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Christopher Columbus lands in South America

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Lakota War begins against the Crows

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Northwest Ordinance Act of Congress declares that the land and property of Indian Tribes shall never be taken from them without their consent

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Trade and Intercourse Act provides the US Government with tools to enforce its regulatory authority over its citizens in their interactions with Indian Tribes.

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[1794 - Kicking Rocks] (Early 1700's - Minnesota was an early area of commerce (hub of commerce, there and  michigan)| Oglala would go there you sometimes they would camp a year. A lot of them began drinking alcohol)

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[1794 - Kicking Rocks] (Early 1700's - Minnesota was an early area of commerce (hub of commerce, there and  michigan)| Oglala would go there you sometimes they would camp a year. A lot of them began drinking alcohol)

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French traders in Lakota country. Alcohol Among Lakota

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(Early 1700's - Dakota knew the habits of the French and English)[1799 - Kicking Rock's}

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(Early 1700's - Dakota knew the habits of the French and English)[1799 - Kicking Rock's}

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Lakota obtain guns from traders.

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What is imperialism?

It is a label applied to the English, French, and Spanish nations in their attitudes toward all Native American/American Indians/Indigenous people. They had a policy of extending their power and influence through establishing colonies among our peoples, first through cooperation and later through military force. Along with imperialism comes colonialism. What is colonialism? The word is actually a noun, even though when you say it, it acts like a verb. It is a practice through which one country acquires control over another, bringing settlers, and exploitation of the land and original people that had lived there. I grew up on the Pine Ridge reservation, thinking that these things (imperialism and colonialism) happened elsewhere like what the French did in Vietnam where many Lakota relatives served in a war that was later taken over by the U.S. Imperialism as Europeans practiced it occurred in many places all over the world. Colonialism, as well. The question we continually need to ask ourselves is: Did it happen to our people?

On August 3, 1990, then president, George H.W. Bush declared the month of November as NATIONAL American Indian Heritage Month, also referred to as Native American Heritage Month. During this important month, Lakota peoples on the Pine Ridge reservation and in the state of South Dakota are to observe the month with appropriate programs, ceremonies and activities. Part of that should be a conscious decision to learn about our history as Lakota speaking peoples.

So, what is our experience with colonialism? Before the early 1800's we had very few interactions with the U.S. federal government. The forces that cause change within the process of colonization were slower for us, than with most Native American/ American Indians/ Indigenous peoples.

Our main experience with European Americans was through the fur trade; many of us carry French blood (however small, you can find out through your DNA). What that introduced to us was dependency. We began to rely on guns, ammunition, and alcohol.

A story as told by Father De Smet was that the European Americans would bring boat-loads of alcohol of the worst kind and leave it near the docks of the great rivers for the tribes that lived along the Missouri river. Within days everyone in a village would be drunk, committing all kinds of atrocities against each other, including murder.

We knew the European Americans as traders, whiskey dealers, freighters, surveyors, soldiers, and later as miners and ranchers. Later, demands for our lands, for opening up the Great Sioux Reservation, came from capitalists who wanted the trains to extend through our land and more settlers to come in.

The Great Sioux Reservation and other Sioux lands included half of the state of Dakota, (west of the Missouri river) including all of the Black Hills. Our hunting grounds extended into northeastern Colorado and a third of eastern Wyoming at the eastern edge of the Big Horn Mountains; parts of Montana, south of the Yellowstone river; and North Dakota south of the Heart river including the Cannonball river; as defined in the 1868 Treaty and as found by the Indian Claims Commission (established in 1946).

It was this land, in the 1880's came from the territorial (South Dakota) leaders. What happened then should be taught in our state schools; but especially the reservation schools. The federal government did not act alone, but under pressure from the Dakota Territory to "negotiate" land agreements.

This is the history that must be taught to our children and grandchildren; they must never forget. Today's state and county lines are imaginary lines when you consider how long we have been here. We have to start renaming these rivers and places to tell our children where and how our ancestors fought to retain their territories for them.

