Humanity sometimes is cruel.

Mr. White talks about the experience of the Dakota at Fort Snelling and compares is to other persecuted peoples.

Words to look for:
Concentration Camp
Things to think about:

How do different groups of people view Fort Snelling?

Audio Chapters

Chapter 1

DL: Fort Snelling?

BW: Been there, yes.

DL: Any thoughts there? Especially the campsite?

BW: It’s a feeling that’s hard to express. Here were Native Americans who were human that were treated like subhuman people; having to suffer. Maybe a lot of them didn’t even do anything. It was a sorrowful feeling. At the same time I could almost understand and see what those Jews must have felt like when they were in those concentration camps. Humanity sometimes is cruel.

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Byron White. "Humanity sometimes is cruel.." https://www3.mnhs.org/usdakotawar/stories/contributors/byron-white/1140
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Oral History- Interview | Narrator Byron White Interviewer Deborah Locke made in Lake Elmo, MN | Thursday, April 21, 2011
Read or listen to entire Oral History

Citation: Minnesota Historical Society. U.S. - Dakota War of 1862. Humanity sometimes is cruel.. June 03, 2025.