The Center’s 2018–2019 Film Series comes to a close Thursday, April 18, with Dakota 38 — an award-winning documentary film from director Silas Hagerty that remembers the 38 Dakota men who were killed Dec. 26, 1862, in the largest mass execution in U.S. history. The film is part of The Center’s current BIG IDEA project, Unraveling: Reimagining the Colonization in the Americas.
In the spring of 2005, Jim Miller, a Native spiritual leader and Vietnam War veteran, found himself in a dream riding on horseback across the Great Plains of South Dakota. Just before he awoke, he arrived at a riverbank in Minnesota and saw 38 of his Dakota ancestors hanged. At the time, Jim knew nothing of the execution, which was ordered by Abraham Lincoln and took place on Dec. 26, 1862. “When you have dreams, you know when they come from the creator,” said Miller. “As any recovered alcoholic, I made believe that I didn’t get it. I tried to put it out of my mind, yet it’s one of those dreams that bothers you night and day.”
Four years later, embracing the message of the dream, Jim and a group of riders retrace the 330-mile route of his dream on horseback from Lower Brule, South Dakota, to Mankato, Minnesota, to arrive at the hanging site on the anniversary of the execution. “We can’t blame the wasichus anymore,” said Miller. “We’re doing it to ourselves. We’re selling drugs. We’re killing our own people. That’s what this ride is about, is healing.”
Dakota 38 is the story of their journey — the blizzards they endure, the Native and non-Native communities that house and feed them along the way, and the dark history they are beginning to wipe away.
“We are honored to be screening this film, and it’s being offered to the community free of charge in alignment with the wishes of Silas Hagerty, the filmmaker,” said Kristine Bretall, The Center’s Director of Performing Arts. “The mission of this film is healing, and Silas asks that it be screened as a gift in line with Native healing practices. We will accept donations to cover the cost of the screening, but all are welcome and we do not want an admission fee to deter anyone from seeing this powerful film. I’d like to thank the Magic Lantern for helping us fulfill this request.”
Part of The Center’s BIG IDEA project Unraveling: Reimagining Colonization of the Americas.
Running time 1 hour 58 minutes.