Among the long-running traditions at Wahpeton Indian School was the annual Valentine’s Dance and King and Queen of Hearts coronation. Sponsored by the Student Government Association, the event served as a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. Beginning in 1965, students used their weekly spending-money allowances to cast votes for a king and queen. The gymnasium was decorated in festive Valentine style, including two thrones on the stage.
The boy and girl with the most money in their ballot boxes were crowned king and queen, and all proceeds were donated to the Heart Association. The winning couple was photographed in royal robes and glittering crowns and profiled in the local newspaper, with their names, activities, achievements, hometowns, and remarks. By the 1980s, beadwork crowns had been adopted, and the boys wore long hair.
On this date in 1982, a Daily News photo featured guest of honor Esther Horne performing the crowning duties. The King and Queen were Lennie Williams of Fort Thompson, South Dakota, and Frances Sackatook of Menominee, Wisconsin. Students raised $351.19 for the American Heart Association.
Mrs. Horne and her life experiences are the subject of Essie’s Story: The Life and Legacy of a Shoshone Teacher by Salley McBeth. Essie was from the Wind River Reservation in Idaho and attended Haskell Institute in Kansas. She valued her boarding-school experiences, where she interacted with students and mentors from diverse tribal groups and traditions. Essie earned her teaching certificate in 1930 and came to Wahpeton, where she became the first Native classroom teacher and an early advocate for integrating Native arts, culture, dance, and history into the curriculum and community life. She founded the Indian Club, which promoted civic interaction with local schools and organizations. Performances often opened with the Lord’s Prayer in sign language, followed by Native dance.
Sculptor Ida Prokop created a bust of Essie that was installed at the State Heritage Center, along with Prokop’s other commissioned portraits. In 1955 and 1956, Essie participated in costumed reenactments marking the 150th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition, traveling by car from Fort Mandan to Fort Clatsop, Oregon. Upon her retirement, Essie donated a collection of Native artifacts, regalia, and other items to the Richland County Historical Museum.
Dakota Datebook by Lise Erdrich
Sources:
- King and Queen of Hearts Named at Indian School. The Daily News, Wahpeton, ND, February 16, 1983,
- King and Queen Total Donation Certificate. The Daily News, Wahpeton, ND June 11, 1982, Page 3.
- Essie's Story: The Life and Legacy of a Shoshone Teacher by Esther Burnett Horne
- and Sally McBeth. Bison Books, 1999.
- Memory, History, and Contested Pasts: Re-imaging Sacagawea/Sacajawea.
- UCLA: American Indian Culture and Research Journal. https://escholarship.org/content/qt3t15m2pw/qt3t15m2pw.pdf
- We Proceeded On: Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. August 2023 Volume 49 Number 3. https://lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol49no3.pdf
- https://www.history.nd.gov/archives/manuscripts/inventory/00255.html
- 00255-00017 Sakakawea (Bird Woman) and Child bust by Prokop posed by Mrs. Esther Burnette Horne, Wahpeton N.D.
