Speaker Broc Anderson will present a program Wounded Knee & Impact of Northwest Nebraska on Thursday, Oct. 13 at 5:30 p.m. at Knight Museum and Sandhills Center.
This presentation is made possible by Humanities Nebraska, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and Knight Museum and Sandhills Center as part of the HN Speakers Bureau.
Northwest Nebraska, from the 1870s to the early twentieth century, had a complex economic and social relationship with the Pine Ridge Reservation. As the United States continued promoting settlement westward, the US military became the main proponents in displacing the Lakota from their land in Nebraska. Along with the droves of miners and merchants to the Black Hills, the additional free land opportunities in northwest Nebraska forcibly relocated the Lakota who continued to struggle to control their way of life. Businessmen from around the country and within the border town communities of Gordon, Rushville, Hay Springs, and Chadron sought the advantages of new economic opportunities being so close to a Native reservation. At the same time, the aggressive assimilation policies and practices of the progressive era were largely taken advantage of by individuals who sought to gain politically and economically in their dealings with the Lakota.
Anderson is originally from Alliance and found a niche for history early on through many of Mari Sandoz’s writings. Like Sandoz, Broc shares the same passion for northwest Nebraska with his own family ties. Additionally, Broc graduated from Chadron State College with his bachelors in Social Science Education and has since explored more of his Lakota heritage through his current research. As the Sandoz Scholar 2020 – 2021, Broc continues building on Sandoz’s research, as an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska Kearney, further exploring the relationships between the Lakota from Pine Ridge and non-natives in northwest Nebraska during the late nineteenth century. In addition to his research interests, Broc also organizes events, fundraisers, and many other museum duties as the Community Engagement Director for the Buffalo County Historical Society/Trails & Rails Museum.