Human Experiences: The Legacy of the Relocation and Termination Era with Les LaFountain

Les LaFountain, a 17-year veteran of the Social Science faculty at the Turtle Mountain Community College and member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, will engage the participants in the backstory of the federal Indian policy of termination and relocation that gripped Indian Country from the 1940s to the 1970s. Mr. LaFountain will describe the social and economic conditions of the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation from the 1940s through the 1960s and the leadership of Tribal Chairman Patrick Gourneau at that time in tribal history. This is a human story that addresses both tragedies and triumphs through the sharing of first-hand experience with the legacy of the relocation and termination era.

Focusing on an earlier period, Mr. LaFountain was a consultant on the upcoming NDSU Press book In Order That Justice May Be Done: The Legal Struggle of the Turtle Mountain Band of Pembina Chippewa, 1795-1905, by John M. Shaw.

Hosted by NDSU Libraries and sponsored by Humanities North Dakota, the event is set for Monday, October 10th at 5:30pm at the Klai Juba Wald Architectural Studies Library on the third floor of Klai Hall (711 2nd Ave N. Fargo, ND). Light refreshments will be served.

One Book One Community
Each year, NDSU Libraries partner with the Fargo-Moorhead Libraries for the One Book, One Community reading initiative to share research and discovery with the public and to impact the community beyond campus. The book chosen for this year is Louise Erdrich’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Night Watchman. This is just one of many events that support this year’s shared conversation; see what else is happening in the community here.