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1890: The Battle of Wounded Knee

1890: The Battle of Wounded Knee. A slaughter of 300 unarmed Native Americans (Sioux) by US Army cannon fire at a camp at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota Brought the Indian Wars to a bitter end. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

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1890: The Battle of Wounded Knee

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  1. 1890: The Battle of Wounded Knee • A slaughter of 300 unarmed Native Americans (Sioux) by US Army cannon fire at a camp at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota • Brought the Indian Wars to a bitter end

  2. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) • 1824 , created as part of the War Department –to solve the “Indian problem” through military means • 1849 made a part of the newly created Department of Interior

  3. WHAT IS ??????????????? • 1924 • Granted citizenship to all Native Americans • but they remained treated as second class citizens

  4. 1924 : Snyder Act • Granted citizenship to all Native Americans • but they remained treated as second class citizens

  5. WHAT IS ??????????????? • 1934 • Changed federal policy from assimilation toward Native American autonomy • US government wanted to stop subsidizing the reservations • Took place during The Great Depression

  6. 1934 : Indian Reorganization Act • Changed federal policy from assimilation toward Native American autonomy • US government wanted to stop subsidizing the reservations • Took place during The Great Depression

  7. 1887 – 1934 • For approximately 45 years US Native American policy emphasized “Americanization” and assimilation.

  8. WHAT IS ??????????????? • 1944 • Goals : • Ensure Native American civil rights • Enable Native Americans on reservations to retain their own customs

  9. 1944:National Congress of American Indians • Goals : • Ensure Native American civil rights • Enable Native Americans on reservations to retain their own customs

  10. 1945 - 1953 • After World War II tribal lands taken to exploit the deposits of oil, minerals, and timber

  11. WHAT IS ??????????????? • 1953 • Eliminated all federal economic support to the Native Americans • Discontinued the Reservation system by distributing land to individuals • Voluntary relocation program to the cities • Policy failed miserably

  12. 1953: Termination Policy • Eliminated all federal economic support to the Native Americans • Discontinued the Reservation system by distributing land to individuals • Voluntary relocation program to the cities • Policy failed miserably

  13. WHAT IS ??????????????? • 1961 • Called for an end to the termination program • Called for new government policies to create economic opportunities for Native Americans on their reservations

  14. 1961: Declaration of Indian Purpose • Called for an end to the termination program • Called for new government policies to create economic opportunities for Native Americans on their reservations

  15. WHAT IS ??????????????? • 1968 • Militant Native American rights organization • Demanded restoration of Native American lands, burial grounds, and fishing and timber rights

  16. 1968 : American Indian Movement AIM • Militant Native American rights organization • Demanded restoration of Native American lands, burial grounds, and fishing and timber rights

  17. WHAT IS ??????????????? • 1969 • 18 month long occupation of the island Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay • Reclaiming the island as Native American land • Demanded that an Indian university and cultural center be established on the site • Demands rejected until June 1971 when the police removed the few remaining occupiers

  18. 1969 : Alcatraz Occupation • 18 month long occupation of the island Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay • Reclaiming the island as Native American land • Demanded that an Indian university and cultural center be established on the site • Demands rejected until June 1971 when the police removed the few remaining occupiers

  19. Results of the Alcatraz Protest • Focused public attention on the plight of Native Americans • President Nixon returned Blue Lake and 48,000 acres to the Taos Indians • Forced US government to change its centuries old policies of repression and neglect

  20. WHAT IS ??????????????? • 1972 • Protest march in Washington ,D.C. of the U.S. government’s treaty violations throughout history • Demanded Restoration of Indian land and abolition of BIA which they believed was corrupt • Occupied BIA building • Caused $2 million in property damage

  21. 1972: Trail of Broken Treaties • Protest march in Washington ,D.C. of the U.S. government’s treaty violations throughout history • Demanded Restoration of Indian land and abolition of BIA which they believed was corrupt • Occupied BIA building • Caused $2 million in property damage

  22. WHAT IS ??????????????? • 1973 • AIM led 200 Sioux in a protest involving seizing the town and taking hostages • Protesting against both tribal leadership and federal policies • Tense negotiations with FBI and a shootout that killed two Native Americans • Government promised to reexamine Native American treaty rights

