A. Interviewee: Karla Thompson

Interviewer: Tara Thompson

B. This interview was conducted in person.  I did not edit anything as I feel like the conversation captures exactly what she experienced and how she feels about it.  I used both my phone and computer to record the interview in case something happened to one of them.  I made sure to test them both first and make sure the sound was okay.  Before the interview, I read Karla the questions I would be asking so she could start to get an idea about them and have time to think about what to say.  We had a small conversation before the interview to ensure it went smoothly, which it seemed to go pretty well.  We did prepare in a quiet place, we conducted it in her house, and we were the only 2 there.  She was a little sick so at times she had to stop to cough, but it was not too bad.  The interview was a little shorter than it was supposed to be, but I think it was close enough and all of the information she talked about was good for the topic.  Another problem that occurred is we did have to do the interview twice, because my interviewee talked to fast the first time and it was very short, but the second one was much better.  Overall, I think it went pretty well even though there were some things that could have been added and fixed to make it better. 

C.My interviewee is Karla Thompson who was born in 1964 in McIntosh, South Dakota.  She grew up on a Sioux Indian reservation although she was not Native American, where she witnessed to differences between white people and Native Americans.  Her family first moved to North Dakota when they were given land as part of the homestead act in the later 1800s, where they farmed there for a while.  Following this, they moved to McIntosh to pursue their careers and get better jobs, where her family stayed even to this day.  This town is also very small, so she got to experience how it was growing up in a town that has just been declining in population and character since she grew up there.  Karla left McIntosh when she was 18 to go to college and then to pursue a career, moving to Denver Colorado, for more opportunities allowing her to form a successful career which is not as easy to come by in McIntosh.  This opened her up to a totally different life where she got to see two different lifestyles. 

 D. 

• “Native American Activism: 1960s to Present.” Zinn Education Project, www.zinnedproject.org/materials/native-american-activism-1960s-to-present/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..   

This source is about Native American Activism in South Dakota around the 1960’s, which is around the time my mom was born (1964).  It talks about how they occupied Mount Rushmore to reclaim land they were promised to the Great Sioux Nation in 1868.  This source talks about other movements the Native Americans held, but with this I will be able to talk to my mom about if she remembers these and possible other movements that happened during her time.     

• “Native Americans.” Minority Rights Group, minorityrights.org/minorities/native-americans/. 

This website talks about the history of the Native Americans.  It talks about their unemployment rate, which while my mom did not directly talk about that it is kind of implied with their living situations and how they were given houses, which is also mentioned, and did not take care of them or anything.  It mentions how those who do work make very little money, which is what my mom said comes with living on the reservation and how their peel salary is not very high.  Overall, this source verifies what my mom experienced with how they lived and the conditions that come with growing up on a reservation.    

• Ross, Luana. Inventing the Savage: the Social Construction of Native American Criminality. Univ. of Texas Press, 2000. 

This book gives more information about the laws pertaining to Native Americans.  It speaks about how Native Americans could not be tried without tribal consent and how the spread to many states.  This source is not directly relation to South Dakota, but it shows the correlation between other places and how what my mom experienced was common for Native Americans all over.  This talks about years prior to my mom and after she lived there, but it is interesting because it coincides with what my mom said and how the Native Americans were not under the jurisdiction of the county.   

 E.

Interviewee: Karla Thompson 

Interviewer: Tara Thompson  

Tara Thompson: Hello my name is Tara Thompson and today I’ll be interviewing Karla Thompson. Do you mind if this interview is made public.  

  

Karla Thompson: No.  

  

Tara Thompson:] I’m going to be asking you questions about what it was like growing up on an Indian reservation. My first question is what reservation was it and where was it located?  

  

Karla Thompson: It was the Sioux Indian Reservation located in McIntosh South Dakota which is right next to the North Dakota border.  

  

Tara Thompson: Why did you and your family grow up on a reservation?  

