1. OCETI SAKOWIN The People of the Seven Council Fires

2. OCETI SAKOWIN
For six-hundred years we have lived under the misconception that Columbus discovered America. What he did was stumble on a land already occupied by many people and many nations. In the center of that land were a people who call themselves Oyate which means "the People".

3. Territory of the Oceti Sakowin consisted of the majority of the Great Plains

4. OCETI SAKOWIN
Long time ago the people had one council fire and made their winter camp Mde Wakan (Spirit Lake, known today as Mille Lacs, MN) Their village was called Mdewakantonwan or Spirit Lake Village.
Oceti Sakowin confederacy is divided into three divisions: Dakota, Nakota and Lakota

5. OCETI SAKOWIN
Dakota
Mdewakantonwan: People of Spirit Lake or Spirit Lake Village
Wahpetonwan: People among the leaves or Leaf Village
Wahpekute: Shooters among the leaves or Leaf Shooters
Sisitonwan: People of the Swamp or Swamp Village
The Dakota dwelling place was to the east and north east in the lakes region within the vast territory that the Oceti Sakowin commanded. The majority of the economy centered around fishing and the harvesting of wild rice and herbs. They were recognized as the people of the herbs.

6. OCETI SAKOWIN Nakota Ihanktonwan: Campers at the End
Ihanktonwanna: Little Campers at the End
The Nakota resided to the south and southeast within the Oceti Sakowin territory. Their economy centered around pipestone quarrying, and they were known and recognized as the caretakers and protectors of the pipestone quarries.

7. OCETI SAKOWIN Lakota Titonwan: People of the Plains or Plains Village
The Lakota were known as the people of the prairie and the Pte Oyate (Buffalo People). They resided to the west, northwest and the southwest of the Oceti Sakowin Territory. Their economy was based on the buffalo, wild fruits and vegetables. They are also recognized as the caretakers of He Sapa (the Black Hills).

8. OCETI SAKOWIN Current Camp Circle

9. OCETI SAKOWIN
Each band had a leader (itaca), usually called ‘chief’ in English, who spoke for his people. The council, comprised of respected adult men, represented the people of the camp. As men came of age and achieved status in the community they were invited to sit in the council. Their discussions concerned everything related to the common welfare: camp moves, relations with other camps and with Whites, and when and where hunting parties should be sent. They also approved war parties before they set out and arbitrated disputes between camp members.
(Source: Lakota Society. Divisions of the Lakotas. James R. Walker)

10. OCETI SAKOWIN
It is important to understand the significance of this governance and how the interference of the United States government has negatively impacted the sovereignty and life of those people who existed under the governance of the Oceti Sakowin
It is also important to understand that the Lakota/Nakota/Dakota and many other tribes had a form of government that were not patriarchal. Women were considered an important part to society, because they were and are the life bearers.

11. Boarding Schools
Boarding schools were the ideal instrument for assimilating Native American youth in the “ideologies of the American or White society.” ​The first priority of the boarding schools was emphasis on "manual training" that taught young men to be blacksmiths and carpenters and women to be housekeepers and cooks. Very little time was spent on academics.  Religious training in Christianity would be taught. The principles of democratic society, institutions and the political structure would give the students citizenship training. The end goal was to eradicate all vestiges of Native American culture. Cultural genocide, like the Holocaust.
By the 1880s, the U.S. operated reservation day schools and reservation boarding schools. The reservation day school had the advantage of being relatively inexpensive and caused the least opposition from parents. The reservation boarding school spent half a day teaching English and academics and half a day on industrial training. Regimentation was the order of the day and students spent endless hours marching to and from classes, meals and dormitories. Order, discipline and self-restraint were all prized values of white society.The boarding schools hoped to produce students that were economically self-sufficient by teaching work skills and instilling values and beliefs of possessive individualism, meaning you care about yourself and what you as a person own. This opposed the basic Native American belief of communal ownership, which held that the land was for all people.
Some believed that the on-reservation schools were not sufficiently removed from the influences of tribal life. In the eyes of assimilationists, off-reservation boarding schools would be the best hope of changing Native American children into members of the white society. For Col. Richard Henry Pratt, the goal was complete assimilation. In 1879, he established the most well-known of the off-reservation boarding schools, the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Pratt’s motto was, “Kill the Indian, save the man.” Pratt believed that off-reservation schools established in white communities could accomplish this task, by immersing Native Americans into the mainstream of American life. Carlisle was the only off-reservation boarding school built in the East; all others were built in the West.

12. Carlisle Indian School
Carlisle and other off-reservation boarding schools instituted their assault on Native cultural identity by first doing away with all outward signs of tribal life that the children brought with them. The long braids worn by Indian boys were cut off. The children were made to wear standard uniforms. The children were given new “white” names, including surnames, as it was felt this would help when they inherited property. Traditional Native foods were abandoned, forcing students to acquire the food rites of white society, including the use of knives, forks, spoons, napkins and tablecloths. In addition, students were forbidden to speak their Native languages, even to each other. The Carlisle school rewarded those who refrained from speaking their own language.
The boarding schools taught history with a definite white bias.
The Carlisle school developed a “placing out system,” placing Indian students in the mainstream White community for summer or a year at a time where they could learn skills other than farming. As free forced labor more or less. The girls became the major source of domestic labor for white families, like maids and nannies and the boys were placed in seasonal harvest or other jobs unwanted by white or immigrant laborers. Pratt hoped the Native American youth would not return to the reservations but rather become part of the white community.
The end goal was to eradicate all vestiges of Native American culture. Cultural genocide,.

13. Let’s learn some Lakota!

14. Hello - Hau (boys)/Háŋ(girls)
Good Morning - Híŋhaŋni wašté
Good Day - Aŋpétu wašté
Later - Doksa
My Name is… - … emáčiyapi yeló/kštó

15. Native American Storytelling

16. Honoring All Life
Traditional Native stories honor all life, plants, animals and human ancestors
Storytelling come from years of kinship with the earth and express the connection the Native people have with the earth
Through these stories legends, history, teachings from spirits and instructions for ceremonies have been passed down from generation to generation.

17. Preserving History
Verbally telling stories from generation to generation is very important to Native Americans. It is a way for them to ensure that their history and legacy lives on.
Not so long ago, the Native people were forced to stop speaking their language (in SD the language dominantly spoken is Lakota) and forced to stop telling their stories.(Native American Boarding schools)
Today, we are trying to re-introduce these traditions before they are lost forever.

18. Lakota Legend of the Dreamcatcher
Who is Iktomi - He is a trickster spirit and a cultural hero to the Lakota people.
What is a dreamcatcher? - a hoop on which a is woven a loose net or web.
The dreamcatcher to some Native Americans is VERY SACRED. It is to be used correctly and respectfully!