Dakota Commemorative March, St. Paul, MN, 2002-2012
Every other year participants in the Dakota Commemorative March walk 150 miles from Lower Sioux Agency in southwest Minnesota to historic Fort Snelling near the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The journey commemorates the 1,700 Dakota women, children and elders who were forcibly marched from Lower Sioux to a concentration camp at Fort Snelling at the conclusion of the U.S.-Dakota War in November of 1862. Of those who survived the original march, many more died while imprisoned during the long winter and on the final removal to Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota the following spring. While other events—such as the Mahkato Wacipi and the Memorial Relay Run—commemorate the 38 Dakota warriors who were hanged on December 26, 1862 in what remains the largest mass execution in U.S. history, the Dakota Commemorative March focuses on the lesser-known story of the women and children. The march also functions as a collective act of truth telling and a means for Dakota people still living in exile to reconnect with their ancient homeland and thereby facilitate a rebirth of the Dakota Oyate.
See also -
Waziyatawin, What Does Justice Look Like? Living Justice Press, 2009
Waziwatawin Angela Wilson, ed. In the Footsteps of Our Ancestors, Living Justice Press, 2006