The State Historical Society of North Dakota received the “Difficult Topics” award from the National Association for Interpretation for their work on the Whitestone Hill State Historic Site near Kulm.
Whitestone Hill, long interpreted as a battlefield, is now presented as a place of solemn remembrance for victims of an 1863 massacre by General Alfred Sully and his troops. State historic sites manager Rob Hanna says at the site, the State Historical Society put up 15 panels reflecting a current understanding of that chapter in North Dakota history.
"The agency has wanted to put some interpretive panels at Whitestone for probably a decade or two, but it was a very difficult topic to write about. There was a lot of debate and uncertainty about the real nature of what happened out there. "
Hanna says over five years, they had had multiple rounds of discussion with 11 tribal knowledge keepers, as well as the North Dakota Indian Affairs Commission. From that, they created the panels, telling a new story about the events at Whitestone Hill.
"As much as it's meant a lot to receive the award, it's meant even more for me to be at the site and see the descendants of Dakota and Lakota people who have been attacked there just express their appreciation that we've acknowledged the truth of what happened there."