Wounded Knee Massacre Research Paper

The Lakota, an Indian group of the Great Plains, established their community in the Black Hills in the late eighteenth century (9). This group is an example of an Indian community that got severely oppressed through imperialistic American actions and policy, as the Americans failed to recognize the Lakota’s sovereignty and ownership of the Black Hills. Jeffrey Ostler, author of The Lakotas and the Black Hills: The Struggle for Sacred Ground, shows that the Lakota exemplified the trends and subsequent challenges that Indians faced in America. These challenges included the plurality of groups, a shared colonial experience, dynamic change, external structural forces, and historical agency.

When examining early American history it is commonplace, besides in higher academia, to avoid the nuances of native and colonizer relations. The narrative becomes one of defeat wherein the only interaction to occur is one of native American’s constant loss to white colonizers. It is not to say that the European colonizers didn’t commit genocide, destroy the land and fabric of countless cultures, but rather when looking at history it is important to take a bottom’s up approach to storytelling. We must examine in what ways the native Americans fought English colonization, not just through war, but also through the legal system that was established after the area was colonized.

A little more than 35 years ago, a man named Jim Jones shocked the world when he led almost 1,000 of his followers in an act of mass suicide; amongst those dead were more than 270 children1. On November 18, 1978, Jones and his followers drank Kool-Aid laced with cyanide in what he had presented to them as a peaceful escape to injustices of this world. The Jonestown Massacre was an incredible tragedy that sent waves through the whole world. Though the event was tragic, scholars have used our knowledge of what happened in order to deepen our understanding of cults, religions, and how both can influence people’s decisions.

During the end of the nineteenth century, the United States had formed policies which reduced land allotted to Native Americans. By enforcing these laws as well as Anglo-American ideals, the United States compromised indigenous people’s culture and ability to thrive in its society.

at Wounded Knee 125 years ago, on Dec. 29, 1890, has been referred to as a tragedy, a battle, and most

One event brought death to over 225 Sioux Indians on December 29, 1890. The Sioux Indians were fighting against themselves until Wovoka created the Ghost Dance Ritual, which is for the peace of the Indians. Due to the frequent use of the rituals the Americans thought of it as a sign of hostility causing the Ghost Dance Wars. The Ghost Dance Wars caused the death of Sitting Bull which did lead to the start and finish of Wounded Knee Battle. The Battle of Wounded Knee lead to the end of the war, starting violence against the Indians, but lead to the Indians rights to return. The Battle of Wounded Knee, a horrific battle, ended The Ghost Dance Wars, and brought up A.I.M which helped the Sioux tribes gain their rights.

The existence of the Indian nations as distinct independent communities within the limits of the United States seems to be drawing to a close.... You are aware that our Brethren, the Choctaws, Chickasaws and Creeks of the South have severally disposed of their country to the United States and that a portion of our own Tribe have also emigrated West of the Mississippi--but that the largest portion of our Nation still remain firmly upon our ancient domain....Our position there may be compared to a solitary tree in an open space, where all the forest trees around have been prostrated by a furious

This tragic loss of Native American culture is heartbreaking even in today's society. As was ruefully stated by Native American chief Santana, "These soldiers cut down our timber, they kill my buffalo; and when I see that, my heart feels like bursting; I feel sorry." (Document G) Since its inception in 1776, the United States was known as one of the most prominent advocates for freedom and liberty. Its emphasis on liberty and equality results from this nation’s dedication to and founding upon the Christian proposition that all men are created equal by God. Yet if this was truly taken to heart, then why were they so hedonistic against the Native Americans? Tensions between the tribes and the citizens of America drastically increased over the years of Manifest Destiny. Expanding the boundaries of the United States was in many ways a cultural war. While the US fought with the natives, the real power struggle occurred within. "Controversy grew over Texas, its annexation, and its boundaries. Not all Congressmen wanted to add Texas to the US as fear of a potentially large slave territory threatened the balance of Congress" (Background Essay Adapted) The desire of southerners to find more lands suitable for cotton

