Eugene Black Crow Sr, a distinguished guest, and speaker, spoke to Brooks College House on Monday, November 11 at 4:30 p.m.. Crow, an Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, discussed Lakota’s history and language, the far-reaching and terrible consequences of settler colonization throughout the Americas, and his experiences as a boarding school survivor.
As part of a year-long series of events and speakers relating to the theme of “Settler Colonialism, Indigeneity, and the Land Question,” this talk followed one the prior Thursday on “The Loss of Turtle Island,” which simulated the loss of indigenous land due to nearly innumerable broken treaties and settler greed through expansion.
In “The Loss of Turtle Island,” a dozen blankets were scattered across the floor in Booth Ferris. Then, as participants standing on the blankets unfurled the scrolls that had been distributed, broken promises and tragedies were revealed, and blankets were taken away to represent the loss of land and people.
In this lecture, Eugene Black Crow Sr. began his talk by reflecting on his paternal Thiwáhe family heritage. Tracing prior generations with remarkable detail captured in familial trauma and the celebration of those who fought before, a packed audience, with listeners spilling out of the Brooks Great Room, was a mix of faculty, Lancaster locals, and students, sat in rapt attention. Eugene Black Crow Sr. also discussed being a boarding school survivor, having been taken to one in his adolescence. Currently, Eugene Black Crow Sr. is a founder and director of the Lakhota Woglakapo Project, which provides free tutoring lessons in the Lakota language to preserve its perpetuation, and is also a board member for Indigenous People’s Day (IPD) Philly.
Junior Teagan Durkin the Opinions editor. Her email is tdurkin@fandm.edu