2018 Mari Sandoz Symposium, September 21-22, 2018
Theme?
Strong Native American women were discussed at the 2018 Mari Sandoz Symposium. University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications instructor and author Joe Starita talked about Dr. Susan La Flesche, “A Warrior to Her People.” At the age of 24 she graduated as the valedictorian of her medical school class and became America’s first Native doctor – 31 years before women could vote and 35 years before Natives became citizens in their own country.
Chadron State College Visual Arts Professor Mary Donahue explained and showed examples of “Landscape Place and Identity,” her response to the high plains, the landscape she calls home. Samples of her work and that of her colleague Laura Bentz were on display in the adjacent gallery at the High Plains Center.
A presentation by the 2018 Sandoz Scholar award winner, the University of Nebraska Lincoln Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design, focused on Mari’s signature style and the relationship between her fashion sense and the crafting of her public persona. Katie Francisco was one of the graduate students in Dr. Claire Nicholas’ class on Museums: Theory and Practice. With a video and slide presentation, she highlighted the museum exhibition displayed on the UNL East Campus.
Dr. Kimberli Lee of Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, discussed Sandoz’ approach as Ally and Advocate for Native People. Sandoz, Lee said, used her writing skills and notoriety as an accomplished author as a platform to address civil rights and social justice on behalf of Native American people, specifically the Northern Cheyenne and Lakota.
A screening of the newly released film “Warrior Women” and a visit with filmmaker Dr. Elizabeth Castle and Madonna Thunder Hawk was an afternoon highlight as the women discussed the story of a Lakota mother and daughter and their activism from the takeover of Alcatraz and the second battle of Wounded Knee in 1973 through the more current standoff at Standing Rock in protest of a controversial oil pipeline project.
Dr. Susan La Flesche – A Warrior to Her People
Twenty-four years after her birth in a buffalo-hide tipi in western Nebraska, Susan La Flesche graduated as the valedictorian of her medical school class and became America’s first Native doctor – 31 years before women could vote and 35 years before Natives became citizens in their own country. This is the story of how La Flesche overcame enormous gender and racial barriers to effectively become the chief of her beloved Omaha Indian people.
Speaker: Joe Starita, Professor, College of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Landscape, Place, and Identity: Two Visual Artists Respond to the Plains
Chadron State College Visual Art Professors Laura Bentz and Mary Donahue will share, through their art, how they respond to the landscape they call home.
Speakers: Mary Donahue & Laura Bentz, CSC Art Department
Mari Sandoz: Crafting a Nebraska Character, Fashioning an Exhibition
This paper shares insights and details of an innovative approach to inquiry and scholarly output: the student-led research and design of the museum exhibition, “Mari Sandoz: Crafting a Nebraska Character,” which ran from May 3rd to September 7th in UNL’s Department of Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design. The exhibition focused on Mari Sandoz’ signature style and the relationship between her fashion sense and the crafting of her public persona. Research for the exhibition was conducted by seven TMFD and Anthropology graduate students enrolled in the Spring 2018 course, “Museums: Theory and Practice” (taught by Dr. Claire Nicholas). Students explored primary and secondary sources relating to the biographical and professional arc of Sandoz’ life, her journey from impoverished, rural Nebraska to the vibrant Greenwich Village literary scene in wartime and post-WWII New York City, and her relationship to self-presentation and long-standing interest in fashion and style. Some of these sources include excerpts of Sandoz’ letters to her family and friends, biographical studies and books, photographs of Sandoz, and material culture analysis of select clothing and accessories from the Mari Sandoz Heritage Society’s garment and accessories collection. The exhibition sought to explore how Sandoz’ careful curation of her public and professional identity (as evidenced in her correspondence, for example) carried over to the attention she gave to her appearance. The paper presents some of the findings from the students’ research on Sandoz’ style and discusses the process of developing the exhibition as it relates to material culture studies and methods more generally.
Speaker: Katie Francisco, Graduate Research Assistant, Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Instructor: Dr. Claire Nicholas, Assistant Professor of Textiles and Material Culture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Ally and Advocate: Mari's Approach to Support for Native Peoples
This presentation explores the ways in which Mari Sandoz used her writing skills and authorial notoriety as a platform for addressing social justice and civil rights issues on behalf of Native American peoples. More specifically, the paper will focus on her activism for the Northern Cheyenne and Lakota tribes.
Speaker: Dr. Kimberli Lee (Hunka Lakota), Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, OK
Warrior Women: Past & Present
In the spirit of Mari Sandoz we will screen the newly released film Warrior Women and hear from the film team of Madonna Thunder Hawk and Dr. Elizabeth Castle. The film is story of Lakota mother and daughter activism from Wounded Knee through Standing Rock. The film was produced though a long term collaboration between Thunder Hawk and Castle who met when they first shared stories when Castle interviewed her for her doctoral dissertation almost 20 years ago. Since they have worked together to collectively tell the story of women's activism in the Red Power Movement. They will also discuss the contemporary activist legacy and what is happening now in the Plains and how Native women and white allies are leading the way.
Speakers: Dr. Beth Castle & Madonna Thunder Hawk (Oohenumpa Lakota)
Who Are the Real Savages?”: Uncovering the Complex Story of Western Nebraska’s Lakota Activism
The region where Mari Sandoz grew up and wrote about saw a multifaceted grassroots Lakota civil rights movement during the twentieth century. Scholars often center western Nebraska’s Lakota activism around the American Indian Movement (AIM) during the early 1970s. Federal, state, and local archives, however, reveal a more complex narrative that includes numerous Native American organizations and persons, both male and female, pushing for civil rights in western Nebraska.
Speaker: Dr. David Christensen
