The Dakota Prisoner of War Letters/Dakota Kaskapi Okicize Wowapi

Minnesota History Center, St. Paul, Fifty extraordinary letters written by Dakota men imprisoned after the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 give direct witness to the harsh and painful history shared by Minnesotans today. Join Dakota elder Clifford Canku and Michael Simon, translators of the letters, as they help give voice to the experiences of Dakota men who had been silenced for over a century and a half.Canku and Simon are the authors of "The Dakota Prisoner of War Letters, Dakota Kaskapi Okicize Wowapi" (MHS Press, Mar. 2013) which will be the first published English translation of these letters, held in the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society. A dessert reception will follow the program.Dr. Clifford Canku is an assistant professor of Dakota Studies at North Dakota State University. Michael Simon is an instructor of Dakota language for the Moorhead (Minnesota) Public Schools. Both are retired Presbyterian ministers and enrolled members of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate.This program is made possible with support from the Arts, Culture and Heritage Fund, voted into law by the people of Minnesota in 2008.