Fort Belknap

Alex Sakariassen

Reporter

Growing up in Bismarck, N.D., I was introduced to American Indian culture at a very young age. My family attended the annual United Tribes International Powwow throughout my childhood. I can still picture the quivering feathers and tiny bells silhouetted in the firelight of the dance circle. Later, while working as a site interpreter for the State Historical Society of North Dakota, I became even more intrigued by Indian history and culture than before.

I am now a double major in print journalism and history at the University of Montana. Through my work with the School of Journalism’s Native News Honors Project, I hope to build a greater understanding of contemporary American Indian cultures, the issues facing the people and the roles that federal agencies like the Bureau of Indian Affairs play in the lives of those people. We can learn much by interacting with other nations, and I’m eager to collect stories from the other side of the fence.

I’m Alex Sakariassen, and I will be reporting from the Fort Belknap Reservation.

Russel Daniels

Photographer

I am a native of Salt Lake City. Since graduating from high school in 1992, I have lived in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Seattle. I spent the summers of 2005 and 2006 on photojournalism internships, first at The Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D., and then at the St. Cloud Times in St. Cloud, Minn. I am now a junior in photojournalism at the University of Montana.

I am Navajo, Winnebago, French, Dutch, Irish and English. During childhood visits to see relatives on reservations, I developed a lifelong interest in the reservation system, especially in the various ways that assimilation efforts have tried to wipe away the identities of individual tribes.

My name is Russel Albert Daniels, and I will be photographing on Montana’s Fort Belknap Reservation for the Native News Honors Project.