  

Karla Thompson: My grandparents migrated to North Dakota when they were given land as part of the Homestead Act when they first came over from Sweden. After a few years of living in North Dakota they decided they wanted more opportunity. So my grand parents moved to Macintosh on the reservation here. My grandmother was able to hold a county elected office as register of deeds and my grandfather opened up his own business and bought a farm which exposed me to a lot of the farm life.  

  

Tara Thompson: Interesting, where the Native Americans treated any differently from others based on what you experienced and if so how?  

  

Karla Thompson: I don’t know that I would say they were treated much differently as the segregation was obvious. A couple of things that I can give you to support that statement is the police in McIntosh could not arrest any Native American that broke the law for any reason they could only detain them at the jail and called the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the BIA would have to send their cops down to do the official arrest or to transport them back to a tribal jail. If the BIA didn’t show up within a certain timeframe. They got off they got to let they got let go we couldn’t maintain them in our jails for more than a set period of time. And so sometimes they got off with crimes without any punishment and other times they were transported to the tribal jail and the tribe prosecuted and addressed the penalties. Another thing that came to mind were schools. I can remember in high school going for sport event at a brand new tribal school that was state of the art with saunas in everything built within it which we were all kind of jealous about and that school was only allowed to have attendance from the Native Americans. White people were not able to attend the school. So while the school that I went to kids got to attend regardless of of national or ethnic background their school was only allowed to be attended by the Native Americans. Today that school is closed in all of the schools are in the McIntosh as well as the surrounding areas are actually attended by joint backgrounds. It doesn’t matter what your background is. Oh. Oh go ahead I’m sorry.  

  

Tara Thompson: What were things you were exposed to in their culture that shaped who you are today?  

  

Karla Thompson: Growing up in the reservation was interesting because that was the only culture that I was actually exposed to until I went to college. So I learned a lot about the Native American culture before I knew anything about any of the other cultures that I am much more diverse in today. Growing up we did a lot of trips as a family to powwows and rodeos that predominantly were held by and attended by Native Americans and this taught me a lot about their rituals. I also when I was in high school took care of an elderly lady who was very diverse in the Native American culture and she taught me a lot about their rituals and how they grew up and what not. And so she taught me how to do some of the war war cries and some of the dancing that they did at the powwows and exposed me to the unique clothing that they wore for their power such as their head dresses and their rain dance outfits and different types of clothing that they wore for different types of dancing they were doing at the powwow. She also taught me a lot about the food that they used or ate. I’m sorry and this allowed me just to be more open. As I grew older to other cultures and curious if nothing else about how the other cultures lived compared to what the whites and then the Native Americans did as I was growing up.  

  

Tara Thompson: What was the reservation like when you were growing up like what were the demographics and how did it look overall?  

  

Karla Thompson: The demographics and Macintosh was probably one third Native American and two thirds white. When I was growing up it was a pretty segregated town and that the Native Americans pretty much lived in a section of town that had housing that was provided and built by the tribe for the Native Americans and unfortunately was never really kept up that much so the housing was replaced frequently I would say about every ten years they were tearing down and rebuilding. Today I would say the demographics is about the same. However the tribal housing is no longer provided for so the white people and the Native Americans just live amongst each other and there is really no segregation as far as where they live. McIntosh is a very small town. It has doesn’t have any stop signs or traffic lights. There’s only one paved road and that’s Main Street which when I grew up was where all the most or I shouldn’t say all but most of the businesses were located and the school that was in McIntosh that was open to the public was a K through 12 school where everyone from McIntosh in the surrounding towns were able to attend. There wasn’t much for us to do as kids. We pretty much entertained ourself with sports basketball and softball were big in town and then in the winter months we would skate on one of the local lakes and have bonfires and and whatnot but we all just kind of hung out and got along together.  

  

Tara Thompson: So I know you said how the demographics changed from then to now but how has the town changed or is it like the same?  

