In 1973, I was a teacher at Oglala Elementary School on the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation and additionally, served as curator for the Wounded Knee Museum. On February 27, 1973, American Indian Movement leaders and two hundred followers led a take-over of the village of Wounded Knee. The protest was over treaties and this stand-off lasted 71 days, after which the Wounded Knee Store/Museum, a church and other buildings were burned. Leaders Russell Means and Dennis Banks were tried for the incident, but were not convicted.
Less than ten percent of the museum items were recovered from AIM members, usually at vehicle-checkpoints by Federal Marshals. Federal Marshals picked through the trash after AIM left and put them in black trunks used by militants as a shield against incoming gunfire. A small number of recovered items were held as evidence by the FBI and later returned to Wounded Knee owners. These artifacts, due to immediate fear of AIM, were locked in the basement vault at a Gordon, Nebraska bank. After twenty years, the fear of theft was less. The items were hidden in trunks away from wool moths and rodents while more valuable artifacts were locked on my property near Hot Springs, South Dakota.
While my Lakota Cultural Museum is dedicated to preserving and interpreting pre-reservation artifacts from the Buffalo Days, there are two items from more recent times addressing the Lakota Nation which should be told due to their significance of historic value.
May 8, after a two-month siege, AIM evacuated the Wounded Knee village. The 71-day occupation resulted in the death of two AIM members and gunfire injuries on both sides. As a curator for a now, non-existing museum, I came to view what remained of the burned-out building. I walked the area with Jim Czywczynski, owner of the Wounded Knee site, to collect anything remaining. There was debris everywhere, burnt structures and looted buildings nearby. Peace pipes from the museum had been stomped into the ground, however partly visible in the mud was a unique necklace fashioned from bullets fired into the camp by federal agents. Whereas a century earlier, a Lakota would make a grizzly claw necklace to show courage in facing a ferocious bear, this fighter used bullets fired into the camp of various calibers to flatten, drill holes and string them to show valor with his bullet necklace. It was lost because this necklace, as seen in the picture, broke its leather thong. This item does not necessarily fit in with the pre-reservation artifacts, however it seemed significant to include, to demonstrate that Lakota history is on-going.
Another artifact, originally displayed in the Wounded Knee Museum, which survived the 1973 Take-over, is a Remembrance Quilt. This 16-panel, hand-sewn quilt documented the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act when Native Americans were recognized for the first time as US citizens and tribal members. This quilt has embroidered names of fifteen Lakota who separately, hand-stitched patches of cloth to make blocks. These were then sewn together to make a patchwork quilt. Six women embroidered the date "April 11, 1934" on their block. In effect, they signed their names to this date for the historic event. Many names are recognized by me, including my adoption by Blue Legs and Pipe on Head families of porcupine quillwork fame. This quilt commemorates the start of the Pine Ridge Reservation as a self-governing body. When buffalo robes were no longer available after the start of the reservation, Sioux women learned to adapt by using scrap, colored cloth pieces stitched together as coverings to keep warm.
These Lakota embroidered their names in English to read: Sara Red; Jessie W. (Wounded) Head; Bell Old Horse; Ethel B. C. (Blue Cloud); Bessie White Rabit April 11 1934; Besssie La Deaux; Nellie P. H. (Pipe on Head); Mary Bull Man 4, 4 1934; Lydia 4-11-34; Carrie Shoots In April 1934; Ellen H. Head; Winnie Yankton; Geneva Knuosen; Jennie Blue Legs April 11 1934; Emma H. Head April 11, 1934.
Larry Belitz, consultant and Wounded Knee Curator on January 2, 2012