Join us for a free presentation by author Peter DeCarlo! He will speak about the complicated and oft-simplified history of Minnesota’s Fort Snelling. He will have copies of his new book, “Fort Snelling at Bdote”, for sale.

“For millennia, the place where the Minnesota River joins the Mississippi has been a crossroads, a place of strategic power. But that symbolism is complicated. The fort is a powerful reminder that most Minnesotans today are descendants of immigrants, living on conquered land. Many Dakota people consider the area to be their sacred place of origin as well as a site of genocide. And, shockingly, some army officers at the fort held African Americans in slavery.

The site, a museum preserved and run by the Minnesota Historical Society, is undergoing a sweeping transformation to include not just the fort’s military history but the stories of all Minnesotans. And this primer similarly provides an overview of the site’s role in the foundation of the state, and its meaning for Minnesota’s diverse people.

Peter DeCarlo is a historian and the digital specialist for MNopedia, the online encyclopedia of Minnesota history.”

-From the Minnesota Historical Society Press