The community endures.

What Changed In The Late Twentieth Century

The political and legal landscape of Indigenous rights in the United States changed significantly in the second half of the twentieth century, and those changes are relevant to understanding the contemporary context of the burial mystery.

The American Indian Movement — founded in Minneapolis in 1968, originally focused on urban Indigenous rights — grew into a national organization that addressed the full range of Indigenous rights issues, including treaty rights, land claims, and cultural sovereignty.

AIM’s occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973 brought international attention to the conditions at Pine Ridge and to the unresolved questions about Lakota treaty rights.