Contact us at: whispernthunder1@gmail.comCulural Outreach in Lakota Country
~Mary Burrows
In 1903, Chief Red Cloud said, “The Great
Spirit made us, the Indians, and gave us
this land we live in. He gave us the buffalo,
the antelope, and the deer for food and
clothing. We moved our hunting grounds
from the Minnesota to the Platte, and
from the Mississippi to the great mountains.
No one put bounds on us.”
Their emergence myth has the Lakota coming out of Wind Cave following a great flood and onto Turtle Island, created by the turtle bringing soil from underground. There are also histories of migration to the Carolinas and back to the area of present-day Minnesota, stopping during both journeys at the Serpent Mound in Ohio.
In the late 18th century, the Sioux were driven out of Minnesota onto the Great Plains into the Missouri River valley, where a 30-years-long war with the Arikara culminated in the Sioux driving them from central South Dakota. By the 19th century, the Great Sioux Nation dominated the areas of northern Nebraska, eastern Wyoming, southeastern Montana, and most of the Dakotas.
In earlier times, paleo-Indians hunted, gathered, and lived in western South Dakota when modern river beds were covered by great bodies of water and throughout the ages that it took for the water to subside into its current drainages. Mammoth hunters hunted their shores from 12-20 thousand years years ago. The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs (SD) contains remains of ancient mammoth, Bison, miniature horse, giant short-faced bear, and sabre-toothed cats preserved in a sinkhole, along with plant remains like ancient ragweed, and evidence of smaller animals, that is filled with sediment from Ancient Fall River.
As the waters receded, multi-colored sandstone canyons and long, wide meadows emerged, and the Natives honored the sacred Paha Sapa with ceremony and respect. They consider the “great mountains” to be the “Heart of Everything that Is.”
Despite government treaties and promises, when gold was discovered in French Creek by the Custer Expedition, the Great Sioux Nation was inundated with eager gold-seekers, and the treaty-promised boundaries were eliminated.
Treatment of Native Americans by the federal government has long been appalling. The Snyder Act of 1924, known as the Indian Citizenship Act, “allowed” Native Americans born in the United States to realize full U.S. citizenship, though their rights to vote were determined by the individual states.
Situations began to change in western South Dakota some ten years ago, when the Rapid City Community Conversations resulted from a racist incident at a local sports event. The Conversations focused on mutual respect, reconciliation, and peaceful coexistence.
In Hot Springs, South Dakota, built upon terraces created by the ancient river and seas, a dedicated group has worked for almost a year to establish a cultural center for Native Americans to come together and celebrate and share Lakota culture in ways that focus on tradition, family, and food. The MniKa'Ta' Oyate (Mni: water; Ka'Ta': warm; Oyate: family) defines one of it's ambitions as building pride in the Lakota culture for the coming generations.
During a meeting in February 2025,
discussions were held regarding
community outreach and raising
awareness about Native life in an area
where Natives have long been
subjugated to the dominant culture.
The group's 501c3 status was discussed,
especially regarding a grant application due on March 3. Newly-hired Hot Springs School District Superintendent, Dr. Kyley Cumbow, was delighted that the group agreed that grant monies be used to create a floor drum for the school district. Her idea was to have the drum maker create the instrument at the school, therefore presenting a cultural and educational experience for the student body.
Dr. Cumbow is also pursuing an honoring ceremony and presentation of star quilts for each of the twelve Lakota people that make up almost a quarter of this year's graduating senior class. Notions about financing and providing the quilts were presented.
“We hope to build pride in our children, so they look at themselves in a positive way, with a positive history, and a positive future,” group treasurer Judith McPherson said.
The group also seeks to enlarge the Native American exhibit at the local Pioneer Museum as another form of outreach, as well as possibly offering classes for creating traditional garments and regalia, and other items like medicine wheels, at a local artisans mart.
For milennia, prayer ceremonies have been offered at Hinhan Kaga, “the place of owls,” now Black Elk Peak, a granite edifice on the edge of the Great Plains in the sacred Black Hills, so named because pegmatite formations at the summit resemble roosting owls. At an elevation of 7244 feet, the sacred mountain is visible from almost every vantage point on the prairie, and is the highest point between itself and the French Alps. During times of oppression, prayers were offered covertly, but in 1987, archeologist Ben Rhodd, his wife Juanita, and several other Natives revived the annual pilgrimage to its summit to “Welcome Back the Thunders.”
Typical bureacratic obstacles like permits were raised by government entities, who considered the ceremony to merely be an “outing,” but over the years, government personnel have grown to respect the journey and the ceremony.
Rhodd invited the oyate to join this year's gathering on March 22, especially targeting local youth. It is “not just an outing, but a deep ceremony,” and it is “our spiritual right” to ascend the mountain to “pray the prayer that must be prayed and sing the song that must be sung.” We pray to the Thunders to bring moisture, for balance, and “for healthy, strong, new Life,” he said.
Danialle Rose, group co-chair, is a long-time organizer, activist, and grant-writer. She and other members have dedicated time and talents to the success of the group.
“I'm willing to take the lead, like the goose at the center of the V for a bit, knowing that I will be dropping back, and others will take over that position.
We want to share our heritage, help people understand our culture, and be there for our youth.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW2WWKpFHE0
https://www.facebook.com/danialle.rose
https://www.frcheraldstar.com/news/middle-school-principal-pierre-hired-new-superintendent-hot-springs