems to me that that entire area was a place of life and re- birth, as you mention. It has always been really very 12 . dIalogue

special, a place that we needed to go to. We needed to go there for our personal health, but we also needed to go there because that was where our relatives were. What stands out in my mind is that all the dimen- sions of our being are affected by our presence in the Hills, and we have a connection to healing there and a purpose, as you mention, Gaby, and it is re- ally good to come away feeling like you have been bathed in something good just by being there. It makes you think about why there is such a premium price on real estate there and why people were persistent about taking ownership of it in the way they did. Liz The other part of what Gaby was talking about that I think is important is how hard it is to be a Dakota. You mention the Sioux San. That used to be a school. My father went to school there when he was four years old. It was a boarding school. It was a military-based kind of school. My grandparents tell about when their kids went out there to school. Big open army trucks came down to Fort Thompson and picked up all of the little Indian kids they could find and took them out there. My father went there with two of his brothers. He didn’t speak a word of English. My grandparents would get in their wagon, come way out there from Fort Thomp- son to Rapid City, and camp there from the time school started until the snow came to get a glimpse of their children. They weren’t allowed to go into the school and see them. But they would get a glimpse of their chil- dren. Then, when the snow came, they would go back to Fort Thompson. That school was there for quite a long time. Eventually it became the hospital that you speak of. I had an aunt who had TB who died there. So my grandparents’ generation of Dakota and Lakota people had quite a different view of what was going on in this world. They were Santees and Yanktons, basically. They knew very little about other