Thfr":ffllMJ,"fB;~F"",..,
1I'"" " Jt JK " u.]6Till, AMUUNI)JANS'L AsrS r A:-nNextmonung thesoldiasorderedrhcSiouxtog ive
up rhcirg uns.One youngwarriorrefused. Ashot
fJngam, follo wed bymanv1Il0H'.The sold ier s
beganshooting d o w n the Sio u xwom en and children
as wellasth emen.\Vith mmiuurcsm o stofth e Sioux
wered eadorbad lywounded. MJIlYofthewounded
who craw led awaydiedlaterin a b lizzard th atswep t
overthecamp.
At theti m eAmer ica ns calledwhathappened at
WO\1tHkd Knee a banlc.O rhcrpeo pl e since have
railedit a m assacre.Butwhatever the eve nt s at
Woun dedKnee arccalk-d. o ne th ing is certain. l-or
the Sio ux theym ark edth e en dofaII ho peofareturn
totheiro ldw ay o flit'1.',
HuttheSioux, likeo therAmerindia n s. sur vived .In
192 4 Con gr essp assedtheInd ianC itizenshipAct.
This recog nizedA merindi an s as fu ll ci tizensofthe
UnitedStaresan dgJH'rhcmtill' rig ht tovote.In
1934 theInd ian Reo rganizatio nActencou r agedthem
toset lip their owncouncilstoruntheaf fa irsoftheir
rcscrvanons.
Inspireofsuchimp rovemen ts.Amerindians
remained farbeh indmostotherAmericansIIIhealt h,
wealth ,a micducaticu.Lo o k atsomefacrsfromth l'
198 0s .T Il<:unem ploymen t rareamongAmerin di ans
w as 39 percent .1II0 r c thanfi ve rimest h efigu re for
the pop u latio nasJwhole. Ahno st 25 pl'fcento f
A merindian famil ieswerelivingonincomestoolow
to buy th efood.clo th ing ,ami hou sing rhcyneeded
tokeepIIIgoodhealth. D iseaseslikediabet es.
pn eUIllOJllJ ,influenz a,and alcoholaddictionwere
killing twice,ISmarryAmerindians aso cher
American s.
In the 1970sAmerindian sfromall o vertheUnited
Staresjoinedto getherto tr ytoimp ro vetheir
posi tion. 'I'heyfo rmedtheAmericanIndian
M o vemen tam i in19T !.thousand s of th em traveledto
Washing t ontotakepart in ap ro test marchrharth ey
calledth e " T rai lo t'BrokcnTrc. uicv." The ncxr Yl'J ra
grou p armed withriflesoccupiedth e smallSouth
D ak o ta villageth atnowstands 011 th e siteofthe
Hartle OfWolllld edKnee.Theystayedtherefor
seventy- one days.T hei r aim was to drawattentio n to
their demandfo r rhererumoflandsunjustlytaken
awayfromth eirancestors.
69