The Lasting Legacy of Place Names

Through names and narrative, we experience physical places in profound and sometimes unseen ways. A name can evoke a concept, a sense of home, connect us, and have deep meaning for communities and families. Kate Beane, Ph.D. explains that the dominant narrative of history should include and honor the languages, lives, and legacies of Indigenous Peoples. The work she and her family took on to restore the Dakota name to Bde Maka Ska (from Lake Calhoun) in her ancestral homeland of Bde Ota (Minneapolis) represents not a name change, but rather a reclamation of the Dakota name describing the white earth surrounding the lake.