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It was a commemoration/reconciliation event, on the 175th anniversary of the Blackhawk war, a conflict that resulted in the slaughtering of nearly every member of Blackhawk's tribe (something in the neighborhood of 1500), by members of the Illinois Militia. The handful that survived, from Blackhawk's own family, women and children who made it across the flooded Mississippi river somehow, did have descendants -- who had been forced up into Oklahoma. And one of Blackhawk's descendants is Chief Kay Rhoads, who is the leader of the Sac-Fox Nation, and was there at this event.
It was interesting, to learn about the events of the summer of 1832, from the native american perspective -- and to meet members of the Sac-Fox nation and learn more about their culture.
This is a view from coming up to the mound (keep in mind it is relatively flat farmland all the way around, so it rises up unusually; with apologies to experts -- I believe that the mound was sacred to native americans partly because of being a "high place".)
The entrance to the Center, with a view of land around:
Some tribal drumming (the voices were great! I'm planning on converting a recording to mp3 format so people can hear it on their ipods)
This was pretty cool -- a lot taller than sunflowers i guess -- wind power generators in the area:
This is a picture of the hopefully soon to be Dr. Todd, and Preston Duncan, a very interesting relative/descendant of Blackhawk, a noted speaker who gave a lot of insights (and who is a good traditional tribal dancer too!)
And this is Chief Kay Rhoads (on the right) and her sister. It was very interesting to hear Chief Rhoads talk about the Sac Fox nation, past and present history:
