Lakota

Lakota
Group	Lakota

Lakota The Lakota are a Native American people of the Great Plains closely related to the Dakota and Nakota peoples. They are central actors in the histories of Sioux nations, the Great Sioux Reservation, and numerous treaties and conflicts involving the United States such as the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 and the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Prominent figures associated with Lakota history include Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, Gall (Native American leader), and activists like Russell Means and John Trudell.

Overview

The Lakota historically inhabited territories across the Northern Plains, including areas later designated as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, and Wyoming. Their social and political structures intersect with institutions such as the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Sicangu Oyate (Rosebud Sioux Tribe), Brulé Sioux Tribe, Santee Sioux Nation, and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Interactions with entities like the United States Army, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and settler communities were pivotal during the 19th century, particularly in episodes like the Great Sioux War of 1876 and the Wounded Knee Massacre. Modern organizations including the Lakota Funds, Niwotake, and tribal governments administer programs for health, education, and land management.

Language

The Lakota speak a Siouan language variety within the Sioux language continuum alongside Dakota language and Nakota. Linguistic work by scholars such as Franz Boas, John P. Harrington, Reginald Laubin, and contemporary linguists has documented phonology, morphology, and oral literature including narratives preserved in collections by James R. Walker and recordings held at institutions like the Smithsonian Institution. Language revitalization efforts are supported by programs at the Sinte Gleska University, Oglala Lakota College, and immersion initiatives modeled after work at the Kura Kaupapa Māori and language nests promoted by the Endangered Languages Project. Orthographies have been standardized in resources produced by the Lakota Language Consortium and textbooks circulated through public school curricula on reservations.

History

Pre-contact history involves migrations and alliances among Plains peoples including the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow, and Pawnee, with archaeological contexts tied to the Bison jump economy and material culture documented in sites like Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. Post-contact chronology features diplomatic and military encounters with explorers and officials such as John C. Frémont, George Armstrong Custer, and William Tecumseh Sherman, culminating in battles and negotiations exemplified by the Battle of the Little Bighorn and the Red Cloud's War. Treaty disputes and policy shifts under administrations of presidents like Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Theodore Roosevelt shaped land cessions, allotment under the Dawes Act, and boarding school eras involving institutions such as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. 20th-century events include activism during the American Indian Movement and occupations at Wounded Knee (1973) and legal cases in venues like the United States Supreme Court.

Culture and Society

Lakota social organization traditionally centers on kinship groups including tiospaye and extended family networks within bands like the Oglala, Hunkpapa, Sihasapa (Blackfeet Sioux), Miniconjou, and Itazipco (No Bows). Material culture features summer tipis and winter earth lodges, regalia used in ceremonies collected in museums such as the National Museum of the American Indian and the Field Museum of Natural History, and crafts including quillwork, beadwork, and rawhide artistry. Cultural expressions include powwow drum songs, grass dance, and intertribal gatherings like the Black Hills Powwow alongside performance traditions recorded by ethnomusicologists associated with Alan Lomax. Prominent cultural figures span from artists like Arthur Amiotte and Dyani White Hawk to writers and scholars such as Ella Cara Deloria and Pauline Johnson.

Religion and Spirituality

Spiritual traditions feature ceremonies including the Sun Dance, the Yuwipi ceremony, and the use of sacred sites such as the Black Hills (Paha Sapa). Vision quests and the role of medicine people intersect with practices documented by anthropologists like Lewis H. Morgan and Neil J. Smelser; sacred objects include the Chanunpa (sacred pipe) and bundles associated with societies like the Heyoka clowns in Plains cosmologies. Syncretic movements and prophetic leaders such as Wovoka influenced broader religious responses including the Ghost Dance movement that affected Lakota communities and provoked responses from federal authorities culminating in confrontations like Wounded Knee Massacre (1890).

Contemporary Issues and Politics

Contemporary Lakota communities address land rights and sovereignty disputes involving litigation over the Black Hills land claim, negotiations with federal agencies including the Department of the Interior, and activism exemplified by groups like Dakota Access Pipeline opponents allied with environmental organizations such as Sierra Club and Greenpeace. Health disparities are debated in policy forums alongside institutions such as the Indian Health Service and universities like the University of South Dakota and South Dakota State University conducting research. Economic initiatives include enterprises tied to gaming regulated by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and cultural tourism around sites like Mount Rushmore National Memorial and Badlands National Park. Political leaders and advocates include tribal presidents, council members, and activists who engage with state governments of South Dakota and federal lawmakers in Congress. Contemporary media presence includes documentaries aired on PBS, articles in outlets like Indian Country Today, and scholarship published by presses such as the University of Nebraska Press.

Category:Native American tribes in the United States