He learned about the mass execution of Dakota men in 1862. He learned that the beautiful spot where the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers come together was used during the same period as a concentration camp to hold over 1,600 Dakota men, women, and children, many of whom died in the horrific conditions there. Yet he also studied the Quakers who, during World War II, refused to take up arms, but wanted to help the hungry people of Europe and Asia, and so volunteered for the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, sacrificing their own health to learn how to heal others.

When my youngest child was in 6th grade in the fall of 2020, he was required to take Minnesota history. That year, thanks to the pandemic, school mostly happened in the kids’ bedrooms, and for a change I, a historian, got to follow along with his history education firsthand. The course included triumphs and atrocities, division and community-building, some of the worst and some of the best humanity has to offer.

When my youngest child was in 6th grade in the fall of 2020, he was required to take Minnesota history. That year, thanks to the pandemic, school mostly happened in the kids’ bedrooms, and for a change I, a historian, got to follow along with his history education firsthand. The course included triumphs and atrocities, division and community-building, some of the worst and some of the best humanity has to offer.

He learned about the mass execution of Dakota men in 1862.