Wounded Knee Siege of 1973
The Wounded Knee Siege officially began on February 27th, 1973, but the minds behind the siege came together years before this. The American Indian Movement (AIM) originally formed in 1968 to protest the police’s mistreatment of Indians in Minneapolis. Over the next five years, AIM would grow more prominent and successful due to their bold protests and activist leaders. Over two hundred AIM members would go on to participate in the Wounded Knee Siege.
In 1972, Dennis Banks and Leonard Peltier, two leaders of AIM, helped the group reach one of their biggest successes. A group of young white men murdered a Sioux Indian named Yellow Thunder, and the AIM’s persistence led to a six year prison sentence for the young men. Even though six years was not ordinarily a severe sentence for a murder charge, it was considered a victory for AIM considering that the justice system was generally biased against Native Americans. Not everyone appreciated the work done by AIM. Many traditional and old-fashioned Indian leaders considered them to be “too radical,” because of their public and showy protests.
In the winter of 1973, tensions rose at the Pine Ridge Reservation in Wounded Knee, South Dakota. The Oglala Sioux tribe felt that they were being ignored by their corrupt tribal government, but their tribal chairman Dick Wilson would do nothing to help them. Knowing about AIM and their prominence, the Oglala tribe reached out to them in hopes of receiving their support. Dick Wilson, feeling threatened by AIM, turned to the FBI and U.S Marshals for help.
As the Oglala tribe had hoped, AIM arrived at Wounded Knee, which they chose because of its historical significance (it had been the site of a Sioux massacre in 1890), on February 27th, 1973. The siege lasted 71 days and consisted of gunfire almost every night. Hundreds of arrests were made, and two Sioux Indians were killed. On May 8th, a negotiation was made between AIM and the federal government, and this was considered one of AIM’s greatest successes. Because of FBI corruption during the investigation of the siege, every AIM member who was arrested was acquitted.
The Wounded Knee Siege succeeded in alerting people all over America of the problems and persecution that Native Americans faced.
Bibliography
"Wounded Knee." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.
Landry, Alysa. "Native History: AIM Occupation of Wounded Knee Begins."Native History. N.p., 27 Feb. 2014. Web.
"1973: Siege at Wounded Knee." 1973: Siege at Wounded Knee. N.p., 19 Sept. 2006. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.