Day Sixty-Five

6/5

The Book: Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown

ISBN: 0-8050-6669-1

Suggested By: Sissy Vaughn

Where: Home

When: 9-9:30P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 349-404 (55)

The Lead In: It is interesting that different tribes tried different approaches to the encroaching settlers from the East. Some fought, others played ball, some even tried to ignore them. In the end, it seems that no matter what approach was taken, it ended up in war. Its sad, but its history.

The 411 on the 55: Very interesting bit of history that I was previously unaware of. Apparently, one of the Indian tribes actually took the US government to court.

The Poncas, after being forced away from their homeland, decided to challenge their standing before law. They argued that they were just as much a person as any white man. Beyond this, they proposed that they should be granted the rights of every citizen of the US. Of course, the government lawyer argued against these claims, pointing out that they were a special case with different rules applying to them due to being Native American.

The Nebraska judge, Elmer S. Grundy, ruled that Indians were indeed people and that they could not be forced from their land any more than a citizen of the US. They were allowed to return to their land.

Line of the Day: “I thought God intended us to live, but I was mistaken. God intends to give the country to the white people, and we are to die. It may be well; it may be well.” pg 359

The Fact on the Fiction: Standing Bear v. Crook “Judge Dundy's decision in the case Standing Bear vs. Crook was an important development in the history of Indian-white relations. It established for the first time that Indians were something more than just "Uncle Sam’s stepchildren" to be regulated by the Interior Department as they pleased. Standing Bear and his followers were now free. But, the unanswered questions were: Free to do what? Free to go where? They had no place to live, no food to eat, nor clothing to wear. No opinion by a federal judge could supply these things.” Nebraskastudies.org