Series to focus on complex history, future of Great Plains

The 2022 Center for Great Plains Studies conference has shifted to a yearlong series of events to give ample time to an important topic and provide flexibility during the pandemic.

The series, “A Year of Reckoning and Reconciliation: Conversation, Learning and Connecting,” invites participants to recognize the Great Plains’ complex history and then imagine and build new relationships and communities based on respect and dignity for all. Topics will include land dispossession and return, racial violence and repair, and environmental harm and justice.

Events throughout 2022 will allow engagement and connection both in person and virtually. The free events are designed for community members and organizers, local and regional leaders, students, student groups, the academic community and anyone else curious about these issues. The public can sign up for events here. Registration is required for some events.

A few highlights:

February:

• “Roots of Injustice, Seeds of Change Workshop: Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples,” Paula Palmer and Jerilyn DeCoteau, virtual event, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 23

March:

• “The Iniquitous History of the Fort Wise Treaty of 1861: Colorado’s Efforts Toward Reconciliation” with Rick Williams (Oglala Lakota/Cheyenne), virtual event, 5:30 p.m. March 9.

• Screening of the Vision Maker Media film “Bring Her Home,” about missing and murdered Indigenous women, followed by a discussion with the filmmakers, virtual event, 6 p.m. March 14.

April:

• Great Plains Summit: A three-day virtual conference on reckoning and reconciliation with keynote speaker Walter Echo-Hawk as part of the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues. Featured speakers include Hannibal Johnson, whose work chronicles the African-American experience in Oklahoma and the Tulsa Race Massacre, and Tristan Ahtone (Kiowa), who will speak on Indigenous journalism, virtual and in-person events, April 6-8.