Native American
1973: Siege at Wounded Knee
A short history of the 71-day uprising of Native Americans at Wounded Knee. Armed American Indians occupied the territory, which they legally owned, with several demands, including an investigation into the 371 treaties signed between the Native Nations and the Federal Government, all of which had been broken by the United States.
In the summer of 1968, two hundred members of the American Indian community came together for a meeting to discuss various issues that Indian people of the time were dealing with on an everyday basis. Among these issues were, police brutality, high unemployment rates, and the Federal Government's policies concerning American Indians.
19. Surprises
Helen Keller had said in 1911: "We vote? What does that mean?" And Emma Goldman around the
same time: "Our modern fetish is universal suffrage." After 1920, women were voting, as men did,
and their subordinate condition had hardly changed.
7. As Long As Grass Grows Or Water Runs
If women, of all the subordinate groups in a society dominated by rich white males, were closest to
home (indeed, in the home), the most interior, then the Indians were the most foreign, the most
exterior. Women, because they were so near and so needed, were dealt with more by patronization
5. A kind of Revolution
The American victory over the British army was made possible by the existence of an already-
armed people. Just about every white male had a gun, and could shoot. The Revolutionary
leadership distrusted the mobs of poor. But they knew the Revolution had no appeal to slaves and
Indians. They would have to woo the armed white population.
1. Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress
Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the
island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his
sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them
food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:
