Between two worlds

Dorothy Alexander could never shake her mother’s disturbing words.

Alexander, who owns an art gallery in nearby Cheyenne, was born and raised around the Hammon area and counts many Cheyenne people among her dearest friends.

“I remember my mother saying once that she thought it was good for the Indians that they were forced to move out of camps,” recalled Alexander, 74. “And I would think, ‘Yeah, but how would you feel if someone said you had to move?’

“That really had a profound effect on my life. And I have always, always, always been consciously aware of who the underdogs are in our society and just how unfair this world really is.”

“Back then if one family had food, we all had food,” said Imogene Herndon, 48, of Cheyenne and a direct descendant of Chief Henry Elk River. “Now all of a sudden these people are thrown into the world with no support. They didn’t know how to handle money. They had never been taught. It’s no wonder we’ve had problems adjusting.”