Written
by: Jolene
The Lakota Sioux Indians were originally settled in Minnesota, but in the 1700’s they migrated into the South Dakota area. For over 160 years, the Lakota Sioux occupied a giant piece of land in the plains, which helped in supporting their bison herds, which they hunted on their land. There used to be over 60 million bison on the Great Plains. Now it’s almost odd to see them at all.
The Lakota people were nomadic, equestrian Plains Indians, who lived in hand made teepees, and hunted buffalo as a source of food, shelter, and warmth. They were exceptional hunters, horsemen, and superior warriors. Their heritage was made up of storytellers and ancestral drawings and home made crafts.
The Lakota were divided into family groups, called tiyospaye. They hunted, processed, and ate all of the bison they killed. They slept in bison hide teepees in the summer and personally built earthen lodges in the winter.
After the push began for western expansion of white settlers, the Lakota people felt a new wave coming their way. The Ft. Laramie treaty established the Great Sioux Reservation which destroyed the way of life forever after. The Federal Government provided inhabited land, food and clothes annually.
Then after that struggle came the Battle of Little Bighorn. This is where the Lakota killed off Custer and his 200 troops in hopes of gaining back what they had and needed to protect their ways….The Great Plains. But instead congress cut their rations and took away more land.
Following the Battle at Little Bighorn came the Battle at Wounded Knee Creek. After a 150-mile journey the Lakota people stopped to rest in the badlands, where the 7th cavalry surrounded them. The troops attacked and killed over 200 Lakota including Chief Bigfoot and his daughter. That is the history of the Lakota people. The struggles they went through and lost all because they wanted to preserve and keep alive their heritage and rituals.
Http://www.pschulze.com/subweb/lakotawoman7/
Lakota
Woman…..Mary Crow Dog.