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November 2009: Encounter Center Exhibition Honors Lakota School’s WWI Service
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (Nov. 5, 2009)“ Veterans’ Day will mark the opening of “Everyday I Saw You In My Prayers”, an exhibition of historic photographs honoring a Lakota school’s service during World War I at home and on the front.

The photographs were taken at St. Francis Indian Mission on the Rosebud reservation by the Rev. Joseph A. Zimmerman, S.J., the son of German immigrants and a native of Westphalia, Iowa.

“Fr. Zimmerman lived with the Lakota people on the Rosebud and Pine Ridge, S.D., reservations for almost 40 years, beginning in 1914.”

Fr. Zimmerman lived with the Lakota people on the Rosebud and Pine Ridge, S.D., reservations for almost 40 years, beginning in 1914. As a Jesuit scholastic in training he was assigned to St. Francis Indian Mission where he taught fifth through eighth grades and took numerous photographs of mission life.

“Everyday I Saw You in My Prayers” features a group portrait of St. Francis WWI soldiers; an image of another unidentified St. Francis soldier; a photograph of students and their teacher knitting garments for soldiers as part of the school’s Red Cross auxiliary; a portrait of the St. Francis School Band which raised money for the Red Cross; and a photograph of Fr. Zimmerman and his students.

At least 70 St. Francis students served in World War I; at least five lost their lives. Five gold stars on the mission’s service flag commemorated their sacrifice, according to St. Francis student Edwin Good Shield who wrote about his friends and classmates in 1918.

“I believe there will be two more gold stars because people say that two more boys from here have been killed in France” wrote Good Shield who was not permitted to serve because he was only 16 years old.

More than 12,000 Native Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War I. Most were not yet U.S. citizens.

Exhibit commentary illuminates Fr. Zimmerman’s decades of service and his friendship with the Lakota people, including the renowned Nicholas Black Elk who served with Fr. Zimmerman and other priests as a catechist on the Pine Ridge reservation.

Black Elk was made known to the larger world as a traditional Lakota holy person through John Neihardt’s “Black Elk Speaks.” It was only later that his role as a Catholic leader was brought to light.

An assignment took Fr. Zimmerman off the reservation for three years during the Great Depression. When he returned in 1937, he was welcomed by his old friends, including Black Elk who said in his native Lakota language, “Everyday I saw you in my prayers: I knew you would come back.” Fr. Zimmerman who spoke the Lakota language fluently understood these words immediately.

“Everyday I Saw You in My Prayers” will be dedicated with a musical tribute composed by Everett School students under the direction of Morningside College music education majors Nick McGraw; Emily Cox; Jaime Parkinson, John Calahan; Kasey Farrell; and their instructor, Jill Wilson. The students will begin their Veterans’Day musical encounter at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11.

“Everyday I Saw You in My Prayers” is the first of an ongoing exhibition of Fr. Zimmerman’s photographs with research and text by Marcia Poole, director of the Center. The project advisor is Fr. Raymond A. Bucko, S.J., Chair of Sociology & Anthropology; Director of Native American Studies, Creighton University. Fr. Don Doll, S.J. is photo consultant. He is Professor of Photojournalism at Creighton University, where he holds the Charles and Mary Heider Endowed Jesuit Chair.

“Everyday I Saw You in My Prayers” is made possible by St. Francis Indian Mission, St. Francis, S.D.; and Red Cloud Indian School, Pine Ridge, S.D. Fr. Zimmerman’s images are reproduced with permission from the Department of Special Collections and University Archives at Marquette University Libraries, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where they are preserved.

The Betty Strong Encounter Center and adjoining Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center comprise a private, non-profit cultural complex built and sustained by Missouri River Historical Development, Inc. (MRHD) and located on Sioux City’s Missouri Riverfront, exit 149 off I-29. Admission and all programs are free. For more information, visit http://www.siouxcitylcic.com or call 712-224-5242.