Fall 2021
Tensions were high following the death of Sitting Bull on the Pine Ridge reservation in mid-December of 1890 due to an armed response to Sioux disruptions (Calloway 2018).
Two days before the new year, the Seventh Cavalry intercepted Big Foot, a Lakota Sioux chief, and his band en route to Pine Ridge. Quarrels over a dispute to surrender weapons suddenly paused at the sound of a gunshot followed by brutal crossfire between the two sides. This atrocity will later go down in history as the Wounded Knee Massacre where upwards of two hundred Indigenous men, women, & children were mercilessly killed by American soldiers. Not only did this mark the end of the Ghost Dance movement, but of organized Indigenous resistance against reservation life and assimilation to the western system (Richardson 2011). In the wake of all this, Wounded Knee will go down in history as a symbol of colonial regression and Indigenous resistance. This laid barren the shortcomings of the federal/state government both in protection and in recognizing Indigenous tribal sovereignty & culture. By advocating and proposing new legislation in the government, Indigenous resistance was then able to take on new forms in order to uphold justice & self-determination. Doing so will pay homage to the lives lost during the Massacre of Wounded Knee.
Two days before the new year, the Seventh Cavalry intercepted Big Foot, a Lakota Sioux chief, and his band en route to Pine Ridge. Quarrels over a dispute to surrender weapons suddenly paused at the sound of a gunshot followed by brutal crossfire between the two sides. This atrocity will later go down in history as the Wounded Knee Massacre where upwards of two hundred Indigenous men, women, & children were mercilessly killed by American soldiers. Not only did this mark the end of the Ghost Dance movement, but of organized Indigenous resistance against reservation life and assimilation to the western system (Richardson 2011). In the wake of all this, Wounded Knee will go down in history as a symbol of colonial regression and Indigenous resistance. This laid barren the shortcomings of the federal/state government both in protection and in recognizing Indigenous tribal sovereignty & culture. By advocating and proposing new legislation in the government, Indigenous resistance was then able to take on new forms in order to uphold justice & self-determination. Doing so will pay homage to the lives lost during the Massacre of Wounded Knee.
RJ LeBlond, Wounded Knee Cemetery with Daniel, via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
Since Wounded Knee, many movements have sprung up with an increase in Indigenous activism. One of these movements was the American Indian Movement (AIM), which strived for tribal sovereignty, civil rights, economic independence, and revival of traditional culture. AIM was formed by a coalition of Indigenous activist community members and led by George Mitchell, Dennis Banks, and Clyde Bellecourt (Nelson 2009). Their influence and accomplishments reached far and wide, with political activism transforming programs that served Indigenous people and communities (“History of AIM,” n.d.). Yet, their final major operation arrived in February 1973. After almost a century past the events of the Wounded Knee Massacre, Pine Ridge reservation had been plagued by corruption and broken treaty rights under the tribal chairman Dick Wilson. As a result, the community was struggling to support itself and violence was often incurred on those who resisted. In a last ditch effort, AIM was called in to assist in protesting and dismantling authority. While Wilson was being protected by marshals and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), AIM protesters occupied Wounded Knee. This started the 71 day siege by federal officers (Davey, n.d.). AIM soon surrendered after authorities decided to hear their complaints, but those complaints laid unfulfilled; the movement disbanded after the majority of leaders became imprisoned. Their display of resistance still brought Indigenous people together. Especially the former community members at Pine Ridge who continued to show resistance to Wilson’s rule even after the events of the siege. The federal government failed to do anything with the corruption happening on Pine Ridge, which brought about resistance by AIM in order to demand that change and bring awareness to the issues. Wounded Knee was significant to this moment in activism because it showed the resilience and resolve of Indigenous people persisted throughout time since the days of the Ghost Dance movement and well before that.
This theme continues to resonate with organizations and movements that arose after the disbanding of AIM like the formation of Women of All Red Nations (WARN) (Calloway 2018). And just like the predecessors, used the government for the benefit of the community through the passage of laws that slowly continue to grant independence and tribal sovereignty that was rightfully theirs to begin with.
It is crucial to recognize all the sacrifice it took to get to this point and how the federal government tried to divide and separate Indigenous people only to unite them more. New legislation passed didn’t stop Indigenous people from continuing to practice culture & tradition. This only made it much more evident that Indigenous activist organizations and resistance has continued to persist in the wake of all these altercations. Both events at Wounded Knee shared this common representation of resistance whether through the AIM movement or the Ghost Dance. Where government action fell short, these movements contributed to the upholding of tribal sovereignty. Similarly, Indigenous activism to this day will continue to work towards tribal sovereignty while upholding justice and self-determination.
Bibliography
Calloway, Colin G. 2018. First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Davey, Katie Jean. n.d. “Overview.” American Indian Movement (AIM) LibGuides. Minnesota Historical Society. Accessed October 19, 2021. https://libguides.mnhs.org/aim/ov.
“History of AIM.” n.d. AIM Interpretive Center. Accessed November 18, 2021. http://www.aim-ic.org/history-aim.
Nelson, Stanley, dir. 2009. Wounded Knee. Episode 5 of We Shall Remain. PBS. Kanopy video. https://carleton.kanopy.com/video/wounded-knee.
Richardson, Heather Cox. 2011. Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre. New York: Basic Books.
