We are excited to announce our two opening speakers at the Crossings and Connections: Norwegian Migration to North America conference at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, June 18–22, 2025. St. Olaf President Susan Rundell Singer will welcome conference goers to campus on Thursday morning. Following her welcome, Deidre Whiteman will deliver the first keynote talk.
Deidre Whiteman is the Director of Research and Education at National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS). In this role she educates and promotes dialogue within and between indigenous and immigrant communities. Her career has included many talks on various impacts of settler-colonialism, most notably Native American boarding schools, which her grandparents attended in the 1920s and 1930s. Deidre Whiteman is Spirit Lake Dakota and Hidatsa and is also a descendant of the Meskwaki and Turtle Mt. Ojibwe Nations.
As we work towards greater understanding of Norwegian-American history, including the interactions between and shared histories of Indigenous Americans and Norwegian immigrants and their descendants, her voice is a valuable addition to our conference.
Following this keynote, researcher Dr. Anna Peterson will hold a plenary session highlighting three specific cases of Norwegian American/Native American interactions: Norwegians and the US-Dakota War of 1862, Norwegians on the Spirit Lake Reservation, and the Norwegian-American run Bethany Indian Mission. A special food truck lunch that day will also feature local native vendors.