Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lakota Woman, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Activism and Resistance
Assimilation, Tradition, and Identity
Unity, Inclusion, and Equality
Racism and Sexism
Summary
Analysis
Mary doesn’t consider herself a revolutionary—all she wants is for her people to be able to live their lives in peace, away from government interference. It is the government that prompts people to militancy, as government officials never accept the demands of people who politely ask. Even if one doesn’t accomplish much with militancy either, at least it makes them feel better. The Occupation of Wounded Knee was an example of this—it wasn’t intended to cause militancy.
Mary argues that the government creates revolutionaries when it refuses to respect the requests that people politely ask for. The implication is that, because the government refuses to concede power to those who peacefully request it, they force people to take extreme action to achieve their political goals. While Mary concedes that sometimes militant activism doesn’t accomplish the desired political change, either, she says that, at the very least, it makes a person feel empowered.
Themes
Mary interjects to explain the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, as it played a major role in the Occupation of Wounded Knee. This Reorganization Act was the federal government’s attempt to force a democratic government on each Native American nation. Although Mary believes that it was meant to help Native Americans, it actually did more harm than good.
Mary argues that the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 was another method of forced assimilation to white society that the U.S. government implemented on Native American tribes. Although she believes that the officials who created the Act had good intentions—they believed that Native Americans would benefit from having a democratic government modeled after the U.S.’s government—it actually had more negative effects than positive ones, making it additional evidence of how forced assimilation is devastating to the societies that undergo it. The Act also reflects the racism of the U.S. government, who assumed that indigenous nations had inferior forms of government because their systems of governance were different from white America’s.
Themes
For one, the Act undid the traditional forms of government that each tribe already operated by. Additionally, the Native American politicians who installed themselves in these governments were generally more loyal to the federal government than to their own people. Tribes began to divide themselves between those who were friendly to the new government and those who refused to accept it. On top of this, the tribal governments had very little power—it was the white superintendent who was really in control.
Mary details the problems with the Act. First, like with other methods of forced assimilation, the Act stripped tribes of their traditional forms of government, systems that the tribes knew, trusted, and relied on. Forcing a new form of government upon Native Americans meant that each tribe had to undergo the pain of altering the way they operated; not only were cultural traditions lost, but the Act risked internal disaster for each tribe, as white America’s form of democracy was not an automatic improvement for tribes, each of whom had their own systems of governance that already worked. The Act also divided tribal members, as some people decided to cooperate with the U.S. government and assimilate to white America’s democracy, while others refused to adapt. The internal tribal division only helped the U.S. government assume more control over each tribe, as they now had less resistance from those who cooperated with the Act. Those who assumed political positions within the new governments developed a vested interest in making the Act work—the power and support they received from the U.S. government often encouraged these politicians to serve the U.S. government before the people of their tribes. The U.S. also benefited from having people cooperate because the white superintendent was actually the person who held the most power in these new tribal governments, so cooperating with the Act meant handing power directly to white U.S. officials. The implication is that division between Native Americans—with individuals agreeing to cooperate with the U.S. government for their own benefit—typically harms indigenous communities while benefitting white America.
Themes
Dicky Wilson, the tribal president of Pine Ridge (an Oglala Lakota reservation that borders Rosebud Indian Reservation), was a particularly corrupt tribal president. He abused funds, banned free speech, practiced nepotism, and rigged elections. He even had a group of militants—known as “the goons”—that committed violence against those who opposed him. Eventually, the Lakota traditionalists who opposed Wilson’s regime founded the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO). It was led by Pedro Bissonette, a man who became one of Mary’s friends.
Dicky Wilson is an example of one Native American man who exploited the new form of government to accumulate power for himself, much to the detriment of the people he was supposed to serve. Mary details several of the ways he abused his power while acting as tribal president. Eventually, a group of Oglala traditionalists decided to fight back against Wilson and his regime, which Mary suggests was the right thing to do, once again showing a preference for resistance over passivity.
