Give me APUSH or give me death!
Claire Huddleston
Native Americans
Wavoka and Sitting Bull
 Wovoka |  Ghost Dance |  Sitting Bull |
|---|---|---|
 Battle of Little Bighorn |
Industrial Revolution Reforms
With the rapid expansion of the United States, whites wanted to be sure that Indian tribes would not interfere with taking over the western territories. After the Civil War, they sought to wipe out the Native Americans, instead of relocating them to reservations. The Indian Wars, through the 1880s, represented the struggle for Indians to protect their civilizations against threats from the violent, expanding white settlers (Brinkley, The Unfinished Nation).
GHOST DANCE
Wovoka, who took the name of Jack Wilson, was an Indian from the Paiute tribe in Nevada. He made prophecies about a new age without white men, when Indians would live in abundance and perfection. The Ghost Dance consisted of dancing in circles while singing religious songs ("The Ghost Dance - A Promise of Fulfillment"). This religion reflected the tradition and mysticism of the tribes, but it also showed similarities to Christianity. The Ghost Dance did show Indian identity, but it included elements of both white and Native American culture ("Wovoka"). The Ghost Dance brought fear to the white agents on the reservations, thinking the dances were going to soon bring violence (Brinkley).
BATTLE OF LITTLE BIGHORN
Congress established the Indian Peace Commission in 1867, which moved all Indian tribes to two large reservations, one in Oklahoma, and one in the Dakota Territories. However, these treaties were broken when new white settlers began to come into the Dakotas in the 1870s. The Sioux rose up against this in 1875 by leaving their reservation and uniting in Montana under Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. 2,500 tribal warriors surrounded the army, which was sent to bring them back to the reservation, and killed every U.S. soldier. The Indian troops did not have the organization to stay united, so they returned to their reservations with defeat (Brinkley).
WOUNDED KNEE MASSACRE
The Seventh Cavalry of the U.S. army tried to gather a group of350 cold and starving Native Americans of the Sioux tribe at Wounded Knee, in South Dakota. Fighting broke out among the white soldiers and Indians on December 29, 1890; a majority of the Native Americans were killed, and 40 soldiers died ("Massacre at Wounded Knee, 1890"). The battle quickly turned into an unnecessary massacre of the Indians when they were shot down by machine guns (Brinkley).
SIGNIFICANCE
Wovoka and Sitting Bull searched for reform in many different ways. Wovoka turned toward tradition, embracing Indian culture, while embellishing it with white influence, hoping to unite the Native Americans with the Ghost Dance. Sitting Bull used violence at the Battle of Little Bighorn to stand up against the injustice and hypocrisy of the whites toward the Indian tribes ("Sitting Bull").
After the Civil War, the goal of the government and white settlers was to wipe out the Native Americans. Congress took away communal land of reservations and forced Indians to become land owners and abandon their societies. The Dawes Act split up the reservation land, and adults who did own land were given U.S. citizenship. However, Indians could not gain full claim to their property. Children were taken away from their parents, and tribes were no longer allowed to practice their religious rituals. The Dawes Act was filled with corruption and the most of the land from the reservations was never even distributed to individuals (Brinkley). Whites were constantly abusing and taking advantage of Native Americans by rapidly confiscating their lands and wiping them out of the nation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. 6th ed. Vol. 1. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.
"Ghost Dance - A Promise of Fulfillment." Legends of America. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2015. <http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-ghostdance.html>.
"Massacre At Wounded Knee, 1890." Eyewitness to History. Eyewitness to History, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2015. <http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/knee.htm>.
"Sitting Bull." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/s_z/sittingbull.htm>.
"Wovoka." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/s_z/wovoka.htm>.
Images:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitting_Bull
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wovoka