Minnesota Humanities Center Honors Dakota History with Learning from Place: Bdote

May 6, 2019 – St. Paul, Minn. – The Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) launches its sixth season of Learning from Place: Bdote this month with five public program offerings throughout the summer. In Dakota, Bdote means where two waters come together. The Bdote of the Mississippi and the Minnesota Rivers, located within Fort Snelling State Park in St. Paul, is central to Dakota spirituality and the source from which both great joy and great sorrow have flowed through the centuries.

Learning from Place: Bdote shares Dakota traditions and perspectives related to this sacred place and other locations in the Twin Cities metro area on a day-long immersive experience. Participants challenge typical assumptions about Minnesota history as they hear about events that shaped these sites, including the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 and the subsequent imprisonment of more than 1,600 Dakota people at a concentration camp at Bdote/Fort Snelling.

Dakota educators Ramona Kitto Stately and Ethan Neerdaels lead this trip, artfully weaving storytelling with history to make for a truly impactful experience. Stately emphasized, “The importance of learning from place is that we experience the energy of the land and can better appreciate the complex history connected to the very place where we stand.”

Interest in the Bdote experience continues to intensify as Dakota heritage in Minnesota increasingly makes its way into public conversations. This history remains a misunderstood and sometimes divisive topic as illustrated by recent controversies with the naming dispute over Bde Maka Ska and the Minnesota Historical Society’s decision to change signs at Fort Snelling to say "Historic Fort Snelling at Bdote.”

“It’s our hope that this experience helps educators and the public better understand and acknowledge a past that isn’t always comfortable. Every Minnesotan has a right to be part of the conversation about our state’s history and its present-day impact on people. We want Learning from Place: Bdote to start dialogues that lead to greater understanding and healing. We want to help shape a future where everyone has a voice at the table,” said MHC Program Officer Eden Bart.

Program Details

Registration now open for 2019 Learning from Place: Bdote trips.

When: Saturday, May 11; Sunday, June 9; Saturday, July 20; Sunday, Aug. 25; Saturday, Sept. 21

Time: 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m

Cost: $110 – Fees waived for indigenous participants.

Learning from Place: Bdote features indigenous caters, including James Beard Award winner The Sioux Chef.

About the Minnesota Humanities Center

The Humanities Center offers a new way to think about our future—grounded in the humanities. We help people listen, connect, and understand each other better—because we know isolation and division are dangerous. As our state changes and grows even more diverse, communities are too often choosing not to listen to each other. As a result, we experience gaps and breakdowns. The Humanities Center’s approach affirms we’re all in this together—using philosophy, literature, civics, history, language, and more—we focus on what unites us not divides us—bringing the humanities out of scholarly institutions and into the lives of everyday Minnesotans.

The mission of the Minnesota Humanities Center is to build a thoughtful, literate, and engaged society. More information available at: mnhum.org or on Facebook and Twitter.