57 pages • 1 hour read
Diane WilsonThe Seed Keeper
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Historical Context: The US-Dakota War of 1862
The Dakhóta are an Indigenous nation consisting of four bands that historically spanned from western Wisconsin through Minnesota and into the Dakotas. In the first half of the 1800s, the US government made treaties with the Dakhóta, promising to pay annuities in exchange for land, much of which was along rivers and lakes. From vast territories, the Dakhóta were limited to two small tracts of land on either side of the Minnesota River.
Over the decades, the government violated the terms of the treaties, and payments were either late or not made at all. The increasing number of American settlers overhunted and destroyed natural habitats, resulting in drastically reduced amounts of game animals. This, combined with a severe drought, led to starvation among the Dakhóta. A small group of warriors convinced Chief Little Crow (Taoyateduta) to fight with them and attempt to take back their land in 1862. Thus began the US-Dakota War, also called the Dakota Uprising. It lasted six weeks and resulted in the deaths of 600 settlers and soldiers, as well as nearly 100 Dakhóta warriors, though that number may well be higher. Not all Dakhóta supported the warfare, leading to divisions within the tribal nations.
After the Dakhóta surrendered, most fled to either Canada or farther west. In December of 1862, 38 Dakhóta men were hanged in Mankato, Minnesota, under the orders of President Lincoln. It remains the largest mass execution in US history. In 1863, the US government abolished the Dakhóta reservation and declared a $25 bounty on any Dakhóta found outside of government custody in Minnesota, apart from members of the Mdewakanton band, which assisted settlers during the war. Captives and refugees were either sent to prisons with horrific conditions or reservations at Crow Creek, South Dakota, or Santee, Nebraska. Military campaigns against the Dakhóta who fled westward and other Indigenous nations continued for the next few decades.
Cultural Context: Dakhóta Culture
The Dakhóta origin stories say that the people came from the stars and landed on Earth at Bdote, the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. This is the site where Fort Snelling, the first permanent white settlement, was built. People’s connection to the water and land forms a central part of Dakhóta culture. Many lakes, rivers, and places in Minnesota retain versions of their Dakhóta names, including the state itself—Mní Sota Makoce means either “cloudy water” or “clouds reflected in clear water.”
The word “Dakhóta” means “friend, ally,” suggesting the emphasis on living in relationship to others, including nature. Before the incursions of white settlers and military posts, the Dakhóta supported themselves by fishing, hunting, foraging, and harvesting wild rice and maple syrup. Traditionally, the Dakhóta moved when they perceived that some aspect of nature needed time to recover from human activity, like growing crops or hunting. The efforts of government agents in the 1800s to turn the Dakhóta into farmers were met with a lukewarm response, as the approach to farming they were shown focused on subduing the land to extract the most from it. Dakhóta practices focus on reciprocity, and harvesting or hunting often begins with a prayer and an offering of tobacco. Prayers end with the phrase Mitakuye Owasin, which means “all my relations,” emphasizing the connection between all beings.
Starting in the 1830s, Christian missionaries began converting the Dakhóta people. On one hand, religious conversions led to a loss of the Indigenous culture, particularly spiritual beliefs and practices. Many Indigenous religions were outlawed until the 1978 passage of the Indian Religious Freedom Act. On the other hand, missionaries helped create a written Dakhóta language that they used to translate the Bible and create a Dakhóta-English dictionary. While many Indigenous languages are in danger of disappearing, due largely to bans against using them until the 1990 Native American Languages Act, Dakhóta retains some vitality.
Today, many organizations in the Upper Midwest help preserve Dakhóta culture and language, teach their history, and protect the environment, especially the waterways.
Socio-Historical Context: Boarding Houses and the Removal of Indigenous Children
In the 1870s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs began dealing with what was termed “the Indian problem” by trying to assimilate Indigenous peoples into white, European-derived American culture. To that end, the government and various churches created boarding schools to remove children from their families and destroy Indigenous cultures. One of the first boarding schools, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, was built in 1879 in Pennsylvania. Carlisle’s first director, Richard Pratt, stated that its goal was to “kill the Indian, and save the man.” The focus of many schools was more on industry or work than education, and the students provided free labor for nearby farms or housekeeping in white homes. Parents who refused to send their children had their rations or annuities reduced or taken away. Conditions at the schools were often terrible, with poor rations, disease outbreaks, beatings, torturous punishments, and military-style rigidity for children as young as four years old. Many children never returned to their families, and the ones who did were often so changed that they no longer fit in with their communities. Though the boarding school era largely ended in the 1970s, some schools remained open into the 2000s.
The 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act helps ensure that Indigenous children are kept in their homes as much as possible or placed with relatives or tribe members before being taken out of their communities. Despite the law, Indigenous children still end up in the foster care system or other institutions at much higher rates than children of other demographics, often for nothing other than being poor.
In 2021, the bodies of over 200 Indigenous children were discovered in unmarked graves beside a school in Canada. More searches revealed similar graves at former boarding schools in the US, where it is estimated that over 6,000 children died. Work continues to find these children and return their remains to their home communities.
