The Fighting Sioux: The End Of A Legacy

Research shows that many Native Americans are offended by the team names, mascots, and logos. On the other hand, there are also many Native Americans that are not offended by this. In a New York TImes Article titled “In twist” , Eunice Davidson, who was wearing a fighting Sioux sweatshirt stated “I have to tell you, I am very honored that they would use the name.” In that case, Native Americans are not collectively against it and are split on the situation.

In the movie Dances with Wolves Lieutenant John Dunbar is a dynamic character; changing throughout the film from a dignified United States Army soldier, to a passionate Lakota Sioux member. On his journey, Dances With Wolves takes in many experiences many have only dreamt about. When he rides Cisco out onto the battlefield in a suicide attempt, he has no idea that he indeed will live and will never lead the same life again. John Dunbar changed in many ways reflected upon in the film, including: mindset, clothing, and his sense of identity; it is though these character traits that Dances With Wolves discovers that inside everyone is a frontier just waiting to be explored.

The Sioux creation story and the book of Genesis in the Bible both mirror an image of how the world along with human life was created. When forming their creations they were dissimilar in the way they produced water and land. In Genesis God created water by just a spoken word and it would appear. However, the Creating Power would form his creations with objects using his hands to form land from mud the story states “He sang all the while that he shaped the mud in his hands and spread it on the water to make a spot of dry land for himself.” Additionally, he completely covers everything with land by a command and using feathers from an eagle by waving them over the spot he had produced. Both of these stories reveal that in a previous time their God was unpleased with what he had created so he destroyed the world because of the people’s acts of immorality and unruliness. Also, this gives reflection on the role of the natural world being impure, failed and contaminated by sin and only the grace of “God” can save them. When God or the “Creating Power” recreated the world in their effort to maintain order people needed to understand how powerful and almighty they were by being able to create life or to end it.

"My People the Sioux" is a good literary work written in 1928. This book leaves an everlasting impression with some because it definitely intensifies the sympathy for the Indians. Luther Standing Bear, also known as Plenty Kill, portrays the dramatic and traumatic changes about the Sioux throughout their traditional way of life. As a young boy growing up, he experienced many of these hardships first hand between his people and the whites. This autobiography is quite valuable as it helps allow us to envision what really happened in the battling times of the Indians. Luther stated this quote, which to me, is unforgettable and very well said. It reads:

Of all the features upon the earth there are some ascribed with special significance. These features, whether caves, lakes, deserts, outcroppings, or something else entirely, hold tremendous relevance for the groups that dwell near them. Such beliefs in the worth and importance of such sites are entrusted from one passing generation to the next. These beliefs, and the physical objects they rest upon, become increasingly vital to that group’s identity as a people. One such group is the Teton Lakota of the Sioux Nation in South Dakota, an area that has been home to them for hundreds of years and, while their entire homeland is precious to them, of particular importance are the Black Hills, or Paha Sapa as they are called in Lakota.

​The Great Sioux War or The Black Hills War (1876- 1877) was a series of battles trying to force the Sioux and Cheyenne people back into the Great Sioux Reservation. In 1868, the Treaty of Laramie was signed by Sioux leaders to give up their lands and move west onto the reservations. In 1874 LTC George Custer was tasked to reconnoiter the Black Hills (part of the Sioux reservation). His primary task was to survey the land and look for natural resources during a time of great economic depression. After the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, rumors spread and miners flooded into the hills. Lakota Warrior, Crazy Horse, led many attacks on LTC Custer’s surveying parties in the hills. Crazy Horse and his warriors were trying to keep the white

To start the article, Shakley tells the audience a story about the time he came home with a Cleveland Indians hat with the famous Chief Wahoo logo (The Cleveland Indians mascot is Chief Wahoo and is one of the most controversial mascots in American sports). This hat was later thrown in the trash by his mother (that had been fighting against Native American stereotypes her whole life), who Shakley describes as having “the look of betrayal”. Shakley uses strong words to describe his negative opinion on Native American mascots by stating that the North Dakota Fighting Sioux provoked a feeling in him that was embarrassed and angry. Shakley described it as “It was an irritant, like a long forgotten piece of shrapnel working its way to

The American Psychological Association had found that using representation of the mascots “undermines the educational experiences of members of all communities- especially those who have had little or no contact with Indigenous peoples” (APA). When people view a culture being paraded as a mascot, it can become their singular view and knowledge on the ethnic group. There is nothing to stop the formulation of what students know about Native Americans when there are few natives around. With the allowance of mascots to represent Native American in a way as they do now, wearing headdresses or war paint and using “peace pipes” has become a trend and something “cool” to do. Headdresses are traditionally a part of the Plains tribes and are considered sacred. Only revered warriors or significant people could wear war bonnets or headdresses. Feathers, especially eagle feathers, are very sacred to Native Americans. These appropriations continue to be a negative and demeaning aspect of using Native Americans as

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe currently fights to save its only water source from natural gas and oil contamination. This troubling current event has a somewhat forgotten historical analogue where very similar themes presented themselves. The Kinzua Dam Controversy, which took place in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, resulted in the displacement of over 600 Seneca Indian families and the acquisition of a large tract of traditional Seneca Land for dam building. Additionally, the acquisition of Seneca land represented a breach of “The Treaty with the Six Nations of 1794,” which explicated prevented such action by the US Government. The dam and its construction, which primarily benefitted Pittsburg, inspired a heated discourse concerning the ethics of native relocation.

A Hunkpapa Lakota chief named Sitting Bull and the history of the Lakota nationhood was the chosen subject of Gary C. Anderson to write a biography on. Although most of the history about Sitting Bull took place back in the eighteen hundreds, Anderson did not come out with his book tell around 1995. Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers published the book in 1996. The book follows the history of Sitting Bull and the native Indians fight with the "white man" over land.

By 1876, gold had been discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The gold was found on Sioux land, and this region was considered sacred to the Lakota Sioux Indians. The he land was to be protected and respected by the United States Army, because of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 18681, but the Army could not keep miners off the Sioux ground, which led to the increase of Sioux grievances towards the Americans; some grievances that are still taken offense to today. These battles and negotiations soon were known at the Great Sioux War of 1876.

The concept of “politics” is often described casually in political science as decisions people make in order to best decide how to live with other people. This definition of politics allows for the argument that anything can be deemed political, including the clothes we wear and the language we speak. Politics is not just regarded as the study of how government works through direct participation in elections, political parties, and official government policies under this definition, but it also includes how a common nationality is forged through cultural practices and interactions with “outside” groups. Jeffrey Ostler in his book The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism uses the more inclusive definition of politics to illustrate how the Sioux

Gun BALL, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota district has issued a warrant for the capture of Green Party presidential hopeful Jill Stein, who is blamed for shower painting development hardware amid a challenge the Dakota Access pipeline.

Over 33 percent of the homes have no electricity or basic water and sewage systems forcing many to carry (often contaminated) water from local rivers daily for their personal needs. This is an ongoing struggle with the sioux nation and has been. This is because of poor insurance and no government help. In the nonfiction novel Saga of the Sioux the author Dwight Jon Zimmerman expresses how bad the sioux tribes have it in the conflicts that arise, the theme and it's all through the author's point of view.

At least 60 percent of homes on the Reservation need to be demolished and replaced due to infestation of potentially fatal black mold, however, there are no insurance or government programs to assist families in replacing their homes. In the novel, Saga of the Sioux, Dwight Jon Zimmerman, the author, draws the attention to many of the occurring conflicts the Natives have been faced with as well as presenting the themes, elaborating on the reality the Sioux Tribe has dealt and dealing with due to the westward expansion.