Move N.A. west of Mississippi River- “One Big Reservation”
1850s- Concentration Policy- definite boundaries for tribes as American settlers sought western lands
1860s- Small Reservations- Dakota Territory and Oklahoma
1887- Dawes Act- DIVIDE and assimilate (end tribal way of life)
1934- Indian Reorganization Act- stress tribal unity and autonomy
Movie begins with Battle of Little Bighorn June 25, 1876 Gold seekers and US Army had entered Sioux lands General Custer is defeated- “massacre”
Different perspectives Those resisting assimilation, those that are products of
assimilation, American policy makers, Americans hoping to help Americans on the reservations
Battle of Wounded Knee December 29, 1890 Ended Ghost Dance movement and armed Sioux
resistance
SITTING BULL
Sioux holy man Defeated Custer at
Battle of LBH Resists submission to
US government policies that are designed to break up their way of life
Participated in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows
RED CLOUD
Sioux Chief Resisted American
pressures- both violently and diplomatically
HENRY DAWES
US Senator Dawes Act!!
CHARLES EASTMAN
Sioux doctor who is shown as proof of the alleged success of assimilation
ELAINE GOODALE EASTMAN
Schoolteacher who works to better conditions for Native Americans on the reservation
WOVOKA
Inspires Sioux with Ghost Dance Set of dances and rites that
would bring back N.A. lands, way of life and cause the whites to disappear
DATE EVENT 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty 1863 “Red Cloud’s War” 1868 Treaty of 1868 1874 Lt. Col. George A. Custer leads a party
into the Black Hills. Gold is discovered. 1875 Gold rush begins in the Black Hills. 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn. 1877 Sitting Bull flees to Canada. Crazy
Horse surrenders and is killed at Fort Robinson, Nebraska.
1883 Sitting Bull returns to Standing Rock Agency.
1887 The Dawes Act is created. 1889 Wovoka, a prophet and visionary of the
Paiute, has his great vision.
1890 April/May: A delegation of Lakota representatives returns from meeting Wovoka and begins to teach the Spirit (Ghost) Dance.
August/September: Newspaper reporters begin coverage of the
“Ghost Dance”, presenting it as a focal point for an Indian uprising. White settlers are alarmed.
October: The Spirit Dance is introduced at Standing Rock Agency.
November: President Benjamin Harrison orders the military to take control of the Lakota reservations.
December 15: The Agent at Standing Rock Agency, James McLaughlin, sends Indian police to arrest Sitting Bull. Sitting Bull is killed.
December 16: Big Foot, leader of a Minneconjou band on the Cheyenne River Reservation, is ordered arrested as a troublemaker.
December 21: Big Foot learns of the death of Sitting Bull. December 23: Big Foot’s band begins a flight to Pine Ridge Agency. December 28: The band is intercepted by Maj. Samuel Whiteside
and the 7th Cavalry. The band is escorted to a camp site on Wounded Knee Creek.
December 29: Forsyth decides to disarm the Lakota. A shot is fired, and the massacre begins. Up to 300 Lakota men, women, and children are killed.
1891 January 1: A burial party returns to the site of the massacre.
They bury 146 Lakota bodies in a mass grave.
From: Wounded Knee Museum
Describe different perspectives Legislation and events Various attempts at solutions for Native
Americans and US