After a day exploring the glorious South Dakota Badlands in scorching heat, I faced a tedious six-hour drive on Interstate 90 to my next destination. About halfway to Sioux City, I stopped at a roadside rest stop to stretch my legs and give the dog a walk. Twilight approached, bathing everything in its gentle light.
There she stood. Fifty feet tall, set against the backdrop of the wide Missouri River, the statue of a Lakota woman welcomed me with outstretched arms. She wore a traditional Lakota robe. In the evening light, her outstretched cape caught the waning sunlight and seemed to glitter. Over a hundred stainless steel blue diamond shapes fluttered in the breeze and reflected the light. Majestic, graceful, powerful, sculptor Dale Lamphere named her “Dignity.” She honors the Lakota and Dakota people and symbolizes the women who preserved their families and their cultures.
As a child in elementary school, I encountered very little about women in our history books. Pocahontas and Sacagawea were among the few exceptions. American historians in the 1950s acknowledged these women for aiding white men in their conquests of North America. Like many girls my age, I was happy to encounter any mention of women, though their stories — as presented — never captured my imagination. Not until adulthood did I learn more about Sacagawea and come to appreciate her as a force in her own right.
Discovering this sculpture in a highway rest stop may seem to place Native American women on the sidelines as usual. After all, it’s not a museum nor an art installation. Yet, I suspect her location affords her more visitors than would a loftier setting. Perhaps, she will bring more awareness of women’s roles in history and spark the imagination of young girls who see her.
By the time I left her side to continue my journey, it was dark. LED lights illuminated the sculpture and caused her diamond studded cape to flicker brightly. Dignity became a beacon visible to weary travelers passing by on Interstate 90.
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Dignity can be found at the rest stop between Exits 263 and 265 on I-90 near Chamberlain, SD.
The statue is magnificent as well as inspirational. Your writing brings it all to life.