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Hundreds of people gathered Monday at the Capitol in St. Paul for American Indian Day on the Hill — a day that brings tribal leaders and legislators together to build relationships.
During the event, the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council honored Lakota elder Jerry Dearly for his long career in education and his dedication to community. Members of the Native community placed a satin quilt with an emerald morning star design around Dearly’s shoulders.
American Indian Movement organizer Lisa Bellanger says she’s known Dearly for 50 years. She spoke on behalf of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council in honor of Dearly.
“There's so much to share about my amazing brother, but I would like to talk about a side of him that is not so public, and that is of his beautiful giving spirit. At a moment's notice, a drop of a dime, he will answer a call for help,” Bellanger said.
Dearly thanked everyone in attendance, quickly turning to warmly tease friends and relatives.
“Yes, we are related forever because of how you feel from your heart,” Dearly said.
In an interview with MPR News, Dearly spoke about his childhood in South Dakota. Born and raised on Pine Ridge Reservation, an experience with an elementary school teacher motivated him to pursue a career in education.
“I was a sixth grader, and she used to come in, and she used to teach us the song, you know, ‘One little, two little, three, little Indians.’ You know, that one there. I said, ‘You know what? People do their studying, but I'm going to study more,’” Dearly said.
Dearly says his mother made sure he studied after school. Both she and his father were “sticklers for education.”
After high school, he headed to Haskell Indian Institute, now called Haskell Indian Nations University, and earned a two-year degree in business. After a friend encouraged him to continue his education, Dearly applied to the University of North Dakota, where he earned a degree in elementary education.
In 1977, Dearly moved to Minnesota in below-zero winter weather.
“With a wind chill, 20-25 below. We hit the interstate, and that's how I wound up coming to Mitchell, South Dakota,” Dearly recalled. "The woman I was with, she went over to the chamber of commerce and somehow talked to them and got us a room, and then a $10 food voucher and a bus ticket to St. Paul.”
“Later on in life, I went by, and I dropped, what is it $250 there at that chamber of commerce,” Dearly said. “I try to pay back what I think people helped me.”
Over several decades, Dearly has become a beloved powwow emcee, announcing at the large social dance gatherings. The role started with his work as an educator.
“In 1979, I came to Sanford Middle School over here… and I emceed their powwow. And that began all other places. They would say, can you do this that? So, I started emceeing at all these schools.”
By then he'd worked as an educator at both the Red School House and Heart of the Earth, the first survival schools—alternative schools created to teach American Indian history and culture—in the Twin Cities.
A gifted storyteller, Dearly says his love of powwows began when he was “a dancer, actually, a little chubby boy with bib overalls.”
“I had some bells, you know, breech cloths and a cape, ... I just danced. I just loved to dance.”
After his father died, Dearly says he gifted his dance regalia to a close friend, adopting him as a brother.
Dearly recalled telling him, “I saw you dancing. You didn’t have any beadwork, but I liked the way you dance. So, you call me brother, and I call you brother. So here, that’s yours now.”
After he gave away his dance regalia, he started singing “here and there” at powwows when a relative approached him.
“There’s a man named Leroy Looks Twice. He was married to my cousin,” Dearly said. "He said, ‘Come join us. We're Crazy Horse Singers, and I think you can sing. We'll teach you how to sing.’”
After teaching for many years, Dearly was recruited by St. Paul Public Schools where he spent more than two and a half decades teaching and developing curriculum. He taught math, reading and a handful of other subjects, including the Lakota language.
“Lakota is my first language, and English is my second language. And I never thought I'd become a teacher like that,” Dearly said.
Tony Frank was a singing student of Dearly’s and sang at his honoring. Frank said Dearly taught him that it’s the community that matters most.
“Ultimately, for people like Jerry, it's not about a job. It's about showing people that they're your people. And that's something that I live by every day,” Frank said.
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