Walking Together : Past, Present, and Future (Part 2)
Heart Of All Oral History Project
Earlier in the project, we heard that the tree was the first and most important symbol ever to be taught when we were young. In learning about it, we would find guidance on how to live a good life and where we should look to remain firmly grounded. Episode 7 Part 2 starts with a new and strikingly different perspective on our relative the tree by recent Little Wound graduate Pte San Win Little Whiteman. The next section turns to a discussion of the contemporary challenges facing our Lakota Oyate. This includes the issues of language revitalization, racism, mining, Missing and Murdered...
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Walking Together : Past, Present, and Future (Part 1)
Heart Of All Oral History Project
Episode 7 of our series is the culmination of our project and also its ending point. Over the past two-plus years, we have done our best to put together a detailed look at the story of the Lakota Oyate - from origin stories to time before contact with Europeans; from feelings of wonder at the new arrivals to fatal clashes over land and resources; from supposed agreements to genocidal attacks on us, our relative tatanka, our language, and our way of life; from standing up for who we are to finally having our voices heard. In this final episode, we will take a different look at the past to...
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A New Day : Education to Repatriation (Part 2)
Heart Of All Oral History Project
The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty created the “Great Sioux Reservation” - comprising the western part of South Dakota including He Sapa - which was to be reserved exclusively for the “absolute and undisturbed use and occupation” of the Sioux Nation. By 1877, after the discovery of gold by George Armstrong Custer’s sanctioned expedition, this treaty was swiftly broken when the Black Hills were confiscated by the U.S. Congress. Episode 6 Part 2 begins with a detailed explanation of the cases related to the Black Hills land claim that culminated in 1980’s United States v. Sioux Nation...
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A New Day : Education to Repatriation (Part 1)
Heart Of All Oral History Project
Episode 6 of our series explores some of the major changes that came about starting in the 1970s - most of them policy changes - that were signs of brighter days ahead. While we heard many times that these new policies would take quite awhile to have an actual impact, they still represent something to celebrate, as all progress should be celebrated. The first section of Part 1 looks at changes within the field of education following the 1972 Indian Education Act and 1975’s Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. The second section covers the 1978 American Indian Religious...
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Dawn : Relocation and Occupation
Heart Of All Oral History Project
Episode 5 of our series focuses on the 1973 Occupation of Wounded Knee by the American Indian Movement(AIM). It starts with a segment about how Wounded Knee, a place of incredible historical importance, got its name. We then turn to a discussion of Termination policy which “eliminated much government support for Indian tribes and ended the protected trust status of all Indian-owned lands.” The focus here is the process of Relocation where it was hoped our relatives would assimilate into mainstream American society. The next three parts of this episode look at the event that some people...
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Darkest Night : Pine Ridge to Bombing Range (Part 2)
Heart Of All Oral History Project
Episode 4 Part 2 starts with a discussion of the 1883 Code of Indian Offenses that was introduced in Episode 3. Clinton writes, “[It] was not an early criminal code for Indian Reservations…but, rather, the clearest evidence of a deliberate federal policy of ethnocide - the deliberate extermination of another culture.” We then move on to the issue of land, namely some of the ways that Lakota territory continued to be whittled away after the creation of the Pine Ridge Reservation in its current form. The next segment turns to the so-called “Indian New Deal” which was a response to the...
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Darkest Night : Pine Ridge to Bombing Range (Part 1)
Heart Of All Oral History Project
Episode 4 of our series picks up after the Dawes General Allotment Act of 1887 which, along with the 1883 Code of Indian Offenses, dramatically marked the U.S. federal government’s new policy of forced assimilation against its indigenous people. Part 1 of the episode begins with the 1889 establishment of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, a much-diminished version of the Great Sioux Reservation established under the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. The next segment starts our discussion of the worst “mass shooting” in American history - the Wounded Knee Massacre of December 29th, 1890....
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The Next Day : Arrival to Dawes (Part 2)
Heart Of All Oral History Project
Episode 3 Part 2 starts with George Custer’s foray into He Sapa just four years after the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty recognized it as part of the Great Sioux Reservation, which had been created for the Lakota’s exclusive use. It goes on to discuss the “Sell or Starve” rider to the 1876 Indian Appropriations Act and the rider to the 1877 Indian Appropriations Act that seized the Black Hills in direct contradiction to the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty. After looking at creation of the White Clay Extension, we highlight the inception of the 1883 Code of Indian Offenses, which forcefully...
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The Next Day : Arrival to Dawes (Part 1)
Heart Of All Oral History Project
Episode 3 of our series continues to explore the story of the Lakota which became much more complicated with the arrival of Europeans to Keya Wita. Part 1 of the episode begins an in-depth look at the process of colonization that can be said to have started with the Doctrine of Discovery. After investigating our first interactions with European migrants as well as the intermarriage that followed, it discusses the notion of Manifest Destiny and its entrenchment in U.S. federal policy. It then turns to the so-called “Indian Wars” and the Fort Laramie Treaties which happened amidst the great...
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Buffalo Nation : Before Contact
Heart Of All Oral History Project
Episode 2 of our series explores who we were as part of the Pte Oyate, or Buffalo Nation, before contact with non-indigenous people. It starts with a segment that highlights our close relationship with Unci Maka, or Grandmother Earth, from which came much of what we knew and how we lived as a people. The next section looks at the role of the Lakota language not only as a means of communication but as an important tool for the transmission of values and even identity. The next, longer part investigates many facets of Lakota society which allowed us and the rest of the Oceti Sakowin to survive...
info_outlineEpisode 3 of our series continues to explore the story of the Lakota which became much more complicated with the arrival of Europeans to Keya Wita.
Part 1 of the episode begins an in-depth look at the process of colonization that can be said to have started with the Doctrine of Discovery. After investigating our first interactions with European migrants as well as the intermarriage that followed, it discusses the notion of Manifest Destiny and its entrenchment in U.S. federal policy. It then turns to the so-called “Indian Wars” and the Fort Laramie Treaties which happened amidst the great flood of government-defended newcomers. Among other things, we discuss the gold rushes, the Homestead Act, and the creation of the transcontinental railroad.
On the other hand, we also remember the “Great Dying,” the Trail of Tears, the so-called Sioux Uprising, Red Cloud’s War, and what many historians have called the Battles of Blue Water and the Washita. Lastly, this part ends with a discussion of the U.S. government’s “trust responsibility” to its indigenous people.