that single event, more than 700 settlers were killed and 38 Santee Sioux were executed in a public spectacle in Mankato, Minn.

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As a result of that single event, more than 700 settlers were killed and 38 Santee Sioux were executed in a public spectacle in Mankato, Minn. The government's response was, and still remains, the largest execution in U.S. history. Today, Indian and white relations have improved, but ill will on both sides remains because of the government's dealings with American Indian people.
 
It was in 1862, along the south side of the Minnesota River in the newly formed state of Minnesota, that a group of Santee Sioux tried to eke out an existence on a small reservation. Chief Little Crow had earlier agreed to a treaty with the government in which the Santee gave up land for annuities and cash. However, the annuities and cash were slow to arrive or, in many cases, did not arrive. The Santee people were starving, and the government was slow to respond. It must have been an act of desperation that drove a small band of Santee on a rampage against settlers in the area. About 300 Santee were convicted and sentenced to death for the killing of hundreds of settlers. President Abraham Lincoln reviewed the sentences and commuted all but 38.
 
Many historians agree that this one event set in motion the start of the Plains wars or Sioux wars. Ironically, that was the same time that the United States was engulfed in a bitter civil war. Ending with the Wounded Knee Creek massacre in 1890, the overt Sioux war ceased, but many lingering feelings of ill will and mistrust remained.
 
Had the U.S. government abided by the terms of the treaties, the transition of American Indian people from the traditional lifestyle to a Western or European lifestyle might have been a little easier. But that was the problem. Government agents and boarding schools forbade American Indian people from speaking their own language, participating in their ceremonies and spirituality, caring for their own children, wearing their own clothes, and living in their own homes, among other things. It is hard to imagine a more difficult thing for a people or culture to endure than the loss of everything they know and cherish.
 
It is truly remarkable that American Indian culture has persisted despite repeated attempts to wipe it out. One could argue that the culture was forever changed and, for some, they have not yet come to terms with or adapted to the change.
 
We hope we all learn from our violent history. Today, America is a wonderful country made of many cultures and ethnicities. A celebration and appreciation of these differences is what makes America great.

Alan L. Neville is an associate professor of education at Northern State University. The views are his and do not represent NSU.