The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (Wazí Aháŋhaŋ Oyáŋke in Lakota) is an Oglala Sioux Native American reservation in South Dakota.
The Reservation, which was originally called the Great Sioux Reservation by white settlers, was established with the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 and encompassed roughly 60 million acres. However, the U.S. government violated the treaty in 1876 by opening up 7.7 million acres to homesteaders and private interests.
In 1890, the U.S. 7th Cavalry killed more than 300 men, women and children, near Wounded Knee Creek, who were trying to get to Pine Ridge. The massacre has come to be known as the Wounded Knee Massacre.
In the 1970s, the reservation was the site of a 71-day-stand-off between American Indian Movement (AIM) activists and FBI Agents and the National Guard. AIM was lead by Dennis Banks and Russell Means. Two FBI agents were killed and two Oglala Lakotas were killed.
Minnesota Public Radio’s Kevin McKiernan was inside the Pine Ridge Reservation when the firefight broke out. MPR also covered the trial of the AIM leaders and other issues surrounding the reservation.
For additional resources, please search the Minnesota Historical Society collections.
February 28, 1974 - In court this afternoon: Gary Thomas' testimony. Thomas is the OEO lawyer from Pine Ridge. Arguments were made over his testimony from last Feb. 27. Thomas' testimony was ruled admissible. Thomas described what he saw and heard at Wounded Knee, which included: Weapons, indian head dresses, and gunfire. On Feb 28 1973 Thomas said he'd been told he had 10 to 12 hrs to leave reservation or he'd be killed. Outside court, attorney Mark Lane says Thomas that had witnessed an assault on Russell Means by two goons in a parking lot, is their strongest evidence.
February 28, 1974 - A memorial for original Wounded Knee Massacre and recent standoff a year ago was held. A speech was given by Gladys Bissinet. Invocations were in the Lakota language, with a tribute to Frank Clearwater and Buddy Lamont. A Pow wow was held. Many attending had been in original occupation, and cars had bumper stickers with: 'Survivors: Wounded Knee, 1973'. Speeches from reservations leaders were also given. Gladys Bissinett: "Today is a big day for the Oglala. They have tried to keep us down like our ancestors when they unarmed them and mowed them down like they were animals. We stood up a year ago today on our own reservation. We know lives haven't been laid down in vain. We have stood up for each and every Indian in the U.S." Supplemental police were on hand but weren't needed, as it was quiet and peaceful vigil.
March 1, 1974 - Mother of Dennis Banks says a prayer on behalf of the women of Wounded Knee.
March 4, 1974 - Richard Banks and Russell Means are the first of six AIM leaders to be tried in St. Paul on felony indictments stemming from last year's 71 day occupation. The so-called Non-Leadership Case is scheduled for trial in South Dakota may number at least 130. On the stand today for his 2nd day of testimony is government witness Father Charles Manheart, pastor of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Wounded Knee.
March 8, 1974 - AIM leader Russell Means speaks in Moorhead on the Wounded Knee occupation and recent Pine Ridge election, of which he lost to Richard Wilson. He says Wilson committed election violations, and will ask federal court to order a new election. When asked to comment on his trial now underway in St. Paul for his part in the Wounded Knee occupation, Means says he has confidence in the jury to get a fair trial, but is worried about the judge, who claims to be a liberal from South Dakota. Means says: "To be a liberal in South Dakota is just a bit left of the John Birch Society".
March 18, 1974 - MPR’s Kevin McKiernan Judge Fred J. Nichol discusses his background as a journalist and history teacher, as well as how he came to reside over the Wounded Knee trial.
March 26, 1974 - Reverend John Adams, from the United Methodist Church, discusses the role of the FBI in the Wounded Knee incident and the consequent trial proceedings. Reverend Adams was designated by the National Council of Churches as a Chief Mediator at Wounded Knee. Kevin McKiernan reports.
April 3, 1974 - Wounded Knee prosecution lawyers get an unprecedented okay, from US Attorney General Saxby, to investigate confidential FBI informant files, of which access had previously been denied to goverment lawyers. Judge Nichol said to open files or be prepared for dismissal on the basis of non-cooperation. Last night government lawyers say they've completed the investigation; files are clean, none are informers. Wounded Knee lawyers speculate the FBI informant files had been laundered (edited) before access. The evidentiary hearing continues in St. Paul.
April 29, 1974 - A hearing on alleged government misconduct in prosecuting the so-called nonleadership cases of the Wounded Knee occupation continues in Souix Falls Federal Court. Judge Warren Urbom is the presiding judge.
June 6, 1974 - Government witness, Lewis Hanson, took the stand to testify on charges that Wounded Knee occupants erected blockades around the seiged village in defiance of the FBI. Hanson, a white resident of Pine Ridge Reservation, says he and another man were held as "prisoners of war" after weapons were found in their car.