Newswise — RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The massacre of nearly 300 Lakota men, women and children at the village of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, on Dec. 29, 1890, was the last significant clash between Native Americans and the U.S. Army. For Native Americans today, the slaughter of unarmed women and children dominates a painful history of U.S. government Indian policies centered on assimilation and genocide.
As the 125th anniversary of the Massacre of Wounded Knee approaches, scholars of Native American history at the University of California, Riverside are available to discuss the incident and its impact on Native Americans, their culture, and their relationship with the U.S. government. They are:
Clifford Trafzer, distinguished professor of history and Rupert Costo Chair in American Indian AffairsCell number available on [email protected] www.history.ucr.edu/People/Faculty/Trafzer/index.html
The Massacre at Wounded Knee is the great American tragedy, Trafzer says. He has written broadly about the event and the fear of the Ghost Dance, the significance of rumors about it, and “the killing of innocents. I have been to the mass grave site at Wounded Knee and have long regretted the Army awarding Medals of Honor to soldiers for killing women and children.”
Trafzer is the author of several books, including “A Chemehuevi Song,” “Comanche Medicine Man: Kenneth Coosewoon’s Great Vision, Blue Medicine & Sweat Lodge Healings,” “Renegade Tribe: The Palouse Indians and the Invasion of the Inland Pacific Northwest” and “Death Stalks the Yakama: Epidemiological Transitions and Death on the Yakama Indian Reservation, 1888-1964,” and co-editor of “The Indian School on Magnolia Avenue: Voices and Images from Sherman Institute.”
Robert Perez, associate professor of ethnic studiesCell number available on request[email protected] www.ethnicstudies.ucr.edu/people/faculty/perez/index.html
Perez focuses on American Indian history – including resistance movements toward the American, Spanish and Mexican governments – with an emphasis on California, the Southwest, Texas and northern Mexico. He is the author of “Incomplete Conquest of Sonora: History of Spanish Colonization and Indian Resistance.”
NOTE: Perez will not be available for interviews until Dec. 23.
RSS