Event Details

An offering from the Macalester Native and Indigenous (MNI) initiative, and in honor of Native American heritage month, we invite the Macalester community to listen and learn from Macalester alum Walter (“Super”) LaBatte ‘70 and his niece Teresa Peterson about Dakota history in Minnesota.

Voices from Pejuhutazizi: Dakota Stories and Storytellers
A Reading and Q&A with the authors
Wednesday, Nov. 16; 4:45-6:15 p.m.
Hill Ballroom, Kagin Commons
Register here

Complimentary copies of the book will be provided to the first 150 people who register in advance! Registration is requested, but not required. If you have specific access or accommodation requests, please complete the registration form.

Through five generations at Pejuhutazizi (the place where they dig the yellow medicine, now also known as the Upper Sioux Indian Community in Minnesota), Teresa Peterson's family members have listened to and told stories: stories of events, migrations, and relationships in Dakota history, and stories that carry Dakota culture through tales, legends, and myths.

In the 1910s, Waŋbdiṡka (Fred Pearsall) made notes on stories he heard from Dakota elders. In the 1950s, when he wrote them down in a letter to his daughters, his young grandson Waṡicuŋhdinażiŋ (Walter "Super" LaBatte Jr., Macalester Class of 1970) was already listening and learning from his family's elders and other members of the community. And then that grandson grew up to become a storyteller.

In this book, Teresa Peterson worked with her uncle Super to present their family's precious collection. These stories bring people together, impart values and traditions, deliver heroes, reconcile, reveal place, and entertain. As they bring delight to listeners, they provide belonging and nurture humanity.

Sponsored by the Macalester Native and Indigenous (MNI) initiative, made possible by the Heidepriem MNI Initiative Restricted Fund. Light refreshments will be served.