Wounded Knee Research Paper

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Wounded Knee 1973 occurred when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The protest preceded the failure of an effort of the Oglala Civil Rights Organization to impeach tribal president Richard Wilson, whom they accused of corruption and abuse of opponents. Additionally, protesters attacked the United States government's failure to fulfill treaties with Native people and demanded the reopening of treaty negotiations. The beginning What began on February 27, 1973 in Wounded Knee South Dakota was not a spontaneous eruption of anger and hostility. As the site of a famous massacre of approximately 300…show more content…
The sacredness of Native lands is what had caused Natives to choose sides in the revolution, and again what has brought on this particular occupation. Again, much like in the time before 1973, different tribes banded together in order to symbolically take Wounded Knee, whom they believed rightfully belonged to the Oglala Sioux Nation. But the American government was not going to let such a siege wage on, so for the 71 days that the natives occupied Wounded Knee, they traded fire with the National Guard and Federal Marshals. To finally end the siege, federal officials cut off water and electricity to the town and attempted to stop supplies of food and ammunition to the occupiers. To the media, this once again looked like the original Wounded Knee massacre of 1890 when U.S. infantry slaughtered 200-300 Lakota peoples. However the end of the Wounded Knee occupation was not the end of trouble. Even after the siege had ended a war still continued between the Oglala people and Wilson. Wilson’s Guardians of the Oglala Nations or Goons attacked political opponents in 1974 when he re-ran for election. While dozens of members of AIM had turned of dead (Calloway, 2012). While Wounded Knee did not bring about quick reform, it did draw mass media attention to the plight of Native

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