History Lounge: Sacred Ground/Common Ground
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Tues., Oct. 21, 2008
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7pm.
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Minnesota History Center, 345 Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul
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Free and open to the public
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Call 651/259-3419 for information. No reservations required.
Wakan Tipi Cave (aka Carver’s Cave) on St. Paul’s East Side has been sacred to the Dakota Indians from time immemorial. After the U.S. government pushed the Dakota protectors of Wakan Tipi onto reservations, the railroads lopped off half the cave to make way for tracks and the surrounding area became a dump. Meanwhile, the neighborhood around Wakan Tipi was facing its own challenges as it fought to recover from decades of economic and physical decline. Then a few years ago, a diverse group of people found a way for the East Side and Wakan Tipi to help each other.
Join Jim Rock, lifelong East Sider and Dakota advisor to the project, and Carol Carey, Executive Director of Historic St. Paul, as they explore Wakan Tipi’s ancient meanings and modern story, and reveal how this sacred ground created common ground for Dakota Indians and East Siders seeking to reclaim a piece of their community.