Les_LaFountain.jpgMayville State University is celebrating Native American Heritage Month in November. As part of this celebration, Les LaFountain will speak Friday, November 4, 2016, beginning at 2 p.m. in the MSU Campus Center Luckasen Room. All are welcome to attend LaFountain’s presentation, “500 Nations in 500 Years, Diverse People on Common Ground.”

LaFountain will use the history of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa as a basis to share a perspective of pivotal historical events in United States history. This journey begins with the Spanish encounter in 1492 in the Caribbean and continues through to the English experiences at Jamestown (1607) and Plymouth (1620), concluding with Lewis and Clark’s American Corps of Discovery exchange in 1804-05. Mr. LaFountain’s presentation will criss-cross the world view of indigenous peoples and the newcomers to shed light on complex issues facing contemporary people of North Dakota.

Les LaFountain earned a B.S. degree from North Dakota State University, Fargo, N.D., and a M.Ed. at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks. He is a former tribal museum administrator, high school teacher, tribal council representative, state senator, and legislative assistant for U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Washington, D.C., Bush Fellow for the Native Nation Builders Program, and contributor for the program Native View: Culture and Traditions, Turtle Mountain Ojibwa History for Prairie Public Television.