What is your favorite part of North Dakota’s history and why?
REUNITING WITH HISTORY
My favorite part of North Dakota’s history is the present. Two years ago, I saw a book, “Fly in the Buttermilk: One Black Man’s Odyssey,” by Robert L. Polk at a bookstore in Minot. It was published in 2022.
I immediately called a friend who had been a fellow camper in 1947 at the North Dakota Congregational Bible Camp at Lake Metigoshe. It was there we met Polk, who was on the summer staff.
After I read the book and located Polk in Philadelphia, it has been an interesting journey. He is now 97 years old and was able to travel to Minot for a four-day event in June to celebrate his life.
Polk grew up in Chicago, and his time in North Dakota during the 1950s included the summer at Lake Metigoshe, serving an internship at the Garrison Congregational Church, then as the full-time minister at the Berthold Congregational Church and working for the Minot YMCA as the youth secretary. He became the first Black person to join a service club in America, the Minot Kiwanis.
From Minot, Polk accepted the position of youth pastor at the Riverside Congregational Church in New York City, always functioning under the circumstances of race relations.
Polk was instrumental in facilitating bonding with the newly established Minot Air Force Base in the 1950s and he contributed to helping the transition of tribes at Fort Berthold who were being displaced by the Garrison Dam.
Polk’s return to North Dakota was a great culmination for us who were reacquainted with a man who has brought unity and addressed diversity throughout the nation.
Lucille Loftesnes
Verendrye Electric Cooperative
EXPLORING TRAILS AND LIBRARIES
Ever since studying North Dakota history in elementary school, I have been fascinated with Lewis and Clark. One item on my bucket list is to travel the same route they did from St. Louis, Mo., to the West Coast. (Traveling more comfortably, though!)
But with the recent construction of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, I have gone down the rabbit hole of all of Theodore Roosevelt’s work. From reading books and journal entries to listening to podcasts, I have learned he truly was a special person and had an incredible life. Medora has always been a great place, and I’m so excited to go back there when the library is finished.
Jackie Lee
Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative
UPCOMING READER REPLY QUESTIONS
AUGUST: Is there a North Dakota athlete who inspires you?
Deadline for submission: July 11
SEPTEMBER: What is your favorite harvest memory?
Deadline for submission: Aug. 11
Published replies pay $25. Email to ndliving@ndarec.com or mail to READER REPLY, North Dakota Living, P.O. Box 727, Mandan, ND 58554-0727.