For me, that is the meaning of National American Indian Heritage Month. Until we begin to change our own minds about who we are, and what this land means to us, we can expect to continue to be colonized and conquered truly. Throughout this month, I will try to teach some of our history in the state of South Dakota for those who understand the need to decolonize our minds.

Delphine Red Shirt can be reached through email redshirtphd@gmail.com

Delphine Red Shirt can be reached through email at redshirtphd@gmail.com

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Lakota ("Sioux") History 101 Part I | Lakota Times

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What is imperialism? It is a label applied to the English, French, and Spanish nations in their attitudes toward all Native American/American Indians/Indigenous people. They had a policy of extending their power and influence through establishing colonies among our peoples, first through cooperation and later through military force.

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Lewis & Clark travel along Missouri River, meet "Sioux" people.

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Very little contact with white people; extremely few white people traveling through Lakota people.

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Chief Red Shirt is Killed

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American traders in Lakota country

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Man Afraid of His Horses is born (Son of Youngman Afraid of his Horses)

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US Government passes act to place a fed agent with each Indian Nation. | Small Pox, Cholera, Venereal Disease first besiege the Lakota.

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When you look at the history of Native [American] people you see how our populations were affected by disease. This new virus is nothing "new" for us.

The disease decimating us that is most often mentioned is smallpox. For the Narragansett (now in Rhode Island), history records that in the 1600's there were about 30,000 of them; by 1880 when smallpox appeared, only 324 survived. Among the Mandan, in 1750, they numbered about 9,000 but by the 1800, after being affected three different historic times by smallpox, only mixed-blood Mandan remain among the Hidatsa and Arikara. For the Crow, or Apsaalooke, by the 1750's there were about 10,000 of them but by the 1800's smallpox brought by the white settlers affected them as well.

The Assiniboine, who originally lived around the Great Lakes as part of the Yanktonai [Sioux], who later moved into the area that is now Montana (Fort Peck and Fort Belknap reservations) and southern Canada were affected by smallpox. In 1780 there were about 10,000 people but by 1890, those who were in the U.S. numbered about 2,000. They, along with the Cree and Blackfeet were infected by smallpox beginning in 1828 when Fort Union was established on the Missouri River.

By 1836, smallpox affected Native people in Alaska where it was recorded that over a four period, it killed about 4,000. In 1838, smallpox affects the people of Pecos Pueblo and about 24 members remained who eventually abandoned their pueblo to move west to Jemez where people spoke Towa, their language. By 1853 and into 1862, smallpox epidemics kill 50 to 90 percent of the Native people in the Plateau region that is made up the northeastern California, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, western Montana; and along the Northwest Coast, the Sillaguamish of western Washington lost 85 percent of their population.

As a direct descendant of Battiste Good, I turn to his wintercounts to see how smallpox affected the Lakota. Battiste Good shows the winter of 1734-35 as the time that the people had stomach aches (bowels) and died. He shows in his drawing that the pain was inside and outside of a person; showing the red dots of smallpox.

Diseases that were brought by the Europeans first hit the people of the state of Georgia and Florida in 1613-17. It wasn't just us but in Central and South America where in the first 100 years they lost about 90 percent of their population.

Historians are now saying that disease was the ultimate weapon against us. That our immune systems could not take what the Europeans were used to in their "old" world. It wasn't that we couldn't protect ourselves with our warriors who knew this land and were more skilled than any European soldier in that time period. Nor was it that we were inferior; it was the uncleanliness and disease that they lived with since time began for them on their own continent. The list is long including the common cold, chickenpox, bubonic plague, cholera, diphtheria, influenza, malaria, measles, scarlet fever, typhoid, typhus, tuberculosis, pertussis, and sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Syphilis (STD) killed almost 50 percent of the population in California during the California mission period from 1769 to 1833 when Spanish soldiers protecting the missions infected Native women.

