Peter Davis photographs from Wounded Knee

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There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .

sova.nmai.ac.420

Place: Wounded Knee (S.D.) -- History -- Indian occupation, 1973; South Dakota -- Wounded Knee

Summary: This collection includes 37 color negatives (35mm) made by Peter Davis during the Wounded Knee Occupation on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota from Febuary 27-May 8, 1973.

Wounded Knee Occupation: The Wounded Knee Occupation was a 71-day protest from February 27-May 8, 1973. Approximately 200 Oglala Lakota and AIM activists took over the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota to oppose the corruption of tribal president Richard Wilson and the U.S. government's continued mistreatment of Native Americans. The site was chosen as a reminder of long, violent history between colonizers and local tribes. Multiple federal agencies, including the FBI and U.S. Marshals, surrounded the town with armored vehicles and snipers, and cut off supplies to try to force the protestors out of the town. The occupation ended after a young Oglala man died. Both sides agreed to disarm and discuss reinstating the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie. Two federal agents and two Native Americans were killed, and another 14 Native Americans were wounded during the occupation.

Citation: Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Peter Davis photographs from Wounded Knee, image #, NMAI.AC.420; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.

Processing Information: Processed by Rachel Menyuk, Processing Archivist, 2023

Rights: Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.

Scope and Contents: This collection contains 37 color photographic negatives taken during the Wounded Knee occupation. The images depict some of the landscape and buildings at Wounded Knee, armed protestors on horseback, armed federal agents guarding a roadblock, and camping areas. Photographs were taken by Peter Davis.

Restrictions: Access to NMAI Archives Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).

NMAI.AC.420

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sv43243f0e5-454d-46e9-9a20-7a4824248c32

NMAI.AC.420

NMAIA