TOLI’s Minnesota seminar, “Honoring Resilience: Learning from the Holocaust and Dakota Exile,” was held August 4-10th, 2019, and began its first full day exploring iconic images of the Holocaust, reviewing the history of Native Peoples, and learning more about hatred, genocide, and anti-Semitism. Minnesota educators learned about the Jewish resistance through recording their stories, and also studied Dakota resilience. TOLI educators travelled to St. Paul to visit Dakota sites including Oheyawahe and Historic Fort Snelling at Bdote. Participants heard from Dakota leaders and historians and learned about American Indian boarding schools.
We were honored to have educator Ayan Omar discuss current issues facing the Somali community and building resilience in the classroom. On day five, Minnesota teachers visited Mount Zion Temple in St. Paul where they heard survivor testimony from Fred Amram, learned about Judaism from Rabbi Adler, and joined the congregation for Shabbat services.