For us, the Lakota, as Battiste Good recorded, we have been exposed to their diseases for almost three hundred years. This new one is no exception, as it was brought from somewhere else. The truth is we have been exposed and we have survived. We, as Native people, were never fearful and that is what helped us. Fear is the worst thing to feel. Traditionally, we have to look at ways that our people survived. They saw snow and rain as cleansing the earth. In the same way we need to take care of ourselves; both on the outside and more importantly on the inside through gratitude and prayer for each day that we are given.

Delphine Red Shirt (Oglala Lakota) can be reached through email at redshirtphd@gmail.com

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Disease & Native Americans | Lakota Times

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When you look at the history of Native [American] people you see how our populations were affected by disease. This new virus is nothing "new" for us. The disease decimating us that is most often mentioned is smallpox.

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Red Cloud is born.

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US MILITARY come into Lakota Territory

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General Ashley begins to venture deeper into Lakota Country

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First steamboat comes into Lakota country on Missouri River.

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American Fur Co. has a monopoly on trade with the Lakota. | First marriages between Lakota women and white men: General Ashley's civilian companions became known as the Rocky Mt. Fur Co.; which was unique as teh men had Lakota wives.

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Worcester v. Georgia Supreme Court case Justice John Marshall rules that Indian Tribes are distinct, independent, political communities who retained minimal rights to self government (A legal benchmark against which the US gov action may be measured in the future).

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Worcester took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the states had no authority over Cherokee land. He said the law violated the U.S. Constitution, which gives the U.S. Congress authority over Native Americans. The Court agreed with Worcester. On March 3, 1832, it ruled that all Georgia laws regarding the Cherokee Nation were unconstitutional and therefore not legal.

Georgia and U.S. President Andrew Jackson ignored the decision. Worcester and the other missionaries remained in prison until 1833. Congress, with full support of Jackson, had already passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830. In the following decade almost all 100,000 southeastern Indians were forced to move westward. This migration was called the Trail of Tears.

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Worcester took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the states had no authority over Cherokee land. He said the law violated the U.S. Constitution, which gives the U.S. Congress authority over Native Americans. The Court agreed with Worcester.

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Lakota accept war pipe brought by the Cheyenne against the Pawnee.

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The Indian Removal Act used by President Andrew Jackson in the forced relocations of thousands of Indians from east of the Mississippi, to clear the land of them for use by American and black slaves. Indians removed to permanent Indian Territory. | 90,000 buffalo robes sold by wasicu (takes the best meat) hunters in the East. | Small Pox kills thousands across Great Plains area.

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Indian Bureau established in the War Dept. (Watch up to 2:00)

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Russell Means: Welcome to the American Reservation Prison Camp (Full Length)

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25.0k members in the NativeAmerican community. Important stories and discussion concerning the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, from Alaska to ...

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Beaver trapping declines. Many traders move out, many trading posts close down. | Many trappers/traders siding with Pawnee in their battles with other tribes.  | Lakota begin to kill and chase off all whites in Lakota country. | USA estimates there are 15 million buffalo on the plains. (Watch the first two minutes of the video).

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Lakota begin to harass and kill white emigrants traveling through Lakota country.

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Red Cloud Kills Bull Bear (alcohol related?)

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First wagon trains of emigrants begin to cross Lakota country on Oregon Trail (18 wagons, 100 people).

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First time US military sent to Lakota country as show of force to "quiet the tribes". No warfare, a council is held with Colonel SW Kearney.

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Buffalo pushed beyond North Platte River by emigrants passing through. | Lakota believe buffalo herds are beginning to dwindle. | First time Lakota hunt is affected by emigrants. | Lakota are very angry now about wagons coming through Lakota country.

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30 Oglala Killed by Crow

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Buffalo becoming scarce. Winter camps are going hungry.

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110,000 buffalo robes are sold in the East. | Oglala kill 83 Pawnee

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US Congress and Christian Organizations meet in DC to discuss bringing colonization efforts

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Oregon Trail: rush of emigrants to California Gold Rush. | Cholera brought via steamboat begins to kill Lakota. | Fur trade era declines in Lakota country. | US Government purchase Ft. Laramie from traders, garrison with troops. | Indian Bureau transferred from War Dept. to Dept. of the Interior.