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JULY 31, 2000

Two members of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota have translated 20 out of over 200 letters written by Dakota prisoners from 1863 to 1866.

The letters were written to Rev. Steven Riggs, a missionary in Minnesota, from prisoners after an uprising. The prisoners had all converted to Christianity.

The two tribal members take the letters, read them aloud to elders, translate them, and type them up on a computer. All the letters are expected to be translated in the next 20 months.

The Dakota Letters Exhibit is on display at Agnes Ross Educational Center near the Royal River Casino. The tribe is using a $18,000 federal grant to translate them.

Get the Story:
Translators interpret 1860s Indian letters (The Argus Leader 7/31)

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The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe (Tribe of the Week)