Author Cathy Coats and radio host Robert Pilot (Ho-Chunk) will present a book reading and discussion about the often-excluded history of the Ho-Chunk Nation in Minnesota. Please join us at The Trailhead in Theodore Wirth Parkway on Thursday, November 14 at 6:00pm.

The Ho-Chunk people have endured a series of forced movements and discrimination in Minnesota. When the Ho-Chunk considered establishing a reservation near Lake Minnetonka in 1853, politicians claimed that their presence would compel settlers to abandon the area. The Ho-Chunk were then pressed to seek new homelands. They eventually settled on some of the richest agricultural lands in the state near Mankato, Minnesota.

After the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, a group of white men formed a secret society that advocated for completely removing Ho-Chunk people from Minnesota. Although the Ho-Chunk people did not participate in the war, the secret society sent armed men to surround their reservation. The secret society threatened to shoot anyone who crossed the reservation’s boundaries.

Coats explores how white residents sought to expel Ho-Chunk people from the state and benefit from their land in her book, To Banish Forever: A Secret Society, the Ho-Chunk, and Ethnic Cleansing in Minnesota.

Snacks from NATIFS will be served at 5:45pm. The presentation will start at 6:00pm with Q&A to follow.

Register for this in-person event with the link at the top of the page.

Admission is free, with an optional pay-as-you-can donation.

Thank you to the program partners including the City of Golden Valley Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Commission, the Golden Valley Community Foundation, the Golden Valley Historical Society, The Loppet Foundation, the Minnesota Historical Society Press, and Valley Community Presbyterian Church.

Cathy Coats is a lifelong Minnesotan who lives in St. Cloud, Minnesota, with her husband and 2 children. She is currently a Metadata Specialist for the University of Minnesota Libraries in the Twin Cities. Before that, she worked as a cataloger at the St. Cloud State University Library. She is an award-winning researcher who received her Master of Arts in Public History from St. Cloud State University in 2017.

Robert Pilot is a citizen of the Ho-Chunk Nation and the host of Native Roots Radio in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a retired teacher, a water protector, and an advocate for Native issues.