After Dennis Banks’ Sacred Run to Atlanta in 1996 and the AIM Sundance at Pipestone, Mn. in the summer, Dennis invited those interested to continue on to Washington state and be part of the “Let Me Be Free” Run around that state, beginning on September 17th. 

There was a ceremony at Sapa Dawn center then the run started through the streets of Yelm.

The Sacred Run was started in the United States in 1978 by Dennis Banks, an Anishinabe activist and AIM leader, with the purpose of carrying the message that “All Life is Sacred”. It was inspired by the ancient Native American tradition of running great distances, even to the most remote villages, to spread messages, news and information.

                                         SAPA DAWN history (from Wikipedia)

Janet McCloud established her home and the surrounding 10 acres in Yelm, Washington as a retreat, naming it the Sapa Dawn Center, "Sapa" meaning grandfather, the name a tribute to Don McCloud, who died in April 1985. "The elders have said this is a spiritual place. For over 30 years, we've used this land to teach our traditional ways," McCloud, an Indian elder herself, wrote in 1999. "When all is going crazy . . . our people can come back to the center to find the calming effect; to reconnect with their spiritual self."

Leaders of the American Indian Movement, Dennis Banks, Russell Means, and others, came to Sapa Dawn and its sweat lodge before launching their 1973 at Wounded Knee Occupation in South Dakota.

In August 1985, 300 women from many countries found their way to Sapa Dawn to talk about concerns they shared. "There was no motel in Yelm then," recalls McCloud. "So we put up tepees. One woman said: 'Where's the motel?' I said, 'Here's a key: tepee number one or tepee number two.'"

The women camped for five days, talking about social, economic and family problems troubling native people throughout the Western Hemisphere. That was the birth of what now is called the Indigenous Women's Network, a coalition championing native women, families and tribal sovereignty from Chile to Canada, and which adopted McCloud as a founding mother.

I recommend everyone take the time to read Janet McCloud's biography. She was an amazing woman!. 

I recently realized how silly it is to have all these photos gathering dust in photo albums. Thus my effort in trying to get these photos out there so people can enjoy them.

It is my hope and aspiration that these photos will find their way to the people

and communities in which they were taken.

   Please help me in this endeavor.

Thanks to the following people and communities that helped:

Sorry but this list is not complete.

Thanks to all THOSE, that helped in any wAY helped!