Preview of Dakota 38

'Dakota 38' movie documents U.S. hanging of Lakota Indians

The West Coast debut is scheduled Thursday for the documentary film "Dakota 38," at Seattle University's Pigott Auditorium

By Lynda V. Mapes"Dakota 38," the rough cut, will be presented Thursday evening for its first West Coast public screening, hosted by Seattle University.

The film was inspired by Lakota spiritual leader Jim Miller, who in the spring of 2005 had a dream in which he rode 330 miles on horseback. He eventually came to a riverbank in Mankato, Minn., where he saw 38 of his own ancestors hanged. He soon discovered that he had dreamed of the actual largest mass hanging in the United States, ordered by President Lincoln in 1862.

In December 2008, Jim and others retraced the route of his dream on horseback in an effort to bring healing and reconciliation to all. "Dakota 38" is a feature-length documentary film by Smooth Feather Productions that tells the story of the 330-mile journey. To see a trailer, go online to smoothfeather.org/dakota38.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Jerry Fogg's Mankato 62 and Art Exhibit on Minn. Statehood.