HIstory & Devastation

 

The focus of this website is on the revitalization and resilience of the Lakotiyapi but in order to understand the urgency for revitalization, there needs to be an understanding of the historical decline and devastation inflicted upon the Lakota Language.  This page will examine the traditional land lived on by the Lakota people, follow the forced displacement off these lands to reservations, and discuss the cultural annihilation that took place in the horrific boarding schools throughout the country.

Traditional Land

From Native Land Digital

Lakota people lived on land in what is now Canada and the United States of America.  The historical land stretched from what is now southern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba down through is now known as the Great Plains Region of North America and spans parts of present-day states such as South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and surrounding areas.The pink region depicted on the left had fluid boundaries, defined by the movements of bison herds and the changing seasons, rather than rigid demarcations.1 

The Lakota lifestyle was intimately connected to nature, and they lived in harmony with the rhythms of the land. The dependence on the land and interdependence with all creation is infused in the Lakotiyapi and culture of the Lakota people.



Treaties and Reservations

The Black Hills, known as Papa Sapa in Lakota, span across was is now southwest South Dakota and Wyoming. Revered as profoundly sacred by the Lakota and numerous other tribes, these lands hold immense significance. In Lakota creation stories, it is recounted that they emerged from caves within this region, underscoring its fundamental importance to their religion and collective identity as a people.2

As white settlers encroached on Lakota territories, they introduced diseases, decimated the bison herds, and forced the Lakota people from their lands, leading to escalating conflicts. In response, the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 was signed, establishing the Great Sioux Reservation, which included the Black Hills. However, the subsequent discovery of gold within these lands intensified conflicts anew. This led to the signing of a second Fort Laramie Treaty in 1868, which still recognized 3

In 1876 the Manypenny Commission sent by Congress obtained only 10% of the required 75% of adult male signatures to cede the Black Hills.  However, in 1877 Congress passed a statute stripping the Black Hills from the Sioux.  Conflicts caused by this break in treaty culminated in the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890.4

 

To this day, the Lakota people push for the return of the sacred lands. In 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Black Hills were taken illegally in 1877 owing the Lakota with $17.5 million and annual 5% interest starting in 1877.   This monetary reparation was refused as it does not replace the sacred significance of the Black Hills.5

The Homestead Act 1862 allowed and encouraged non-native white settlers to move to move west onto Native American lands.  The act, combined with the General Allotment Act (Dawes Act) in 1887, decreased lands owned by American Indians from 175 million acres to 40 million.6  It also resulted in immense annihilation of culture as native people were forced to live on reservations or assimilate into non native society.

Breaking up the Great Sioux Reservation into smaller reservations and the patch working created by the Homestead and General Allotment Act resulted in less communication and interaction between Lakota communities leading to less language use.  Additionally, the English language became more necessary to learn in order to provide for families and get jobs off these reservations and interact with non-native people.

The 1883 Code of Indian Offenses criminalized the practice of religious ceremonies among Indigenous peoples, leading to the incarceration and punishment of those caught participating. 7

Although these practices did not vanish, they were forced to continue underground.  Many medicine men and healers also operated covertly during this period, and alongside these spiritual practices, the language itself was driven underground.8

This suppression had a catastrophic impact on Lakota culture. Despite these harsh conditions, the resilience and persistent efforts of the Lakota people ultimately led to the overturning of these oppressive laws, paving the way for a resurgence and revitalization of their language and cultural and spiritual practices. 

Boarding schools

During the 1800s the United States government hoped to assimilate Native Americans into Euro-American christian culture.  They aimed to break up the tribal system, strip them of their culture and language, and give them farms to work on instead of large territory to roam on.This agenda amounted to nothing short of complete cultural annihilation9

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To effectively destroy Native American culture, the United States government targeted children.  The Beauro of Indian Affairs (BIA) set up government funded on and off-reservation boarding schools.  This occurred from 1860 to 1978  during which “approximately 357 boarding schools operated across 30 states…and housed over 60,000 native children”(Mejia 2022).  The children were given English names, short haircuts, and forbidden from speaking their native languages.  While attendance was mandatory, some families refused to send their children and many children would run away from these schools.10

Children who would return home faced challenges communicating in their native languages with many who did not speak English. Additionally, they struggled to adjust to tribal life after being indoctrinated to view it negatively. [11.Andrews, Thomas G. “Turning the Tables on Assimilation: Oglala Lakotas and the Pine Ridge Day Schools, 1889-1920s.” The Western Historical Quarterly 33, no. 4 (2002): 407–30. https://doi.org/10.2307/4144766.] Losing the language also meant losing the culture and ways of thinking, significantly reducing the ability to fully engage in ceremonial and religious activities.

As younger generations lost fluency in their native languages, the transmission of these languages diminished, eventually dwindling to alarming levels.  



  1. “Languages: Lakotayapi.” Native Land Digital. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://native-land.ca/maps/languages/lakotayapi/. ↩
  2. Finkelman, Paul, and Tim Alan Garrison, eds. Encyclopedia Of United States Indian Policy and Law, Vol. 1. Washington DC: CQ Press, 2009. ↩
  3. Finkelman, Paul, and Tim Alan Garrison, eds. Encyclopedia Of United States Indian Policy and Law, Vol. 1. Washington DC: CQ Press, 2009. ↩
  4. Finkelman, Paul, and Tim Alan Garrison, eds. Encyclopedia Of United States Indian Policy and Law, Vol. 1. Washington DC: CQ Press, 2009. ↩
  5. Finkelman, Paul, and Tim Alan Garrison, eds. Encyclopedia Of United States Indian Policy and Law, Vol. 1. Washington DC: CQ Press, 2009. ↩
  6. Finkelman, Paul, and Tim Alan Garrison, eds. Encyclopedia Of United States Indian Policy and Law, Vol. 1. Washington DC: CQ Press, 2009. ↩
  7. “New York Times, February 10, 1883.” The New York Times TimesMachine. Accessed May 6, 2024.https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1883/02/10/102810429.pdf. ↩
  8. “Heart of All Oglala Lakota.” Accessed May 6, 2024. https://www.heartofallohp.com. ↩
  9. Andrews, Thomas G. “Turning the Tables on Assimilation: Oglala Lakotas and the Pine Ridge Day Schools, 1889-1920s.” The Western Historical Quarterly 33, no. 4 (2002): 407–30. https://doi.org/10.2307/4144766. ↩
  10. Mejia, Melissa. “The U.S. History of Native American Boarding Schools.” The Indigenous Foundation. July 26, 2022, www.theindigenousfoundation.org/articles/us-residential-schools. ↩