The massacre at Wounded Knee was the last action in a long and bloody war that pitted Native American Indians against U.S Military forces. For roughly 300 years the two sides had been in constant conflict across America in a battle for land, resources, and ultimately; freedom. This final massacre solidified the American hold on the west and closed the final chapter on a way of life that can never be brought back. Lakota Indians, having learned of the death of Sitting Bull started to move towards Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in hopes of finding protection from Red Cloud. However, the harsh South Dakota winter weather had different plans, causing Chief Big Foot to become extremely ill. The Lakota came across cavalry forces

The Jacksonian Indian Policy that was supposed to turn the west into an area of self-sufficient, landowning farmer was soon overhauled… In the end, Judge Kent and Andrew Jackson,…helped impose a system of materialism, dependence and impersonal authority over other. Although this applied to white and Native Americans alike, it is once again the experience of the Native American that provides the most excruciating illustration of the effects of westward movement…” It is the Native Americans who had to contend with greedy as well as power hungry individuals in the government. The forced migration of the Natives west was the key Jackson needed to bolster economy and send more settles out into the country to gain more territory and grow the United

One cold night in 1864 the tribe leader my dad moved us to sand creek because we were attacked by the settlers we got moved to reservations.We knew we wouldn't survive there so we got moved to sand creek anyway back to the story.When we got to sand creek we were surprised how dirty it looked we had to set up our tepes so we did that while my dad talked to the mountain men. After, setting up our tepes we set up our trenches my dad came back looking happy he told us we got a place.We all shouted “hurra hurra”it was time to sleep everyone went to bed.When we woke up the next morning we smelt blood and

The book Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee was written by Dee Brown. Dee Brown wrote a handful of books and the central theme around those books were tales of Native Americans and civil war stories. He spent a long time studying different tribes all around the United States. He has brought out the voice of the Native Americans which was muffled and silenced by the army and government. This book brought much awareness to a cause many had forgotten about, and to the shock of many when they realized he was not a Native American. Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee tells the stories of many Native American tribes and their hardships when facing the government, army, and settlers. While reading this book, I came to quite a shock. I learned the point of view that was hidden in history books, the loss instead of the win, and the sadness felt throughout the book that made it unpleasant to read. I believe this book has brought to light the mistreatment of Native Americans in the past, the main hardships including countless false treaties, harsh treatments from the settlers, and the unjust massacres. I found this book to be quite a difficult read but incredibly worth it. It is written in such a manner that you feel immersed, you feel the all the emotions and imagine how everything came to be. It is figurative, but also incredibly factual. In the beginning of almost every chapter, before the actual start, there is small paragraph with the year and the events in that following year, a quote, or

Talking Back to Civilization , edited by Frederick E. Hoxie, is a compilation of excerpts from speeches, articles, and texts written by various American Indian authors and scholars from the 1890s to the 1920s. As a whole, the pieces provide a rough testimony of the American Indian during a period when conflict over land and resources, cultural stereotypes, and national policies caused tensions between Native American Indians and Euro-American reformers. This paper will attempt to sum up the plight of the American Indian during this period in American history.

Over the years, the idea of the western frontier of American history has been unjustly and falsely romanticized by the movie, novel, and television industries. People now believe the west to have been populated by gun-slinging cowboys wearing ten gallon hats who rode off on capricious, idealistic adventures. Not only is this perception of the west far from the truth, but no mention of the atrocities of Indian massacre, avarice, and ill-advised, often deceptive, government programs is even present in the average citizen’s understanding of the frontier. This misunderstanding of the west is epitomized by the statement, “Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis was as real as the myth of the west. The development of the west was, in

The worst mass murder suicide was the Jonestown Massacre which happened on November 18th, 1978. Have you ever head the saying “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid?” this originates for the Jonestown Massacre, which killed over 900 members of the Peoples Temple. James Jones made a concoction of a powered drink, like Kool-Aid mixed laced with cyanide and prescription drugs. James Jones used psychological manipulation instead of physical force with the members of Peoples Temple.