From the Archives: 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee galvanized the modern American Indian Movement

Fifty years ago Sioux protesters led by members of the American Indian Movement occupied Wounded Knee — the site of the terrible 1890 massacre of 300 Sioux by the U.S. Seventh Cavalry — demanding better treatment from the government for Indians. Within hours, federal agents surrounded the town, beginning a 71-day standoff. WOUNDED KNEE, S.D.—Federal officers exchanged gunfire with up to 300 hostage-holding Indians and brought in armored personnel carriers today in an attempt to drive them from the historic settlement of wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Oglala Sioux...