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.
September 16, 1974 - Judge Nichol dismisses all charges against Dennis Banks and Russell Means in the Wounded Knee Trial. Judge Nichols chastises the FBI, and gives four reasons why he made the decision to drop charges.
September 19, 1974 - Clyde Bellecourt states that AIM says U.S. government has criminally failed in its mission to protect Indian rights. The conduct of the Department of Justice has left little reason for Indians to trust that agency ever. The AIM will launch its greatest effort ever to expose a dual system of justice in South Dakota.
September 19, 1974 - Poet Nikki Giovanni, one of the leading voices in the black artist movement, talks about current affairs on the third anniversary of the Attica uprising. She was in Moorhead for a poetry reading on the Concordia College campus.
September 21, 1974 - Kevin McKiernan presents highlights of his long, fastidious, coverage of the Wounded Knee controversy.
October 6, 1974 - Dr. Philip McNairy, the head bishop of the Minnesota Episcopal Diocese, discusses the role of the Episcopal church in the aftermath of the Wounded Knee incident. Dr. McNairy also discusses relations between Native Americans and non-native populations in both the rural and urban areas of the Dakotas and Minnesota.
November 8, 1974 - Ken Tilsen, attorney for defendants of the Wounded Knee incident, discusses his criticism of strategies employed by the Justice Department in related legal proceedings. Tilsen also discusses potential avenues for appeal, and what the government may or may not do.
November 8, 1974 - The attorney representing the US government in case dealing with the incident at Wounded Knee discusses a potential appeal and the issues relating to government's position.
November 29, 1974 - Clyde Bellecourt was invited to participate in an international meeting of the World Council of Churches at Montreux, Switzerland, the first WCC to invite representation by Native Americans. He says the principal goal is to elicit support for American Indian treaty rights.
June 5, 1975 - After three hours, a jury finds defendentd guilty as charged on, 2 indictments: interfering with postal inspectors at Wounded Knee and theft of weapons, which carries a maximum 13 year conviction. Many observers were surprised, as they viewed government's case as weak. Defendant Carter Camp said that it was not a surprise, that they're dealing with a fascist court. "Just because they found us guilty don't mean that we're gonna stop in the struggle, will only add more fuel to the fire of revolution in this country because it's gonna have to come now. This is gonna make Indian people struggle a lot harder. We can struggle in the prison just as well as we can struggle on a street, we're never gonna quit. The fight's just started. [We] will continue fighting no matter what this judge does. This verdict doesn't make any difference, it's only gonna encourage our people to fight harder, and show that there is no justice in this system."
July 16, 1975 - William Kunstler, lawyer and Civil Rights activist, states that the Pine Ridge murder trial's lastest prevailing story is that the two FBI agents were killed with a 45 caliber grease gun. Kunstler claims earlier stories on the topic are completely false, and discusses some of the details of the events and trial, which was held in St. Paul.