Dakota Women's Work

Know about the book -

Dakota Women's Work is written by Colette A. Hyman and published by Minnesota Historical Society Press. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 0873518586 (ISBN 10) and 9780873518581 (ISBN 13).

Ornately decorated objects created by Dakota women -- cradleboards, clothing, animal skin containers -- served more than a utilitarian function. They tell the story of colonization, genocide, and survival. Colette Hyman traces the changes in the lives of Dakota women, starting before the arrival of whites and covering the fur trade years, the years of treaties and shrinking lands, the brutal time of removal, starvation, and shattered families after 1862, and then the transition to reservation life, when missionaries and government agents worked to turn the Dakota into Christian farmers. The decorative work of Dakota women reflected all of this: native organic dyes and quillwork gave way to beading and needlework, items traditionally decorated for family gifts were also produced to sell to tourists and white collectors, work on cradleboards and animal skin bags shifted to the ornamenting of hymnals and the creation of star quilts.