COMMUNITY REPRESENTED AT TRIBAL RELATIONS DAY
Four Freeman organizations spend meaningful day inside Capitol rotunda in Pierre last Wednesday
TIM L. WALTNER – FOR THE COURIER
A Star Quilt presented to Freeman Academy for hosting an Indigenous Peoples’ Celebration in Freeman last fall was an unexpected highlight as four Freeman organizations participated in State Tribal Relations Day in the rotunda in the South Dakota Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 29.
The quilt was given to FA in recognition and appreciation for the Indigenous Peoples’ Celebration the school hosted in Sterling Hall on Oct. 18. It featured a presentation by Sec. David Flute of the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations and singers and dancers from the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe who shared their culture and traditions with nearly 700 people.
“We can’t say thank you to Freeman Academy enough,” said Flute, in presenting the quilt at the Capitol last week. The quilt given to Freeman Academy features an eight-pointed star; the colors are red, black, light blue and white. Star quilts are typically given to mark important life events in Native cultures; they represent honor and generosity.
State Tribal Relations Day
Late last year, Flute invited representatives of Freeman to be part of the observance and have a booth in the rotunda for the annual State Tribal Relations Day.
The Freeman display featured large photos of the Oct. 18 event. The 36 photos also documented the various collaborations by FA, Heritage Hall Museum & Archives (HHM&A), Freeman Regional Assisted Living (FRAL) and the Freeman Prairie Arboretum (FPA) under the theme “Faithful Connections in Freeman, S.D.”
Those connections were a natural fit for the theme of the 2025 State Tribal Relations Day, “Collaborating for Safety and Education.”
Representing Freeman were Lynnelle Allison (FPA), Peggy Muchmore (FRAL), Karla Rupp (FA) and Tim L. Waltner (HHM&A). They shared details about their collaborations and unique missions in the Freeman community with state officials and visitors to the Capitol. That included District 19 legislators Rep. Jessica Bahmuller, Rep. Drew Peterson and Sen. Kyle Schoenfish, and Freeman native Rep. Amber (Stern) Arlint who represents District 12 in southern Sioux Falls.
In addition to the Freeman group, the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations and Office of Indian Education, the South Dakota Department of Public Safety, South Dakota Department of Health, and South Dakota Department of Education also had booths at the rotunda event, which ran from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Reflecting on Oct. 18
In his comments last week, Flute noted Freeman Academy had invited neighboring schools to the Oct. 18 event. Students from Freeman Public, Marion, Bridgewater and Scotland joined the FA students for an hour-long program.
“What a phenomenal and spiritual feeling I had, being able to come to your community,” he said. “The whole gym was full with kids from other schools.”
The program was open to the public and among the attendees were residents of FRAL. Last week, Flute said their presence was a highlight of his experience in Freeman.
“What an environment to bring people together,” Flute said. “To have the community show its support to these kids and bringing their elders there was quite phenomenal.”
When Flute saw the elders in attendance, he took a moment to recognize them.
“In the Lakota culture, when there are elders in the room … it is just the most fantastic spiritual feeling when you connect with them. It was quite an emotional thing for everybody. Recognizing their wisdom and their stories really moved all of us in that room.”
Flute also noted his time at HHM&A as a highlight. Following the public program in Sterling Hall, Flute read Margaret Doom’s children’s book “The Medicine Quilt” to the FA elementary students.
“The two most special moments that I had,” Flute said last week, reflecting on his time in Freeman, “were reading to the kids and recognizing the elders in the room.”
He thanked Freeman Academy for initiating the program and inviting not only him and the singers and dancers to Freeman, but area schools and the public.
“I can’t speak enough to their hospitality and wanting to learn about tribal culture. That’s how relationships are built. That how people get to know about our tribal culture.”
Fred Osborn, who was part of the Freeman visit, echoed Flute’s comments about the value of expanded cultural awareness.
Osborn is director of the Office of Indian Education (OIE), which is part of the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations. OIE supports and promotes educational programs that share the Oceti Sakowin history, culture and way of life in the state’s public, private, and tribal schools. Oceti Sakowin [oh-CHEH-tee shaw-KOH-we] means “Seven Council Fires” and refers collectively to the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people.
One of the OIE projects “is to bring (our) culture to schools that may not be given the opportunity to experience that culture,” Osborn said. “That includes Freeman Academy. Without the participation of the schools, we wouldn’t be able to share our successes and teach an entire generation the culture and history of the Oceti Sakowin,” he said.
Among those instrumental in forging the relationship between Freeman Academy, Heritage Hall Museum & Archives and the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations is Karla Rupp, the 1-2 classroom teacher at Freeman Academy who reached out about the idea of an Indigenous Peoples’ Celebration in Freeman last year.
Rupp told The Courier that what happened in Pierre last week is a direct result of that connection.
“Sec. Flute has commented several times what a special place Freeman is, how welcomed he felt from everyone that he met the day of the celebration, and how fortunate we all are that the school and local organizations can collaborate in such unique ways on behalf of its youth,” she said. “I couldn’t agree with him more! It was humbling that he wanted to honor all those involved with the gift of a Star Quilt. What touched me the most is that this is known as a symbol of community and connection. What more could we want for how others see us than a reputation based on positive collaborations?
Rupp said she was “in awe of each moment” while in Pierre last week and grateful for the opportunity.
“To have Freeman be recognized in this special way, to have our school receive such an honorable gift, to be among colleagues (Tim, Peggy, and Lynnelle) who genuinely care for the residents of Freeman and represent their organizations with such professionalism, and then to also have officials in our state government that seem like such authentic and caring folks … I didn’t take any of it for granted,” she said. “I was so proud to be representing our community with such a great group of people.”
Moving forward
“We would love to come and do another cultural presentation in Freeman,” Flute said.
He and Osborn both said they hope to return to visit Heritage Hall Museum & Archives.
Plans are for the quilt to be on display on the FA campus during Schmeckfest, and in the spirit of the collaboration that was part of the Indigenous Peoples’ Celebration, it will also be made available for display at HHM&A, FRAL and FPA later this year.
For HHM&A, the new relationships with the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations growing out of the Oct, 18 event is a valuable development.
“We look forward to strengthening our storytelling and education about the Indigenous Peoples who were here before our immigration story begins,” said Waltner. “The South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations and the South Dakota Indian Education Advisory Council will be important resources in that mission.”
“I think it is invaluable to all of us,” Rupp said of the relationship. “When Sec. Flute shares with me afterwards that he ‘looks forward to more engagement and growing together as good neighbors and citizens of South Dakota,’ I believe him. He is a just such a good man and I think that we can all look forward to continued collaboration and learning from one another along the way.”
Courier Publisher Jeremy Waltner contributed to this reporting.
