THIS EVENT IS POST-PONED because of the snow and bitterly cold temperatures forecasted for this weekend.

Joe Starita discusses the legal, social and political importance of the landmark 1879 decision at which a judge declared that Ponca Chief Standing Bear was “a person” within the law and entitled to the same Constitutional protections as white citizens.

In 1877, Chief Standing Bear's Ponca Indian tribe was forcibly removed from their Nebraska homeland and marched to what was then known as Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), in what became the tribe's own Trail of Tears. "I Am a Man" chronicles what happened when Standing Bear set off on a 600-mile walk to return the body of his only son to their traditional burial ground. Along the way, it examines the complex relationship between the United States government and the small, peaceful tribe and the legal consequences of land swaps and broken treaties, while never losing sight of the heartbreaking journey the Ponca endured. It is also a story of the hope of a people still among us today.

Free and open to the public. Light reception after presentation.