  

Karla Thompson: The town is a little bit more rundown I would say today. When I was growing up there was a lot more businesses than would have survived and are there today. Today the town really is a population of about two hundred people or actually probably under 200. When I was growing up it was way over 600. The K through 12 school is probably about a third of the attendance that it had when I was in school and as far as surviving businesses it’s really down to one restaurant, one gas station, city hall and then the city county offices that are there because it is a county seat. I will say there’s one big what I would consider an improvement today over from when I lived there and that there is a clinic in town now where a doctor from a neighboring town does attend with nurses and when I was growing up to get medical attention our nearest facility was forty five miles away and that was whether it be to go to the dentist or a doctor or whatever. I would say another big difference. Today is predominantly it’s a town of older individuals other than the school teachers and what not most of the population is elderly and the properties are probably not kept up or I would say are not kept up as much today as they were when I was growing up. So regardless of who’s living in them I think the overall condition of many of the properties is poor.  

  

Tara Thompson: How old were you when you left McIntosh and what made you want to leave?  

  

Karla Thompson: So I was 18 years old when I left Macintosh to attend the North Dakota State School Science in Wahpeton North Dakota. I went there to get a degree in computer science with hopes of being able to move to a bigger town with more opportunities for me than what McIntosh ever offered. And actually after college I did move to big town and that I moved to Denver, Colorado for my first job post college and after living there for about seven years I was given an opportunity to advance my career and take a job in the Northern Virginia area which I did and so. I left McIntosh and moved to much bigger cities and was given a lot more opportunity than what I would have been given if I had stayed in McIntosh. Also I would say it was interesting for me moving away. And I was able to experience things that most kids did or took for granted in the larger cities in that they were, I was able to have different types of foods, attend concerts and even have soft serve ice cream. So things that kids in larger cities take for granted and are right down the street from them. For me living in McIntosh it was driving 90 miles in some cases to go to a concert or forty five miles to get soft serve ice cream. So a lot different living in a small town. And I think you know I wanted the opportunity that the bigger towns offered than what McIntosh did. So that kind of helped me make my decision to leave much sooner than a lot of my high school classmates did.  

  

Tara Thompson: Wow. What are the major differences between growing up in a small town to living in a big city?  

  

Karla Thompson: Well I briefly touched on that a minute ago and that you know living in a small town you have limitations on what businesses and entertainment opportunities are available for you there. But I will say growing up in a small town was nice in that everybody knew everybody and everybody looked out for everybody so while it was unfortunate that when I got home late my parents knew what I did before I even walked in the door and told them because somebody saw me and was was doing and had already reported to them. I enjoyed the closeness that the town offered and I will say it wasn’t exposed to like drugs and violence living in a small town that kids in the bigger cities are exposed to then and even today. However, I will say property values are very low. And salary opportunities are well under twenty five thousand in McIntosh even today which is hard to make a good living and a good quality of life for a family. And then the city you know I always had more or I had more opportunities to work hard and advance into higher skilled and paid job opportunities. And I had more opportunities for entertainment and doing things that I never even knew existed it at times living in McIntosh currently in Macintosh. And even when I was growing up the closest store to really do any decent shopping is at least forty five miles away and if you want the Wal-Mart’s of the world you’re actually driving 90 miles to get to them so. While in McIntosh the shopping was limited to a local local drugstore and a grocery store. To do really nice shopping you either went forty five to ninety miles away to shop.  

  

Tara Thompson: Oh my that’s crazy. So would you ever consider moving back to McIntosh?  

  

Karla Thompson: No that wouldn’t be something I would want that I see myself doing in the future. I like going back and visiting but I don’t like the seclusion and the limitations that I’ve talked about previously that are offered there. The town is dwindling and I don’t see it coming back to life anytime soon to to a town that I would be able to see myself happy living in.  

  

Tara Thompson: Interesting. Thank you for your time and answering questions about your life.  

  

Karla Thompson: Thank you.  

Overall, I feel the interview went well.  I wish I would have talked for a little bit longer but during the interview there were not really any additional questions I could think of.  I think it flowed, but if I were to do it again I would try and prepare more questions to ask.  I did not really go “off script” too much, which I feel would have been better if I did have to make it more like a conversation.  While there were things I could have done better, I am pleased with how it went.