Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe honors history through facility renaming

In a meaningful step to honor its past and care for future generations, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe recently renamed its long-term care facility.
Just over a month ago, the tribe chose to rename the facility after Joseph Robinson a single man who was among the first to homestead in the area and who cared for his elderly grandparents until they passed.
The luck of the draw chose a man that took care of his elders much the same way our Long Term Care facility is designed to take care of our elders today, said Francis Wakeman, spokesperson for FSST.
The naming of the facility is part of a broader effort to recognize early Dakota homesteaders and honor their legacy.
Three residential neighborhoods were also named after Elizabeth West, Sarah Carrow and Anna Redwing. All of the women were on the 1896 list of Dakota homesteaders.
We choose to honor these people as a means of tying our future to our past; informing those that were unaware or had forgotten about the sacrifices these individuals made on our behalf, said Wakeman.
These recent honors are rooted in a long and often painful history one the tribe continues to share as a reminder of resilience and survival.
April 24th, 1936 is the day the tribe was officially recognized as a tribal nation by the US Government.
Although we existed for millennia before, we choose to commemorate those individuals who were the true founders of our tribal nation, the exiles of the 1862 Dakota / American War. These individuals had to endure the destruction of their way of life and civilization, herded from Minneapolis / St. Paul to Davenport IA, and finally left to starve to death on the desolate land near Santee NE. These brave and courageous souls converted to Christianity and took up agriculture as a new way of life and to care for their families; settling here in the Flandreau area and south to Sioux Falls along the Big Sioux River.