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Two students are leading the effort to add a mural and plaque to the entryway of Two Rivers High School, acknowledging Dakota land and explaining the recent name change.
Who: The students, Aubrey McMahon and Clara Rebhan, are both rising seniors and spearheaded the land acknowledgement. Both are native—McMahon is Red Lake Ojibwe and Rebhan is Cheyenne River Lakota.
- “It’s really cool to see all this come to life, because we’ve been working on this idea since October,” said Rebhan.
What: The mural depicts the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, hence the name Two Rivers High School. The mural will also have text of a land acknowledgement. A nearby plaque will give more context about the name change.
- “I really like the word rebirth or renewal,” said McMahon, referring to words used in the plaque. “Even though a lot of people might not understand the reference to the two rivers, it’s really important to me as a native person, and knowing the significance of the confluence of the Minnesota and the Mississippi Rivers, it means a chance for renewal.”
Context: In late 2020, the ISD 197 School Board voted unanimously to change the name of Henry Sibley High School. In 2021, after input from the community, the board renamed the school Two Rivers High School.
Timing: McMahon and Rebhan have worked with district administration throughout the school year and presented their plans to the ISD 197 School Board in June—to enthusiastic support. The two hope to complete the mural and install the plaque before school starts in the fall.
- “I love everything about this. This is phenomenal, and I think the best part is, you presented it yourselves,” said School Board Member Marcus Hill at that June meeting. “This is something that we’ve wanted to see come to fruition for a really long time. It’s just wonderful to see it all come to life.”
The Painting Process
McMahon and Rebhan designed and painted the mural themselves. Initially they planned to hire a professional artist, but the district administration encouraged the students to do it themselves. They’re both artistic, but this is their first project at this scale.
Reaction: The painting is happening during the summer, but the high school entryway is still a busy place with lots of students coming and going.
- “Every single person comes up to us and has something to say,” said Rebhan.
- “A lot of the adults will ask us questions about what we’re painting, but then the kids are just like, ‘Oh my gosh, I love it,'” said McMahon.
The two are having fun: “We’re listening to music and jamming out, painting,” said Rebhan.
“I feel like it’d be more intimidating if I didn’t have Clara,” said McMahon. Working together as a team has been a crucial part of the project.
The Debate
The name change generated a lot of controversy, and even though McMahon and Rebhan weren’t in high school at the time, they’re both aware of the pushback and have experienced it themselves. But they see it as an opportunity.
“The name change for our school is just huge deal, and you know that was already 2020 so we’re six years removed from that,” said Rebhan. But still, she’s experienced telling someone she attends Two Rivers and they respond with ‘You mean Henry Sibley?’ “It’s just rooted in the past, and I think if you’re going to come into our high school and be a part of us, you can see we’re located near two rivers, we’re on Dakota land. This is such a really special thing that we get to honor and continue to educate our community about.”
“I’ve gotten some snippy comments about it, and in those situations I’m like, ‘OK, let me take a step back and approach this in a nice way,'” said McMahon. “But other times people are genuinely curious, and so then there’s more of an open air to it when you talk about the name change.”
Rather than erasing history, they see the issue as a lack of education.
“There’s this lack of knowledge about who Henry Sibley was and what made him a bad guy,” said Rebhan, noting that Sibley’s history is often sugar-coated. “He was the first governor of Minnesota, and so people really want to respect him and honor him, [but] there’s a dark side of who he was that’s intertwined with our history and this land’s history.”
That dark side includes the U.S-Dakota War of 1862 when broken treaty commitments led to starvation and an uprising by the Dakota people. Death on both sides followed, but it was Sibley’s actions to pursue genocide, ignore calls for truce, and oversee sham trials that led the ISD 197 School Board to decide Sibley did not represent “good character,” one of their requirements for naming a building after a person.
The text for the plaque has gone through multiple drafts and multiple reviews by stakeholders, including Two Rivers social studies teachers. The plaque might also include a QR code to share additional information and opportunities for education.
“We want to help our community continue to shift in this change that happened six years ago,” Rebhan said. “We’re not afraid of critiques or feedback, and hope people also recognize these are two 17-year-olds that are taking time out of their day to do this.”
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