MPR Archive presents a collection of varied Native topics in and around Minnesota. Stories include interviews, commentary, events, speeches, documentaries, and reports.
February 16, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports on "King of the Hill" toughman contest has sparked an uproar on the White Earth Reservation in northwestern Minnesota. The event is like boxing, except that anyone can enter…and as the ads say, the last one left standing wins $5,000. With that sort of incentive, the fight card filled quickly, but opponents of the contest say there's enough violence on the Reservation, without paying for more.
March 22, 1996 - There are many creation stories explaining how the Earth took its form and how civilizations came to be, including the massive waters of Lake Superior. People gathered at the Lake Superior Center in Duluth to hear the stories and myths of the Ojibwe culture…here's a sampling of what they heard.
April 17, 1996 - Native American author Louise Erdrich reads an excerpt from her book "Tales of Burning Love."
April 20, 1996 - MPR’s Greta Cunningham interviews Minnesota author Louise Erdrich about her book “Tales of Burning Love.” Erdrich tells the intimate and powerful stories of five Great Plains women whose lives are connected through one man.
May 13, 1996 - Tim Giago, publisher of Lakota Times, comments on Chip Wadena, tribal gaming, and the varied forms and challenges of tribal government.
May 17, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger takes a walking audio tour of The Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post. Enger talks with Joyce Wedll, the museum manager about the purposes of museum for both tribal members and tourists.
August 13, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports that a state park campground built among Indian burial mounds is being moved and reopened in a new location. Almost immediately after the campground at Mille Lacs Kathio State Park was constructed in the 1960s, it was learned the campsites were situated in a Mdewakanton Dakota cemetery dating back to the 1600s. Years later, efforts to right a wrong are being completed as the campground is relocated off the Native sacred ground.
August 30, 1996 - MPR’s Gary Eicthen interviews Winona LaDuke, vice-presidential pick of Ralph Nader in the 1996 election. LaDuke, a Native American of the White Earth Reservation, is an environmentalist and writer.
November 19, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports on new children’s comic book which highlights the history of the Mille Lacs Ojibwe Band. The book, "A Hero's Voice," looks at broken treaties, important figures in Ojibwe history, and the spiritual tie between the tribe and the lake.
December 26, 1996 - MPR’s Mary Losure created this report for National Public Radio detailing the efforts to save Native American language by teaching it to next generation. Losure interviews both language teachers and students at Nay Ah Shing school in Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.