Themes
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Around this same time, AIM members gathered in nearby Rapid City to protest the discrimination and police brutality against Native Americans. It was during this protest that Dennis Banks, one of the AIM leaders, announced that a white man had stabbed a Lakota man named Wesley Bad Heart Bull to death. The trial would take place in Custer. Just the name of the city was provocation enough: Custer was not only named after the man who waged war against the Lakota for years, but it was also built on a sacred site.
In this passage, AIM members took action to try to mitigate the oppression that they face. Mary illustrates how their activism serves as an outlet for their collective rage—they are moved to protest when they discover that the murder trial will take place in a city that represents the anti-indigenous racism and hostility of white society. The implication is that actively protesting the discrimination that they face makes the AIM activists feel more empowered.
Themes
Several hundred AIM activists drove to Custer that February of 1973. When they arrived at the courthouse, the district attorney announced that the man who killed Wesley Bad Heart Bull was charged with second-degree manslaughter, a meager charge that felt like an insult to the gathered protestors.
Second-degree manslaughter is a much lighter charge than murder. Therefore, the manslaughter charge indicated that the death of Wesley Bad Heart Bull wasn’t deliberate, which cheapens the weight of the tragedy while setting a precedent that the murders of Native Americans are not taken as seriously as the murders of white people. The reduced charge infuriated the protestors and validated their activism as they saw that the U.S. justice system would not give Native Americans justice if left to its own devices. To make the system change, they would have to fight for it.
Themes
As the AIM protestors tried to enter the courthouse, the police beat the protestors—including Sarah Bad Heart Bull, the mother of the murdered man. While some of the older activists tried to calmly reason with the government officials, the police continued to attack them with clubs. In response, the AIM activists started rioting, breaking store windows and setting fire to the courthouse and Chamber of Commerce. The fighting lasted for hours and resulted in the arrests of many Native Americans, including Sarah Bad Heart Bull, whose son’s murderer was later acquitted.
The courthouse incident illustrates how those in power easily squash peaceful demands for change. Here, the activists who tried to politely discuss with officials received brutal beatings in return. In this case, the protestors’ rioting didn’t change anything, either—Wesley Bad Heart’s Bull’s murderer was eventually acquitted—but Mary doesn’t express any regret for AIM’s actions, which suggests that she is nonetheless glad that she and the other AIM activists expressed their anger and discontent with the system, as opposed to quietly accepting it. Meanwhile, Sarah Bad Heart Bull’s arrest shows the racism and double standard of the U.S. justice system, in which a grieving indigenous mother is imprisoned while her son’s murderer walks free.
Themes
When Mary and the other AIM activists who weren’t arrested returned to Rapid City, they received calls from OSCRO. OSCRO needed help: Wilson’s goons were attacking and killing many of his Lakota opposers. So, Mary and her fellow activists drove to Pine Ridge, where Wilson and his goons were backed by U.S. marshals and other armed law enforcement.
Even though the AIM activists didn’t really achieve anything by rioting in Custer, they were not deterred from future action—as soon as OSCRO informed them that they (OSCRO) needed AIM’s help, the AIM activists made their way to Pine Ridge to stand by the OSCRO activists. AIM’s ready willingness to continue fighting against the oppression that Native Americans face—even after an experience that proved that activism may not succeed in changing anything—shows that activism has a moral component. Resistance seems to empower people, regardless of outcome, so even in the face of failure, the AIM activists continued to fight for their cause. Additionally, AIM’s coming to OSCRO’s support is an example of unity between different indigenous social justice groups. Even though their exact missions were different, it is likely that both groups had a better chance of advancing indigenous civil rights if they worked together.
Themes
The AIM activists drove to a community hall outside of Pine Ridge where OSCRO members often met. There, people from AIM and OSCRO mingled with Lakota chiefs and medicine men, all deliberating how to take a stand against Wilson and the government agents who supported him.
