Senator Byron L. Dorgan: The Girl in the Photograph
Senator Byron L. Dorgan will discuss his new book The Girl in the Photograph: The True Story of a Native American Child, Lost and Found in America. Through the story of Tamara, an abused Native American child, North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan describes the plight of many children living on reservations—and offers hope for the future. On a winter morning in 1990, U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota picked up the Bismarck Tribune. On the front page, a small Native American girl gazed into the distance, shedding a tear. The headline: "Foster home children beaten—and nobody's helping." Dorgan, who had been working with American Indian tribes to secure resources, was upset. He flew to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation to meet with five-year-old Tamara who had suffered a horrible beating at a foster home. He visited with Tamara and her grandfather and they became friends; but then Tamara disappeared. He would search for her for decades until they finally found each other again. This book is her story, from childhood to the present, but it's also the story of a people and a nation.