STANDING BEAR WAS ARRESTED FOR TRYING TO GO HOME – THEN HIS CASE FORCED A U.S. COURT TO DECIDE IF A NATIVE MAN WAS A “PERSON”

His decision was both intimate and radical.

He was not issuing a legal theory.

He was acting on the belief that the government’s command could not erase his obligations to family and homeland.

The journey north began as a funeral promise.

By the time it reached Omaha, it would expose one of the deepest contradictions in federal Indian policy.

THE JOURNEY NORTH WAS NOT AN ESCAPE INTO FREEDOM