•Œthe Ground You Walk on Belongs to My People": Lakota Community
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UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones 5-1-2016 “The Ground You Walk on Belongs to My People": Lakota Community Building, Activism, and Red Power in Western Nebraska, 1917-2000 David Christensen University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the Indigenous Studies Commons, and the United States History Commons Repository Citation Christensen, David, "“The Ground You Walk on Belongs to My People": Lakota Community Building, Activism, and Red Power in Western Nebraska, 1917-2000" (2016). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 2653. http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/9112048 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “THE GROUND YOU WALK ON BELONGS TO MY PEOPLE”: LAKOTA COMMUNITY BUILDING, ACTIVISM, AND RED POWER IN WESTERN NEBRASKA, 1917-2000 By David R. Christensen Bachelor of Science - History University of Nebraska, Kearney 2005 Master of Arts - History University of Nebraska, Lincoln 2008 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy - History Department of History College of Liberal Arts The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2016 Copyright 2016 David R. Christensen All Rights Reserved Dissertation Approval The Graduate College The University of Nevada, Las Vegas March 29, 2016 This dissertation prepared by David R. Christensen entitled “The Ground You Walk on Belongs to My People”: Lakota Community Building, Activism, and Red Power in Western Nebraska, 1917-2000 is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy - History Department of History William Bauer, Ph.D. Kathryn Hausbeck Korgan, Ph.D. Examination Committee Chair Graduate College Interim Dean Raquel Casas, Ph.D. Examination Committee Member Andrew Kirk, Ph.D. Examination Committee Member P. Jane Hafen, Ph.D. Examination Committee Member Bradley Shreve, Ph.D. Graduate College Faculty Representative ii Abstract Framed by histories of Lakotas in the twentieth century, American Indian Activism, and the “long civil rights movement,” this dissertation seeks to provide new perspectives on the American Indian civil rights movement. Although the United States government removed Lakotas from western Nebraska in the late nineteenth century, some returned to a portion of their homeland, settling and working in the border town of Gordon and the region’s two largest towns, Alliance and Scottsbluff, in the twentieth century. Between 1917 and 2000, Lakotas living in off reservation communities in western Nebraska created a grassroots reform movement, whose goals differed from the national and pan-Indian civil rights movement. Although many were enrolled tribal members of the Oglala or Sičháŋğu Lakota Nations, Lakotas in western Nebraska were more concerned with ending segregation and racism in their communities than explicitly addressing tribal sovereignty. Lakota leaders not only fought to end discrimination, but also for the federal government to continue providing its trust responsibilities to Lakotas in western Nebraska. This dissertation reveals that American Indian civil rights’ origins are more diverse than being rooted in national American Indian organizations. The movement that arose in western Nebraska provides an example of American Indian activism that developed in a rural off reservation region. iii Acknowledgments I first must thank my family for their encouragement and support throughout my graduate studies. I am lucky to have had such a wonderful advisor. Dr. William Bauer taught me much about American Indian History. While his taste in football teams is awful, I am forever grateful for Dr. Bauer molding me into a much better historian. I must thank my entire committee, Dr. Andrew Kirk, Dr. Maria Raquel Casas, Dr. P. Jane Hafen, Dr. David Wrobel, and Dr. Bradley Shreve, for their support and insightful comments. I am grateful for the support that I received from UNLV’s history department. I thank Dr. John Wunder for believing in me and giving me a chance to prove myself. I am extremely lucky for the late Cedric DeCory to share his stories with me. I only wish that he could read this dissertation, because his stories matter. I am indebted to archivists Joyce Burner (NARA-KC) and Gayla Koerting (NSHS), because both helped me locate massive amounts of material. It was a pleasure to work with and receive assistance from Becci Thomas and the Knight Museum and Sandhills Center. I would also like to thank my colleagues, Dr. Kendra Gage, Dr. Margaret Huettl, Shori Yamamoto, Stefani Evans, Dr. Jordan Watkins, and Dr. Nicolas Pellegrino, for their encouragement and helpful conversations. I am grateful for the organizations that provided me with financial assistance: Newberry Consortium on American Indian Studies Graduate Student Fellowship, Nebraska State Historical Society Fellowship, and Alliance Public Schools Foundation Graduate Student Scholarship. iv Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: “If there is Anything I Do Know, it is This Country”: Lakotas, Potatoes, Culture, and the Nebraska Homeland ................................................................................................................ 22 Chapter 3: “Everything Changed for Us There”: The Great Depression, World War II, and Life on the Socioeconomic Periphery for Lakotas in Western Nebraska ............................................. 74 Chapter 4: “No Indians or Dogs Allowed”: The Civil Rights Struggle in Western Nebraska’s Lakota Communities, 1945-1960.................................................................................................. 99 Chapter 5: “There are Four People Buried Real Deep and Forever”: The Rise of Lakota Activism Western Nebraska, 1960-1972 .................................................................................................... 137 Chapter 6: “We Are Human Too”: Red Power, Self-Determination, and Factionalism in Western Nebraska Lakota Communities 1972-1976 ................................................................................ 175 Chapter 7: “We Just Want to Be Treated Like Human Beings”: The Continuity of Racial Relations and Lakota Activism in Western Nebraska ................................................................ 219 Chapter 8: Conclusion, A Proud Indigenous Community Remains ........................................... 258 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 264 Curriculum Vitae ........................................................................................................................ 279 v Chapter 1: Introduction May in western Nebraska is an exciting month. As the weather warms, residents put their heavy winter coats in the closet and pull out their shorts. Rain from, sometimes violent, thunderstorms turns the Sandhills a magnificent emerald green. May also means high school graduations. On May 29, 1997, residents looked through the local high school graduating class’ senior pictures printed in the Alliance Times-Herald, and they also read the front-page headline announcing the death of a Lakota inmate in the Box Butte County Jail. Although brief, the article represented issues much larger than most readers realized. Shane Dawn’s death revived a decades old debate on race relations in western Nebraska. During a ten-month period in the early 1970s, four Lakota inmates died in Alliance jails. City officials attributed the deaths to suicide; Lakotas countered that they resulted from the police department’s neglect or abuse. Thus, nearly three decades later, Lakotas remained wary of jail suicides and the legal system. Scottsbluff Indian Center Director and Nebraska Indian Commission (NIC) member Owen Patton remarked, “our concern is with the judicial system and the dual justice that still occurs with the Lakota people.”1 Dawn’s jail death tore open decades old wounds and revealed a complex story of a civil rights struggle in western Nebraska. This dissertation examines the Lakota civil rights movement in western Nebraska during the twentieth century. Although the United States government removed Lakotas from western Nebraska in the late