The Bridge Volume 28 Number 2 Article 6 2005 The Cups of Blood Are Emptied: Pietism and Cultural Heritage in Two Danish Immigrant Schools on the Great Plains John Mark Nielsen Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thebridge Part of the European History Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, and the Regional Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Nielsen, John Mark (2005) "The Cups of Blood Are Emptied: Pietism and Cultural Heritage in Two Danish Immigrant Schools on the Great Plains," The Bridge: Vol. 28 : No. 2 , Article 6. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thebridge/vol28/iss2/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Bridge by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. The Cups of Blood Are Emptied: Pietism and Cultural Heritage in Two Danish Immigrant Schools on the Great Plains* by John Mark Nielsen "The Great Plains Drinks the Blood of Christian Men and Is Satisfied." -Ole Rolvaag, Giants in the Earth Following the American Civil War, the vast sweep of the Great Plains exerted a powerful force on the imagination of Americans and Northern European immigrants, resulting in a period of rapid settlement. Within immigrant communities, in particular, attempts were made to establish institutions where the language, beliefs and cultural heritage of a people might be preserved. The history of these immigrant institutions mirror the challenges immigrant communities faced in confronting not only the vicissitudes of climate and evolving economic conditions but also the pressures of assimilation.