Red Cloud Native American Art Show This morning was another day on the Pine Ridge Reservation, at the Red Cloud Heritage Center. After chief Red Cloud bowed to the inevitable in 1868, he tried to arrange things for the Oglala as best he could. One thing he believed was that children would need education. So did the US government, but for a very different purpose. US government education meant assimilating Native Americans into existing culture. Red Cloud’s version meant teaching people how to live in this new society while still retaining and respecting their heritage. He invited the Jesuits, who he trusted, to set up a school on the reservation. That school is now the Red Cloud Center. It contains a revealing museum of Oglala life.
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