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Illustration of the Battle of Little Big Horn.

The True History of 'Custer's Last Stand'

We're talking about the Battle of Little Bighorn all wrong.
Poster for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show reenactment of Custer's last stand.

The Indians Win

Why have Americans been obsessed with this one loss rather than dozens of victories?
Red Horse's drawing of American soldiers on horseback

A Lakota Sioux Warrior's Eyewitness Drawings of Little Bighorn

The role of Red Horse's drawings in the historical narrative of the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Battle of Little Bighorn

In the Battle of Little Bighorn, Custer Makes His Last Stand

"Who shall blame the Sioux for defending themselves, their wives and children, when attacked in their own encampment and threatened with destruction?"

John Muir in Native America

Muir's romantic vision obscured Indigenous ownership of the land—but a new generation is pulling away the veil.

A History and Future of Resistance

The fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline is part of a centuries-long indigenous struggle against dispossession.
Poster for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
partner

Where the Buffalo Roam

How Buffalo Bill’s Wild West brought scenes from the American West to audiences around the globe.
Phil Little Thunder, a great-great-grandchild of the Lakota chief whose village was attacked in 1855.

How Recovering the History of a Little-Known Lakota Massacre Could Heal Generational Pain

The unraveling of this long-buried atrocity is forging a path toward reconciliation.
Cover of "A Great Disorder."

In Need of a New Myth

Myths to explain American history and chart a path to the future once helped to bind the country together. Today, they are absorbed into the culture wars.
Calvin Coolidge with Native American leaders.

A Century Ago, This Law Underscored the Promises and Pitfalls of Native American Citizenship

The 1924 Indian Citizenship Act sought to assimilate Native people into white society. But the legislation, signed by President Calvin Coolidge, fell short.
Illustration of Crazy Horse

How Would Crazy Horse See His Legacy?

Perhaps no Native American is more admired for military acumen than the Lakota leader. But is that how he wanted to be remembered?
Photo of Sitting Bull with an aerial view of the Yellowstone Basin in the background.

How Sitting Bull's Fight for Indigenous Land Rights Shaped the Creation of Yellowstone National Park

The 1872 act that established the nature preserve provoked Lakota assertions of sovereignty.
Oglala Lakota Chief Red Cloud in a formal portrait arranged by William Blackmore, whose hand is visible at right

The Power Brokers

A recent history centers the Lakota and the vast territory they controlled in the story of the formation of the United States.
Crowds at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.

The Largest Human Zoo in World History

Visiting the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis.
Military headstones for American Indians at the site of the Carlisle Indian School.

The U.S. Stole Generations of Indigenous Children to Open the West

Indian boarding schools held Native American youth hostage in exchange for land cessions.

Can Colonial Nations Truly Recognise the Sovereignty of Indigenous People?

The Lakota, like other groups, see themselves as a sovereign people. Can Indigenous sovereignty survive colonisation?

Who Speaks for Crazy Horse?

The world’s largest monument is decades in the making and more than a little controversial.
American Indian woman and children.

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

“Our cultures are not dead and our civilizations have not been destroyed. Our present tense is evolving as rapidly and creatively as everyone else’s.”

Confronting the Legacy of the Civil War: The Forgotten Front

One thing united the warring factions of the civil war: the doctrine of white supremacy and violence against Indians.
Photograph of Chief Iron Tail.

American Indians, Playing Themselves

As Buffalo Bill's performers, they were walking stereotypes. But a New York photographer showed the humans beneath the headdresses.

History of Survivance: Upper Midwest 19th-Century Native American Narratives

A series of objects of both Native and non-Native origin that tell a story of extraordinary culture disruption.

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