"Edwin Benson will wear a cap and gown for the first time in his life since majoring in the language, customs and traditions of the Nu'eta, a knowledge base passed to him from elders who lived in the last historic earth lodge village of the Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota.

Benson has been awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the University of North Dakota.

“If anyone deserves it, he deserves it,” said Gerard Baker, a Mandan-Hidatsa and National Park Service superintendent at Mount Rushmore. “He's one of the best professors I've ever seen. It goes beyond the honorary caption. He goes way beyond a doctor in the academic sense.”

Benson, 78, who lives in Twin Buttes, N.D., on the Fort Berthold Reservation, has gained international stature for his vast knowledge of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes. He's renowned for graciously sharing his knowledge with all people.

The North Dakota State Board of Higher Education recently voted unanimously to award Benson with the honorary doctorate. He will receive it Saturday during UND graduation ceremonies in Grand Forks, N.D.

“I had a white man call me with great news I never expected from a white man,” Benson said in a phone interview from Twin Buttes Elementary School. “To be honest, I cried. I felt better after I cried. I didn't know how to accept it. It was like a dream, too good of a dream to be true, too good to wake up.”"

Get the Story:
The last speaker: UND to honor Mandan, last to speak Nu'eta as 1st language (The Missoulian 5/11)

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