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This story inspired a long journey into the past as I searched for answers, not always understanding the questions that drove me.
Paul & Maude DionI wanted to know more about boarding schools, which led me to explore their purpose in dismantling Dakota culture in order to assimilate Indians into the broader culture. This, in turn, led me to learn more about my relatives on the Santee reservation in Nebraska and their experience with land allotment policies.
As I traveled, I gathered facts, anecdotes, old photographs, and inspiration for new stories. Eventually I followed my family back to the 1862 Dakota War, where my great-great-grandmother, Rosalie Marpiya Mase, a full-blood Dakota woman, took refuge at Fort Ridgely with her French-Canadian husband and other white settlers. When the Dakota people were forcibly removed from the state after the war, she was one of the few Dakota left behind. I began to understand that her experience--as well as what I had learned about boarding schools and land allotment--was all part of colonization.
The book concludes with the first-ever 2002 Dakota Commemorative March, an event that honored the 1,700 Dakota who were removed from the state. That event, combined with the recovery of our family history and stories, has helped my family understand the impact of assimilation, and the responsibility we all share in preserving our Dakota identity.
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“I am humbled by the absolute beauty of Beloved Child. I have witnessed sacred places that speak to my soul and instantly bring tears, yet I cannot articulate that truth as Diane Wilson has within these pages. This book gives us tools to listen to our hearts."
--Ramona Kitto Stately
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