By working together, AIM and OSCRO ensured that they would have each other’s support as they protested U.S. governmental abuses against Native Americans. Although the scopes of their missions were different—for example, OSCRO focused specifically on the plight of Pine Ridge Native Americans, while AIM espoused the issues that all Native Americans faced—they were both fighting to change the anti-indigenous racism and inequalities within the U.S. government.
Themes
Mary interjects to say that, when she joined the caravan to go to the community hall, she didn't realize that she would be part of a historic act—she simply joined along because that was her lifestyle at the time. But as she listened to the elders discuss what to do, it dawned on her that she was living in a historic moment—this realization thrilled her.
Mary’s lifestyle was one of resistance and activism, even though she knew that her actions wouldn’t necessarily ensure lasting change. The implication is that fighting against oppression felt empowering and motivated her regardless of results. But, in this moment, Mary felt a premonition that she was part of something historic—she believed that significant change would come from the protest they were planning.
Themes
At this point, the AIM and OSCRO leaders were realizing that they couldn't storm Pine Ridge—it was too well-defended by Wilson and the armed law enforcement. Suddenly, one of the older women (Mary can't remember if it was Ellen Moves Camp, Gladys Bissonette, or another woman activist) suggested that they make their stand at Wounded Knee. She added that the men could keep talking—they, the women, wouldn’t hesitate to occupy it.
Mary makes it clear that it was a woman who recommended that AIM and OSCRO occupy Wounded Knee while the men couldn’t decide on what to do. She gives women the credit for thinking of the site for the historic protest and for prompting the men to action. Yet the fact that Mary can’t quite remember who first aired the idea suggests that this woman didn’t receive the attention and credit that she deserved—her role in the occupation was forgotten as male activists took the lead. The implication is that, while many male leaders get attention for their role in civil rights movements, female leaders are frequently overlooked.
Themes
Wounded Knee, known as Cankpe Opi in the Lakota language, is a significant site for Native Americans, particularly the Lakota, as it is there that Custer's Seventh Cavalry massacred hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children. The massacre is part of Mary's family history, both on Leonard's side and her own: they each had relatives who were nearby the site during the massacre.
Similar to the protest in Custer, the decision to occupy Wounded Knee reveals the emotional nature of activism. Wounded Knee is the site of historic trauma for the Lakota people: the Wounded Knee Massacre took place there in 1890. The implication is that protesting at Wounded Knee would be a way to express some of the rage and grief that the Lakota have carried since the massacre.
Themes
Before the AIM and OSCRO activists drove to Wounded Knee, Leonard and Wallace Black Elk (another medicine man) prayed for them with their pipe. Then the caravan started out to Wounded Knee, where they arrived on February 27, 1973. Upon arrival, the crowd of protestors stood silently, each in their own thoughts yet also united, feeling the presence of those who had been murdered. At this moment, as she considered the historical significance of the stand that they were about to make, Mary inwardly decided that she would have her baby at Wounded Knee—she was eight months pregnant at the time.
Mary continues to stress the emotional impact of occupying Wounded Knee—while there, the activists felt the presence of those who had died. The weight of the tragedy that took place there appears to have strengthened the resolve of the activists; although they could not change the horrors that happened in the past, protesting the U.S. government’s treatment of the Lakota people would perhaps be a way to express and unleash the fury and grief that they (the activists) felt. Mary’s private decision to commit to the occupation despite being eight months pregnant illustrates her dedication to the cause—it is clear that participating in the occupation makes her feel empowered.
Themes
The activists jumped into action. They dug trenches, made bunkers, and counted their weapons. They had only 26 guns, which they knew was a meagre amount compared to what they'd face from the opposing side. As Mary puts it, the activists' "message to the government was: 'Come and discuss our demands or kill us!'"
The activists’ commitment to the occupation—even though they knew that they were risking death—shows that resisting has a moral value in addition to its political value. In other words, not only can resistance bring about political change, but the act also strengthens resistors’ resolve and commitment to one another, no matter what its political results turn out to be.
Themes