  23. 1973: Wounded Knee Occupation • AIM led 200 Sioux in a protest involving seizing the town and taking hostages • Protesting against both tribal leadership and federal policies • Tense negotiations with FBI and a shootout that killed two Native Americans • Government promised to reexamine Native American treaty rights

  24. Native American Victories of 1970’s • Taos regain possession of lands (1970) • Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (1971) • Indian Education Act ( 1972) • Indian Self-Determination Act (1975) • Legal recognition of tribal lands • Financial compensation

  25. 1990’s • Established thriving gaming resorts for greater economic independence • Reservation gaming = $10 billion a year industry by 2000 • Use of courts to attain greater recognition of their tribal ancestry and land rights

  26. Leonard Peltier • 1975 Pine Ridge Reservation – S.D. • Firefight between FBI agents and AIM activists • 2 FBI agents and 1 AIM activist killed • Peltier and others flee • Chairman of Pine Ridge Tribal Council signs a secret agreement transferring 1/8 of the P.R. reservation to the federal government – lands rich in uranium • 1976 Peltier arrested • 1977 Peltier convicted and sentenced to 2 life terms

  27. Anna Mae Aquash • AIM activist • FBI threatens Anna Mae with death unless she gives false testimony against Peltier and others from AIM. She refuses. • Feb.1976: unidentified body found on Pine Ridge Reservation ; coroner reports the victim died of exposure to cold;her hands are cut off and sent to the FBI headquarters in Washington DC for "positive identification", while they could easily have taken her fingerprints on the scene; identified as Anna Mae Aquash • Mar. 1976 : Anna Mae's family has her body exhumed ; A new coroner discovers she had been shot in the back of the head at close range. • Her death, shortly before her expected appearance at upcoming trials of Peltier and the others, leaves a mystery being actively explored to this very day.

  28. 1887 – 1934 • For approximately 45 years US Native American policy emphasized “Americanization” and assimilation.

  29. 1945 - 1953 • After World War II tribal lands taken to exploit the deposits of oil, minerals, and timber

  30. Results of the Alcatraz Protest • Focused public attention on the plight of Native Americans • President Nixon returned Blue Lake and 48,000 acres to the Taos Indians • Forced US government to change its centuries old policies of repression and neglect

  31. Native American Victories of 1970’s • Taos regain possession of lands (1970) • Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (1971) • Indian Education Act ( 1972) • Indian Self-Determination Act (1975) • Legal recognition of tribal lands • Financial compensation

  32. 1990’s • Established thriving gaming resorts for greater economic independence • Reservation gaming = $10 billion a year industry by 2000 • Use of courts to attain greater recognition of their tribal ancestry and land rights

  33. 26 June 1975: Two FBI agents in unmarked cars, drive at full-speed into the Jumping Bull property on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. A firefight erupts between the intruding unidentified agents and the AIM activists.The two FBI agents and one AIM activist die during the fierce hours-long firefight. Leonard Peltier and more than two dozen others manage to flee the property and escape. Meanwhile, the chairman of the Pine Ridge tribal council, Dick Wilson signs a secret agreement transferring one-eighth of the Pine Ridge Reservation to the federal government - lands rich in uranium and other minerals. • July 1975: Following the escape of the AIM activists from the Jumping Bull property, the FBI stages a massive manhunt for the escapees, terrorizing the Pine Ridge traditional community.

  34. August 1975: Leonard Peltier escaping across the Canadian border and winning refuge with a remote group of First Nation people in the Rocky Mountains. • 5 September 1975: In the midst of a new flurry of unexplained murders of AIM members and supporters, the FBI raids the home of medicine man Leonard Crow Dog, spiritual leader of the Wounded Knee takeover, and arrests Darrel "Dino" Butler - another escapee from the Oglala firefight - along with Crow Dog himself and AIM activist Anna Mae Aquash. Neither of the latter were at the Oglala firefight. The FBI threatens Anna Mae with death unless she gives false testimony against Peltier and others from AIM. She refuses. • 25 November 1975: Four men are indicted by a federal grand jury for their alleged role in the deaths of the two FBI agents. The four are: Leonard Peltier, Bob Robideau, Dino Butler, and Jimmy Eagle.

