In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Angela Parker, an assistant professor at the University of Denver and member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Cree Tribes. Parker recently published a book on the history of the Three Affiliated Tribes—the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara—who live on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. This land, situated along the Missouri River, became the site of the Garrison Dam, a project built by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the 1940s and 1950s that flooded parts of the reservation and forced roughly 90 percent of the Native population to relocate to higher ground. Parker discusses the cultural and ecological significance of the Missouri River to the Three Affiliated Tribes, the efforts of community members to resist the dam’s construction, and the lasting negative impacts of the dam.

References and recommendations:

“Damming the Reservation: Tribal Sovereignty and Activism at Fort Berthold” by Angela K. Parker; https://www.oupress.com/9780806194615/damming-the-reservation/

Image of George Gillette signing a contract for the sale of Fort Berthold land; https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/indian-weeps-at-land-sale-washington-dc-george-gillette-news-photo/515360260

“The Effects of Dams on Tribal Lands, with Heather Randell” episode of the Resources Radio podcast; https://www.resources.org/resources-radio/the-effects-of-dams-on-tribal-lands-with-heather-randell/

“The Pitt” television show; https://www.max.com/shows/pitt-2024/e6e7bad9-d48d-4434-b334-7c651ffc4bdf

“Careless People” by Sarah Wynn-Williams; https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250391230/carelesspeople/