Healing History's Wounds: Reconciliation Communication Efforts to Build Community Between Minnesota Dakota (Sioux) and Non‐Dakota Peoples

This article describes the moral conflict involved when two incompatible social worlds collided on America's Frontier in Minnesota in 1862. The result was the bloodiest and costliest Indian war and the largest mass execution in our history. The residue of hatred and misunderstanding persist to this day but is being ameliorated by long‐term efforts toward reconciliation. These relationship building efforts are illustrated by a model and with examples of dialogue, collaboration, and communally shared experiences between the dominant culture and the Dakota people. It is believed that these efforts are gradually having an impact in healing the deep wounds between these estranged cultures.