Dakota Datebook

Governors throughout North Dakota history have given speeches to the Legislature to outline their priorities and proposals and to describe the state's outlook: a “state of the state,” it's been called. Those speeches are often given around this date, including in times of war, prosperity, gloom and uncertainty. Here’s a sampling:

North Dakota Native American Essential Understanding Number Five is about tribal policies, treaties, and sovereignty. In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll hear Demus McDonald, elder and enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Dakota nation, tell the traumatic story of his own experience with assimilation policies practiced by America's Indian boarding school system.

North Dakota Native American Essential Understanding Number Four is about sense of humor. In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll hear Jesse Taken Alive, elder educator, and enrolled member of the Standing Rock Nation discuss the important role that humor plays among the Lakota people.

If you are of a certain age, you may remember the value of a silver dollar, and you might recall its size and its heft – almost a full ounce of real silver. Most people today most likely remember non-silver Eisenhower dollars or the Susan B. Anthony or Sacagawea dollars from recent years, but old, real-silver dollars evoke special memories for some.

Teaching has never been an easy profession. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, school boards imposed severe rules on women who chose teaching as a profession. While it varied from school to school, many of the rules were common, including daily tasks like making sure the classroom had a bucket of water and a full scuttle of coal. They had to fill the lamps and clean the chimneys. Modern teachers can be glad they don’t have to clean the outhouses!

The old-fashioned wringer washing machine looks primitive by today’s standards, but at one time it was a state-of-the-art innovation. As the industrial revolution exploded, people became more and more interested in labor-saving devices. Wooden tubs equipped with a hand-powered agitator were already in use. But the wet laundry still had to be wrung out by hand. That was time consuming and labor intensive.

In September of 1931, a community acting group organized in the city of Bismarck. Sixty people became members at the first meeting, where the group adopted a constitution and elected officers. It cost 50 cents per year to be a member. Their goal was to “provide drama as a means of recreation both for participants and audience.” Members determined that admission fees would be kept low, only enough to cover costs.

Merry Christmas! Here is a sampling of how North Dakotans of yore celebrated Christmas.

In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll hear Debbie Poitra, elder, educator, enrolled member of Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa, discuss the important role that humor plays among the indigenous people of this area.

On this date in 1907, the Great Northern Railroad laid off 150 workers in Devils Lake and Minot citing poor business. In a similar move, and under the same circumstances, a rival company, the Northern Pacific Railroad, let 45 workers go two days before.