  35. 6 February 1976: Peltier is arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in western Canada. He is held under maximum security at Oakalla Prison in Vancouver, British Columbia, while lengthy extradition hearings are held. • From 1972 to 1976, the Oglala Lakota people witnessed the outright murders of over 500 tribal members on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Today, the FBI admits that there are over 60 unsolved political murders remaining from the 1970s. Members from the FBI's private army, better known to us as the GOON squad on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation during this era, have admitted that they were supplied with intelligence, guns and ammunition by the FBI...

  36. 24 February 1976: The decomposed body of "Jane Doe" is found in a gulley on Pine Ridge. The BIA coroner reports the victim died of exposure to cold. Her hands are cut off and sent to the FBI headquarters in Washington DC for "positive identification", while they could easily have taken her fingerprints on the scene. • 5 March 1976: "Jane Doe" is identified by the FBI as Anna Mae Aquash, the AIM activist who had refused, despite FBI death threats, to give false testimony against AIM. • 11 March 1976: Anna Mae Aquash's family has her body exhumed from Pine Ridge burial. A new coroner discovers she had been shot in the back of the head at close range. Her death, shortly before her expected appearance at upcoming trials of Peltier and the others, leaves a mystery being actively explored to this very day.

  37. 31 March 1976: Still trying to find convincing evidence of Peltier's guilt so as to gain his extradition from Canada, FBI agents show photographs of Anna Mae's severed hands to a confused Native American woman, Myrtle Poor Bear, telling her both she and her daughter face a similar fate unless she co-operates. Under duress, she signs an affidavit the FBI wrote for her stating that she is Peltier's girlfriend - though she had never met him - and also claims she saw him shoot the agents - though, as the FBI knew, she was never there. This affidavit and other fabricated information convince the Canadian courts there is enough evidence to extradite Peltier. He is ordered extradited but his appeals keep him in Canada until December. • 16 December 1976: Peltier is extradited from Canada to the USA on the basis of false testimony fabricated by the FBI. Under massive security, he is flown from Vancouver to Rapid City, SD.

  38. 16 March 1977: Trial of Leonard Peltier on double murder charges begins in Fargo, North Dakota. Government manipulations transfer the trial from Cedar Rapids, IA to a site renowned for anti-Indian sentiment. Judge Benson rules all evidence must be limited to events of the day of the shootout: June 26, 1975. No mention is allowed of the Reign of Terror preceding the shootout at Pine Ridge, nor of Myrtle Poor Bear's false affidavits; nor of the FBI intimidation and coercion of witnesses, nor of most of the evidence that had led to the acquittal by reason of self-defense of Robideau & Butler (two other AIM members involved in the shootout). The judge declares: "The FBI is not on trial here". Peltier is not permitted to claim "self-defense". In a shocking and flagrant display of American Injustice, virtually all exculpatory evidence is hidden from the defense or ruled inadmissible.

  39. 18 April 1977: An all-white jury, after 8 hours of deliberation, convicts Leonard Peltier of the direct murder of the two FBI agents. • 2 June 1977: Peltier is sentenced to two consecutive life terms in federal prison. After a stint at Leavenworth, Kansas, he is sent to Marion Maximum Security Penitentiary in Illinois.

  40. 5 March 1979: The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to review Peltier's case. • June 1985: Peltier is transferred to USP Leavenworth in Kansas. • 11 September 1986: Peltier's conviction is affirmed by the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, despite acknowledgement of clear FBI misconduct. • Leonard Peltier has been imprisoned now for 23 long, hard years--for defending the people on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota during an FBI-backed reign of terror after the armed occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973.

  41. Edgar Bear Runner read a statement on behalf of the people from Pine Ridge at a 1999 rally to free Peltier which said in part: "Because of Leonard's known advocacy and support for human rights, indigenous sovereignty, justice and resistance against total U.S. colonization of indigenous peoples of America he certainly was punished for it and continues to suffer today at the hands of ongoing U.S. oppression. His 1976 federal conviction and 200 year sentence speaks for itself. Anybody who stands up for their rights can face the risk of also being framed and imprisoned like Leonard Peltier.The FBI willfully, knowingly and unconditionally committed acts of aggression, governmental misconduct, crimes against humanity, peace and the dignity of mankind, fabrication of a felony extradition, perjury against traditional oriented individuals and activists from the Oglala Lakota Nation.”

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