Welcome to the Oglala Nation

A Documentary Reader in Oglala Lakota Political History

Akim D. Reinhardt

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9780803268463
• eBook ISBN:
  9780803284340
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Social Sciences

Popular culture largely perceives the tragedy atWounded Knee in 1890 as the end of Native American resistance in the West, and for many years historians viewed this event as the end of Indian history altogether. The Dawes Act of 1887 and the reservation system dramatically changed daily life and political dynamics, particularly for the Oglala Lakotas. As Akim D. Reinhardt demonstrates in this volume, however, the twentieth century continued to be politically dynamic. Even today, as life continues for the Oglalas on the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota, politics remain an integral component of the Lakota past and future. Reinhardt charts the political history of the Oglala Lakota people from the fifteenth century to the present with this edited collection of primary documents, a historical narrative, and a contemporary bibliographic essay. Throughout the twentieth century, residents on Pine Ridge and other reservations confronted, resisted, and adapted to the continuing effects of U.S. colonialism. During the modern reservation era, reservation councils, grassroots and national political movements, courtroom victories and losses, and cultural battles have shaped indigenous populations. Both a documentary reader and a Lakota history, Welcome to the Oglala Nation is an indispensable volume on Lakota politics.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• A Note on Terminology
• Introduction
• Oglala Political History: An Overview
• Documents in Oglala Lakota Political History
• 1. Origins of the Očeti Sakowiŋ
• 2. Oglala Winter Counts
• 3. Jean-Baptiste Truteau Describes Lakota Politics and Expansion
• 4. Treaty with the Sioune and Oglala Tribes
• 5. Francis Parkman Observes an Oglala Political Meeting
• 6. Oglalas Meet with U.S. Officials
• 7. Second Treaty of Fort Laramie
• 8. Breaking Up the Great Sioux Reservation
• 9. Breaking Up Pine Ridge Reservation and Organizing Bennett County
• 10. Preamble to the Constitution and Bylaws of the Oglala Tribal Council
• 11. John Collier’s Plains Congress, Rapid City, South Dakota
• 12. The Indian Reorganization Act
• 13. Preamble to the Constitution and Bylaws of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota
• 14. Final Meeting of the Oglala Tribal Council
• 15. Oglala Sioux Tribal Council Resolution No. 1
• 16. Meetings of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council
• 17. Christianity and Politics on Pine Ridge Reservation
• 18. Initial Ordinances and Resolutions of Oglala Sioux Tribal Council
• 19. Early Ordinances and Resolutions of Oglala Sioux Tribal Council
• 20. Oglala Sioux Tribe Bans Display of “Uncivilized Practices”
• 21. Office of Indian Affairs Monitors the Cutting of Timber
• 22. Office of Indian Affairs Curtails Oglala Sioux Tribal Authority
• 23. Letters of Frank Ecoffey
• 24. Office of Indian Affairs Officials Suggest Forcing Pine Ridge Oglalas to Contribute to War Effort
• 25. Interior Secretary Harold Ickes Restricts Tribal Government Membership
• 26. Tribal Council Terminates the Tribal Buffalo Herd
• 27. Letter Granting Mr. and Mrs. Fast Horse Permission to Leave Pine Ridge Reservation
• 28. Resolution to Remove Pine Ridge Superintendent W. O. Roberts
• 29. Tribal Council Authorizes a Delegation to Washington DC
• 30. Porcupine District Council Demands a “White Man” as Farm Agent
• 31. Congress Authorizes Compensation for Gunnery Range Land Seizures
• 32. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Demands Greater Bureaucratic Efficiency
• 33. Edison Ward Interviews South Dakota State Attorney Robert Maule
• 34. Tribal President Johnson Holy Rock Interviewed
• 35. Former Tribal Council Member Thomas Conroy Interviewed
• 36. Future Tribal President Gerald One Feather Interviewed
• 37. Oglala Sioux Tribe Bill of Rights
• 38. Interior Department Certifies Pine Ridge Elections
• 39. Presidential Hopeful Robert Kennedy Visits Pine Ridge Reservation
• 40. Political Tensions on Pine Ridge Reservation
• 41. Tribal Council Attempts to Suspend the Tribal President and Vice President
• 42. Conflict on Pine Ridge Reservation
• 43. Tribal President Richard Wilson’s Inauguration
• 44. Tribal Council Seats Representative Kills Straight
• 45. Pine Ridge Superintendent Stanley Lyman Interviewed
• 46. Tribal President Richard Wilson’s Impeachment Hearing
• 47. Anti-Wilson Tribal Member Interviewed
• 48. A Tribal Policeman’s Observations of Pine Ridge Reservation
• 49. Tribal President Richard Wilson Discusses Pine Ridge Politics
• 50. Chuck Trimble Discusses the Current Political Situation
• 51. U.S. Civil Rights Commission Report on Pine Ridge Election
• 52. United States vs. Sioux Nation of Indians
• 53. President Bill Clinton Addresses Pine Ridge Reservation
• 54. Camp Justice Protests Alcohol Sales and Unsolved Murders at Whiteclay, Nebraska
• 55. Protests at Red Cloud Administration Building End
• 56. Tribal President Cecilia Fire Thunder Is Impeached
• 57. Federal Approval of Casino Gambling on Pine Ridge Reservation
• 58. Prairie Wind Casino Opens on Pine Ridge Reservation
• 59. Amendment to the Oglala Sioux Tribal Constitution
• 60. Oglala Sioux Tribe Debates Legalizing Alcohol on Pine Ridge Reservation
• Appendixes
• Notes
• Glossary and Pronunciation Guide
• Bibliographic Essay
• Index
• About Akim D. Reinhardt