As a part of the annual United Tribes Technical College's annual International Powwow, a memorial was dedicated at the college for Japanese Americans who were sent to what was then Fort Lincoln, when it became a concentration camp during World War Two.
One of the special guests for the dedication was the author of the book "The Poet and the Silk Girl: A Memoir of Love, Imprisonment and Protest."
At the start of the war, Japanese Americans were imprisoned in those concentration camps. And it became known as "Snow Country Prison."
"The title, Snow Country Prison, comes from one of my father's haiku poetry that he wrote while incarcerated here," said Satsuki Ina, the author of "The Poet and the Silk Girl." She said her father was sent to North Dakota, while she and her mother were sent to a camp in their native California.
Ina said her parents spoke out about the injustice of their incarceration.
"My father particularly opposed the drafting of Japanese American men out of the prison camps, to fight for democracy in Europe," Ina said. "He was charged with sedition, and was sent to Bismarck."
Ina said her father wrote a number of letters while incarcerated. And she said he felt bad, because he was treated better at Ft. Lincoln than the rest of his family was. Ina said Ft, Lincoln was under the Geneva Convention.
"So there were many restrictions and standards that officials here had to follow," Ina said. "My father felt the conditions here were much better."
But Ina said he suffered because of being separated from his family.
"I think his greatest concern was what was happening to the children, without his presence there as a family," Ina said.
Years later, Ina came to Bismarck, to see where her father had been imprisoned.
"It was incredibly intense emotions," Ina said. "I had read about Bismarck, and knew that Ft. Lincoln now belonged to the Unite Tribes Technical College."
Ina said she came to make a documentary about the story.
"I flew in," Ina said. "And from the airport, I could see where the college was, with the red brick buildings I had read about."
She said instead of going to her hotel in town, she decided to want to the campus. She said a pickup truck came barreling down the road.
"The guy pulls over in front of me, rolls down his window, and said, 'It's very dangerous to be on this highway.'"
Ina said he asked where she was headed.
"I'm going to the college, and I'm fine," Ina said. She also said the man offered to give her a ride, but she refused.
"He leaned closer to me, and said, 'I'm the dean of students,'" Ina said. She was also introduced to the college president, Dr. David Gipp, who took her on a walking tour of the campus. Ina said he took her all over, and showed her where the Japanese American prisoners had marked on the walls, in characters, with the names of the protest organizations, and the places they were held. After that, her plan was to tell more of the story of Ft. Lincoln, and dispel some myths.
Ina came back in 2003, with five former detainees.
"They showed us where the swimming pool was, where they ate, where the Germans were held, and the Japanese men," Ina said. "Just really connected even more deeply with each other, about our shared experience of being oppressed and incarcerated. Many of our traditions resonated with each other."
Ina came back in 2007. She said she found archival photos and other documents. She worked with UTTC to put on an exhibition, and discussions began on how to tell the rest of the story.
"It was so moving that the Native American folks wanted to adopt the story as resonant of their own," Ina said. "So the conversations began about how do we tell the story in perpetuity."
From those discussions came the idea of a memorial. It features a "drum circle," and walls with the names of the 2,000 men who were held at Ft. Lincoln.
"This in many ways is an act of solidarity with the Native People and the Japanese Americans," Ina said. "And the lesson is, it's in our collaboration and solidarity, that we strengthen our truths, and we stand in opposition to efforts to erase our history, or to alter it, or rewrite our narratives in ways that don't talk about the truth."
