Assignment: Lakota Woman

Book Exam #3: Lakota Woman Allison Brown HIST: 2290 | History of North American Indians Dr. Means 3 December, 2020 Mary Crow Dog’s memoirLakota Woman published in 1990 recounts her life as a member of the Brule Tribe of the Western Sioux on an impoverished South Dakota reservation, and later of her life as an activist in the American Indian Movement. Her book also provides insights faced throughout the Lakota, such as alcoholism and crime on the reservations, as well as an immense and unique culture, that has powerful impacts on her identity as a Lakota woman. In Crow Dog’s story, she is “a traditional Sioux woman steeped in the ancient beliefs of her people” (Crow Dog, 251) who must reconciles with her family and reservation history in order to confront the changing world around her.Through the memoir, four distinct sections of her life and similarities to the Lakota population as a whole can be created. First, the memoir examines Crow Dog’s childhood and education on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota. She is the daughter of a white father and a Sioux mother, throughout her childhood she accounts being harassed by both white people and Sioux alike, and as a result of this harassment Mary feels as though she doesn’t fully belong to one group or the other and on the reservation “... the general rule is that whoever thinks, sings, acts, and speaks Indian is a skin, a full-blood, and whoever acts and thinks like a white man is a half-blood or breed” (49). These problems of identity are only exacerbated by poverty, growing up in a oneroom home with no electricity or plumbing, and the frequent cultural tensions between her mother and grandmother over Christianity and changing cultures. From a young age, Crow Dog understands that as an American Indian she is treated differently from her white counterparts, but that as a biracial individual (a phrase that was not a common phrase) was more complex. This confusion and unclear identity is common amongst many Lakotas at the time and even more Native Americans today as more relationships and children are born biracial. Seemingly an element of pride for many today, to be part American Indian, struggles with identity are still 1 abundant for many, feeling caught between both cultures, not fully encompassed by either. Crow Dog recalls, “I am aniyeska, a breed, that’s what the white kids used to call me … My face is very Indian, and so are my eyes and my hair, but my skin is very light. Always I waited for the summer, for the prairie sun, the Badlands sun, to tan me and make me into a real skin” (9). The second part of her memoir touches on Crow Dog’s years, caught between childhood and adulthood. When she is home on her Reservation, she feels “aimless” and spends time abusing substances. Racism, ever present in her life, is noticed that in stores she and her friends are kept under a closer eye than other white customers. At the age of fifteen, she is sexually assaulted, and like many American Indian women, she doesn’t tell anyone aware that her beliefs would be doubted and her own reputation (wrongfully) tarnished. The theme of violence and sexual assault against Lakota women is strong throughout the novel. Starting with the description of her sister-in-law Delaphine found dead in the snow, with tears frozen on her face, her body broken and left by a drunken man to the death of her best friend in 1975. Annie Mae Aquash, a fellow AIM leader, was sexually assaulted and murdered under mysterious circumstances. This violence also reminds me of modern movements regarding missing and murdered American Indian women throughout the United States, the red hand across the mouth appearing as face paint during protests, and now on masks of protestors and New Mexican Senator Deb Hallan. The text then goes on to Crow Dog’s involvement with the American Indian Movement (AIM). She attends her first meeting in 1971 and is instantly interested in their beliefs and is inspired to learn more about her culture and traditions. She then begins to attend Peyote ceremonies, where she feels a connection with her ancestors, and achieves a sense of belonging within her community. Later, she then travels to join in the AIM movement for the Trail of Broken Treaties in Washington, D.C., which is a movement in part against the unpunished 2 murders of American Indian men. Later, Crow Dog travels to Rapid City to continue this protest at the trial of a white man who had murdered a Sioux man. The protest turns into a riot when AIM is blocked from the courthouse. AIM then turns their attention to the Pine Ridge Reservation, where a corrupted tribal chief’s political opponents are being killed. There, the movement is met with heavily armed government marshals and the FBI. At Wounded Knee, heavily pregnant Crow Dog is at the scene when gunfire erupts and several American Indians are killed in the conflict. After delivering her son, Pedro, despite the promises made by the government, she is arrested and Pedro separated from her for a time. The protests of AIM and the violence that erupted at Wounded Knee yet again ripples through the entire Lakota population. Ties are made between the violence there, and the aggression that has always been, and still is present towards American Indians. The Protests of the AIM remind me of those at Standing Rock, protesting against the Dakota-Access-Pipeline, and how their reservation too was occupied by outside United States forces. Also examined in her memoir is Crow Dog’s partnership with Leonard Crow Dog. She first hears him speak in 1971 at her first AIM meeting, after he persistently pursues her, the two are married and she moves to his home. At first Mary struggles to adjust to being the wife of a modern day medicine man, and struggles to be accepted into his family, being biracial and nonSioux speaking, her imposter syndrome briefly returns. But with time, she grows used to, and fond of their unique partnership and life. The same year Annie Mae Aquash is murdered (1975), Leonard is arrested by the FBI and is imprisoned. After two years of racism and isolation, he is released. The couple takes time to adjust to one another again, Leonard departs on a vision quest, and after participating in the Sun Dance, Mary feels “...wholly Indian” (260). Two broad strokes can be applied from their relationship, spouses being wrongly imprisoned, and the role that 3 ceremony plays to connect one with their identity. Throughout the text, Lakota society, and still in the modern day, the links between ceremony and a feeling of belonging within one’s community are clear. Mary feels the most connected with her culture when she’s learning about their religion or participating in the Sun Dance. This is the reason why today American Indian populations participate in Pow Wows and modern variations of the Sun Dance, the feeling of community is irreplaceable. In conclusion, Crow Dog’s memoir serves not only as an account of her (remarkable) varied life on the Rosebud Reservation as a Lakota woman, but also draws similarities to the Lakota nation as a whole and modern American Indians. Through these comparisons, it becomes known that often large problems, like substance abuse on reservations, violence against women, protests met with aggression, and struggles with identity are problems that have faced American Indians for centuries, and still continue to do so today. 4