Rebellions Against the United States Codexery

Wounded Knee Occupation

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Activists protested tribal chairman Richard Wilson's administration and the federal government's failure to honor treaties.[1] Frank Clearwater died on April 25, 1973, and Lawrence "Buddy" Lamont was killed on April 26, 1973; following these deaths, both parties consented to disarmament on May 5.[2][3]

Life and work

On the Pine Ridge Reservation, internal tensions grew over difficult conditions and the autocratic rule of Chairman Richard Wilson, elected in 1972.[1] Historian Akim Reinhardt attributes the occupation more to internal ethnic and cultural tensions than to AIM's arrival.[4] On February 27, 1973, about 200 armed AIM members took over Wounded Knee at gunpoint, demanding Wilson's removal and treaty talks.[5] AIM leaders Dennis Banks and Russell Means were indicted, but their 1974 case was dismissed for prosecutorial misconduct.[6]

Termination policies led to poverty and unemployment, and by 1968 the American Indian Movement (AIM) had been established in Minneapolis, an urban center.[7] Dennis Banks and Russell Means frequently spoke to journalists during the takeover, using media coverage to communicate their objectives to the broader U.S. population.[8] Wilson remained tribal chairman and won re-election in 1974, despite accusations of voter intimidation and fraudulent practices.[9]

What the cited sources add

According to FBI documents, an unidentified witness told agents that Robinson was tortured and murdered within the AIM perimeter and his remains buried in the hills.[10] One witness told agents that AIM leader Vernon Bellecourt expressed knowledge of Robinson being killed during the occupation.[10] Robinson, a father of three from Alabama, traveled to South Dakota in April 1973 to stand alongside Native Americans.[10] A 2009 article notes that Harlington Wood Jr., assistant attorney general, became the first government official to enter Wounded Knee without a military escort on March 13.[11][12]

Wood was the chief government negotiator during the 71-day siege at Wounded Knee.[12] He is credited as the "icebreaker" between the government and AIM, though exhaustion made him too ill to conclude the negotiation.[11] A 2022 Guardian article states that FBI documents indicate the bureau suspects that members of the American Indian Movement killed black civil rights activist Ray Robinson during the occupation.[10]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Wounded Knee Occupation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Crow Dog, "Lakota Woman", Grove Weidenfeld, 1990 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Wounded Knee Occupation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Marshal Wounded", Spokane Daily Chronicle, March 27, 1973 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Wounded Knee Occupation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Abourezk, "Wounded Knee, 1973 Series", University of South Dakota Special Collections; "Wounded Knee Information Booklet", American Indian Movement, p. 10–18; Churchill, "Agents of Repression", South End Press, 1988; "Wounded Knee", PBS American Experience; Abourezk, "Wounded Knee, 1973 Series", University of South Dakota Special Collections; "Wounded Knee Information Booklet", American Indian Movement, p. 10–18 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Wounded Knee Occupation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Reinhardt, "Ruling Pine Ridge: Oglala Lakota Politics from the IRA to Wounded Knee", Texas Tech University Press, 2007; Reinhardt, "Ruling Pine Ridge: Oglala Lakota Politics from the IRA to Wounded Knee", Texas Tech University Press, 2007 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Wounded Knee Occupation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: O’Neil, Floyd A. “Wounded Knee 1973 - A Personal Account by Stanley David Lyman” University of Nebraska Press, 1991, p. xxiii (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Wounded Knee Occupation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: News transcript., "Dennis Banks and Russell Means Cleared of Charges", NBCLearn K-12, September 16, 1974 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Wounded Knee Occupation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Glenn, "Settler Colonialism as Structure: A Framework for Comparative Studies of U.S. Race and Gender Formation", Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, January 2015, p. 52–72; Weeks, ""They Made Us Many Promises": The American Indian Experience 1524 to the Present", John Wiley & Sons., 2014, p. 196–197; Ramirez, Renya K. (2007). Native Hubs. Durham & London: Duke University Press. p. 177. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Wounded Knee Occupation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: James Parsons, "AIM Indians with ’story to tell’ made Wounded Knee the medium" , Minneapolis Tribune, March 25, 1973, posted again on Tribune blog, 2007. Retrie (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Wounded Knee Occupation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ward Churchill, From a Native Son: Selected Essays on Indigenism, 1985–1995, South End Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. 256–260.; staff, "Accounting For Native American Deaths, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota", Federal Bureau of Investigation Minneapolis Division, May 2000; Matthiessen, "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse", Penguin Books, 1992 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Lammers, "FBI suspects militant Native Americans killed black civil rights activist in 1973", The Guardian, February 19, 2022. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
  11. Wikipedia, "Wounded Knee Occupation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Weber, "Harlington Wood Jr., 88, Siege Negotiator, Is Dead", New York Times, January 18, 2009; Pokorski, "Petersburg judge to receive honor for legal career", The State Journal-Register (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Pokorski, "Petersburg judge to receive honor for legal career", The State Journal-Register. facts only, no text reused. abrahamlincolnonline.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Wounded Knee Occupation (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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