Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community is a
Dakota
Dakota may refer to:
* Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux
** Dakota language, their language
Dakota may also refer to:
Places United States
* Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community
* Dakota, Illinois, a town
* Dakota, Minnesota, ...
community centered in
Mendota, Minnesota
Mendota is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. The name is derived from the Dakota language, meaning "mouth or junction of one river with another. The population was 198 at the 2010 census.
History
The town was one of the first ...
. The Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community, colloquially known as MMDTC, is an organization who works to continue Dakota cultural practices and tribal organization.
Officially formed in 1997, the MMDTC has sought to be a federally recognized tribe by the US
Bureau of Indian Affairs, as well as offering community activities such as
Pow Wows
A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Powwows today allow Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their cultures. Powwows may be private or p ...
,
Dakota language
Dakota (''Dakhótiyapi, Dakȟótiyapi''), also referred to as Dakhota, is a Siouan language spoken by the Dakota people of the Sioux tribes. Dakota is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the Lakota language. It is critically endan ...
and culture classes, and partnership with the
Minnesota Historical Society.
History
The Dakota people are the original inhabitants of the land that is now known as
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, specifically centered around the modern day
Twin Cities
Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in sta ...
,
Mille Lacs Lake
Mille Lacs Lake (also called Lake Mille Lacs or Mille Lacs) is a large but shallow lake in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is located in the counties of Mille Lacs, Aitkin, and Crow Wing, roughly 75 miles north of the Minneapolis-St. Paul m ...
, and
Minnesota River Valley.
The name "Minnesota" comes from the Dakota phrase "Mni Sota," which was used as the name for the Minnesota River and meant "cloudy water," which was then used by settlers as the name for the entire state. The Minnesota River has a strong cultural significance for the Dakota people as the place where it joins the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
, in
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...
, is known as
Mdote and holds an island known as
Wakan Tanka
In Lakota spirituality, ''Wakan Tanka'' ( Standard Lakota Orthography: ''Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka'') is the term for the sacred or the divine. This is usually translated as the "Great Spirit" and occasionally as "Great Mystery".
''Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka ...
, which is considered the place that Dakota people were created according to their spirituality.
This is close to other important sites to the Dakota people, including
Oheyawahi-Pilot Knob
Oheyawahi-Pilot Knob (Dakota: ''Oȟéyawahe'', ) is a scenic overlook, and a Native American gathering place and burial ground in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, United States. The overlook provides views of the confluence of the Minnesota and Miss ...
and
Coldwater Spring
Coldwater Spring (Dakota language, Dakota: ''Mní Ówe Sní'') is a spring (hydrosphere), spring in the Fort Snelling unorganized territory of the U.S. state of Minnesota, that is considered a sacred site by the Dakota people, and was also the si ...
.
European Contact
Before American colonists had made contact with them, Dakota people had lost much of their northern lands in wars with the
Ojibwe
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
people, who themselves had been forced westward in conflicts with colonists and had therefore acquired the advantage of guns and ammunition before the Dakota. The first official contact between the Dakota and the United States Government was the 1805 Pike's Treaty, in which the U.S. was able to establish a military fortress,
Fort Snelling, and the land that would later be the modern Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. This meant the loss of the area around Mdote and Wakan Tanka, and so the heart of the Dakota land. Many treaties were later signed with the U.S., sequestering the Dakota people into smaller plots of land with each successive treaty, culminating in the conflict known as the
U.S.-Dakota War.
U.S.-Dakota War of 1862
The U.S. Dakota war was incited when U.S. officials refused to provide promised food items and goods, leading to widespread starvation and death within the Dakota reservations, particularly along the Minnesota River.
Dakota men therefore took up arms against the white settlers around them for their promised food and security, and ultimately their freedom from the colonists. A main figure in this conflict was
Taoyateduta (Little Crow), a Dakota chief who greatly assisted in the Dakota resistance and whose descendants figure within the MMDTC.
The Dakota were ultimately defeated by the white Minnesotans and noncombatants were then placed in a
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
near Fort Snelling, on Wakan Tanka.
After trials were held against those Dakota people who participated in the war, President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
ordered the execution of 38 Dakota men in
Mankato
Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the state of Minnesota. The population was 44,488 according to the 2020 census, making it the 21st-largest city in Minnesota, and the 5th-largest outside of the Minnea ...
, the largest mass execution in U.S. history.
Following this, the remainder of the Dakota in the Fort Snelling camp were ordered into exile outside of the state of Minnesota.
Formation
The Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal community was officially formed in 1997 in Mendota, Minnesota, the "center of the universe" according to the ancestors of the Dakota. After the U.S.-Dakota War, these families assisted in trying to drive out the Dakota combatants along with other Minnesotans, and so were able to maintain residence near Minneapolis and St. Paul in the towns of Mendota and
Lilydale. This allowed them to live near Mdote and Wakan Tanka, and their descendants have retained this space through today.
Highway 55 Re-Route
Shortly after the formation of the MMDTC, the community was a prominent body in the protest of the re-routing of Highway 55, whose proposed route threatened important Dakota sites such as
Coldwater Spring
Coldwater Spring (Dakota language, Dakota: ''Mní Ówe Sní'') is a spring (hydrosphere), spring in the Fort Snelling unorganized territory of the U.S. state of Minnesota, that is considered a sacred site by the Dakota people, and was also the si ...
s. The Mendota community, along with the
American Indian Movement
The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a Native American grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination, and police br ...
and
Earth First!
Earth First! is a radical environmental advocacy group that originated in the Southwestern United States. It was founded in 1980 by Dave Foreman, Mike Roselle, Howie Wolke, Bart Koehler, and Ron Kezar. Today there are Earth First! groups around t ...
, fought for the
Minnesota Department of Transportation to adjust their plans in order to preserve these spaces. After years of protesting, in which the protesters faced violent police raids and winter conditions, and court proceedings, MNDOT consented to install a lining that would protect the water source of the spring, thereby allowing construction of the highway while also protecting the natural habitat.
Federal Recognition
The Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community has sought federal recognition since its formation in 1997. Initially denied, the community is still fighting for the right to be acknowledged its sovereignty by the U.S. government. The Mendota community is descended from prominent Dakota chiefs, particularly Little Crow, and so is working to be seen as a federally recognized tribe, with the powers and rights that comes with, as it has lineage that connects it to not only Dakota families, but famous ones at that.
Cultural Practices
The cultural practices of the Mendota Community looks much the same as the broader Dakota peoples, carried down generation by generation from pre-colonial times. The Mendota Community have the distinction of "Keepers of the Eastern Gate," which is the concept that there are tribes at each cardinal direction that defend the Dakota people as a whole. The MMDTC offers monthly tribal meetings, in which the community comes together to make decisions on how they will operate and the activities they will be doing. There is also a yearly Pow Wow around September in which the community and guests celebrate the earth, their ancestors, spirits, and their cultural heritage. The Mendota Community offers classes that educate on the Dakota language, as well as classes on cultural activities such as the making of food. These practices allow for the community to uphold the beliefs and actions of their ancestors, as well as to educate others and to continue these practices for years to come.
References
{{Reflist
Dakota culture