South Dakota Application
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What is the responsibility of the government to
address and correct issues of injustice in South Dakota history?
Activities
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Have students the following picture from the
South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center:
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Museum of the South Dakota State Historical
Society, Pierre, SD |
Based on their interpretation of this picture,
have students speculate on the perception of South Dakota statehood to
the rest of the country in 1889.
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Have students read the following passage from
South Dakota: Compass American Guides, pgs. 179-182:
“In
the years immediately following the loss of the Black Hills to the
U.S. government, some Sioux leaders resisted removal of their people
to reservations and agencies which the treaties demanded. Big Foot,
knows to some as Spotted Elk, was a hereditary chief of the
Minniconjou Sioux of the Cheyenne River Reservation. Regarded as an
outstanding chief and a strong believer in the way of life the Indians
had known prior to the arrival of the whites, Big Foot eagerly
accepted the Ghost Dance religion, taught by Paiute religious leader
Wovoka. Big Foot encouraged his people to faithfully perform the
ceremony and in so doing rid themselves of white, welcome back their
departed warriors, and return to a way of life robbed from them over
time.
On
December 15, 1890, Sioux spiritual leader Sitting Bull was killed on
the Standing Rock Reservation in north-central South Dakota. As
tension mounted among Indians throughout South Dakota, Chief Big Foot
decided to leave his encampment on the shores of the Cheyenne River
and journey with his band to Pine Ridge, where he hoped to join Red
Cloud, another Lakota chieftain. En route, Big Foot was joined briefly
by more than 40 of Sitting Bull’s warriors who had fled Standing Rock
following the shooting of their leader. As he neared Wounded Knee in
the dead of winter, the exhaustion, cold, and the 150-mile (240-km)
trek had clearly taken a toll on his band of followers – 350 men,
women, and children.
On
December 28, Maj. Samuel Whitside and about 200 members of the Seventh
Calvary (the same regiment wiped out as the Battle of Little Bighorn
in 1876) caught up with Big Foot’s band and escorted them into camp
along Wounded Knee Creek. Whitside and his officers made plans to
disarm the Indians the next morning, take many of the warriors
prisoner, and transport them to Omaha, Nebraska, for detainment.
Suffering from pneumonia and exhaustion Big Foot willingly acceded to
the demands.
The
next morning, December 29, 1890, the army of 500 surrounded the Indian
camp. At its center, a white flag hoisted a sign of peace, while Big
Foot lay in a heated tent. Though the Indians were ordered to give up
their weapons, only a few guns were surrendered, so officers began
searching tepees. This alarmed the Indians and in the commotion, a
shot was fired. Soldiers responded with a barrage of bullets, killings
nearly half of the warriors in the first round of the gunfire. Then
the Hotchkiss guns opened up, firing on the Indian camp. In only a few
minutes, about 200 Indians were dead. Bodies of unarmed women and
children were found as far as three miles (5 km) from the initial
confrontation, shot down as they ran for their lives across the
plains. Twenty-five of the military were killed. Big Foot was shot
down in the first volley, his body photographed for posterity. (He was
buried in a mass grave with the other victims of the Massacre at
Wounded Knee). That night, a sudden blizzard passed through, covering
the bodies in a thick blanket of snow.
In
the following days, newspapers and government officials referred to
the confrontation as a “battle”, but it was none other than wholesale
slaughter. Within a year, the army had awarded 23 Medals of Honor to
members of the Seventh Calvary for “valor” shown in the carnage. But
there was no cover-up of this affair. Even whites were incensed, and
from this point on, the systematic extermination of the Indian people
ended. With the earlier deaths of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, and
the final tragedy at Wounded Knee, settlement of the last true
frontier in the West was assured. The blood in the snow at Wounded
Knee melted in the spring of 1891, and as it thawed and ran across the
prairie in a thousand rivulets, it carried with it a way of life for
the American Indian.”
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Have students study the picture (from the South
Dakota Cultural Heritage Center) of the Wounded Knee battle site. In
a one-page response, have the students respond to the use of the
word “battle” vs. “massacre”. Are there other examples from the
history of the United States where the use of these terms may be
determined by the point of view of the historian? What can be done
at a local, state, and/or national level to address and correct such
injustices of the past?
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Review and discuss the Reconciliation video by
Governor Mickelson.
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Review and respond to the video clip of the
Governor Art Awards of 1984 (Kevin Locke)
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