Wounded+Knee+Massacre



The Wounded Knee Massacre occurred on December 29, 1890 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. After successfully putting the various bands of the Sioux nation on reservations, the U.S. government became nervous by the spread of the Ghost Dance, a religious practice that promised an end to the dominance of the white man and a return to the traditional ways, believing it would provoke an Indian uprising. Reservation agents and the army worked to isolate and arrest leaders of the Ghost Dance, including most notably Sitting Bull. During one of these attempted arrests a gun was fired, there is still debate over who fired the first shot, and several hours later over 300 Sioux men, women, and children were dead. This event is often noted as the last of the Indian wars.

Best Website:
There is surprisingly little on the web in terms of full, detailed accounts of this event. The best was created by Lorie Liggett for the Bowling Green State University American Culture Studies Program: [|The Wounded Knee Massacre]

This site gives an overview of the event and its historical significance, background information on the Sioux tribe, background information on the Ghost Dance, and a detailed account of the massacre itself including primary source quotes. The site also gives a list of resources, both print and online, for people to use to find more information. This website provides the most thorough and reliable account of the massacre and hopefully will be merely a starting point for those interested in learning more.

Primary Sources:
There are several primary sources that might be useful to helping students understand this event.

[|Lakota Accounts of the Massacre at Wounded Knee] [|General Nelson A. Miles, report on the "Sioux Outbreak of 1890" and selected field dispatches (1891)] [|Eyewitness to a Massacre]

These primary sources give different perspectives of the event, although there is a level of continuity. Reading these will help students understand the situation Native Americans were in at the end of the 19th century and why this event happened as well as develop historical empathy.

Historical Thinking Skills:
The historical thinking skill I might emphasize in teaching about the Wounded Knee Massacre is: "Understanding that although the past tends to be viewed in terms of present values, a proper perception of the past requires a serious examination of values of that time." It is very important for students to judge and evaluate the actions taken by their government in the past in order to help them judge and evaluate actions taken today. This is not possible on the deepest level without understanding the mindset of the people making the decisions in the past, without fully understanding why an event occurred and why people acted as they did. This complete understanding of past motives and values will help students better evaluate and analyze motives of people in society today.

To accomplish this I would have students look at a variety of primary sources of the event, including newspaper reports, official reports, and eye-witness accounts. I would also have students look at some of the seminal pieces on Indian policy of the day (//A Century of Dishonor// and the "Dawes Act"). In each I would have them look for the point of view of the author. I would ask students to compare their point of view of what happened at Wounded Knee with the point of view of people in the late 19th century.