Twin sisters reflect on education, language and Indigenous leadership
Flandreau Santee Sioux and Muscogee Creek sisters said reconnecting with Dakota language helped shape their paths to leadership
Identical twin sisters Kate Beane and Carly Bad Heart Bull, citizens of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe and Muscogee Creek, reflected on their educational journeys and leadership roles in Minneapolis during an interview with ICT at the Indian Land Tenure Foundation conference in Prior Lake, Minnesota. The sisters dropped out of high school in El Cerrito, California, at age 15 before later earning advanced degrees and returning to work in Native-led organizations and institutions in Minnesota.
Beane told ICT that reconnecting with the Dakota language and understanding its ties to the land helped both sisters “feel centered” and better understand their place in Minnesota. Beane now serves as executive director of the Minnesota Museum of American Art, while Bad Heart Bull is executive director of Native Ways Federation. The sisters also helped lead the 2018 effort to restore the Dakota name Bde Maka Ska to a Minneapolis lake formerly known as Lake Calhoun.
- 1.Shirley Sneve. ICT, .
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