Seizure of the Black Hills

[5] The Sioux tribes eventually managed to purchase a portion, 1,900 acres (3.0 sq mi) out of the total 6,000 square miles of disputed land in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, in November 2012 which included the sacred Pe' Sla site.

[14] The Great Sioux Reservation, including the Black Hills, was "set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians"[15] in the Fort Laramie Treaty of April 29, 1868.

The sculpture is designed to symbolize the culture, tradition and living heritage of North American Indians[18] although its construction has been controversial within the tribe.

[21] For the Lakota, the Black Hills were frequently used for the individual vision quests, and through them some people even learned ritual and songs of the Sun Dance.

[23] The land has significant resources and minerals, which was the primary driver for its seizure in the mid-1800s, and an important factor in why many people oppose its return to the Lakota.

[33] As a result, the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851) was formed to establish land rights and maintain peace between travelling miners and the Cheyenne, Sioux, Arapaho, Crow, Assiniboine, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara nations.

[29] However, a United States military war against Red Cloud proved to be a victory for the Sioux, which resulted in the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868).

However, the Sioux did not face intruders until Brevet Major General George Armstrong Custer and his army entered the Black Hills in 1874 and publicly announced their discovery of gold.

[34] Accordingly, the United States unilaterally imposed the Manypenny Agreement, claimed the land, and officially removed the Black Hills from the Sioux Reservation by passing the Congressional Act of February 28, 1877.

(19 Stat., 254)[34][35][36][37] Congress passed an appropriations bill in February 1851 to allow Commissioner of Indian Affairs Luke Lea to negotiate with the Native Americans living on the Black Hills.

[38] The Fort Laramie Treaty was developed to prevent further harm of the natural resources in the Black Hills that were damaged by miners travelling to California.

Soldiers under the command of Captain William Fetterman at Fort Kearny retaliated but were all killed by a small Sioux army led by Red Cloud.

"[47] Article 12, which remains standing today, declared that future land cessions would require the signatures of at least three-fourths of native American occupants.

[48] Shortly after the signing of the treaty, two tribes residing near Republican Fork killed several white settlers, who were illegally encroaching on Sioux land.

[49] After the defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876, Congress responded by attaching what the Sioux call the "sell or starve" rider (19 Stat.

176, enacted August 15, 1876) which cut off all rations for the Sioux until they terminated hostilities and ceded the Black Hills to the United States.

[52] Also, Article 7 states that only full blood Indians residing on the reservation are allowed to the agreements and benefits from this act as well as past treaties.

[34] This act was also in violation of Article 12 of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty and consequently became a central point of contestation for land rights over the Black Hills.

[57] The United States Court of Claims on June 13, 1979, in a 5–2 majority, decided that the 1877 Act that seized the Black Hills from the Sioux was a violation of the Fifth Amendment.

"[65] On July 18, 1981, Mario Gonzalez filed a lawsuit asking for 7,300,000 acres (11,400 sq mi) of the Black Hills in South Dakota and $11 billion in damages.

"[66] A New York Times article "Around the Nation: Appeal Court Rejects Suit, By Indians Over Black Hills" on June 3, 1981, stated that a United States Federal appeals court denied the terms of the lawsuit and ruled that the Indian Claims Commission was the only mechanism Congress has authorized for hearing land cases of this type, and it was now terminated.

[67] On October 6, Arthur Lazarus filed for attorney fees for himself and the two other lawyers, Howard Payne and Marvin J. Sonosky, who participated in the United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians but were never paid.

[68] However, many Sioux Indians disagreed with the awarded fees and believed that the lawyers deserved nothing because the tribes did not want money as a form of compensation.

At the time, the committee's coordinator stated that "the bill would give the Sioux all Federal land in the area, roughly two million acres.

In 1990, following input from Sioux elders, Matthew G. Martínez proposed a bill that would have returned the entire area designated by the treaty; this also died in committee.

However, on November 5, 2009, President Obama stated to the Native American population that "You deserve to have a voice," and "You will not be forgotten as long as I'm in this White House.

[81] Anaya met with tribes in seven states on reservations and in urban areas, as well as with members of the Obama administration and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

[85] On March 10, 2016, the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs informed the Great Sioux Nation (Oceti Sakowin) on March 10, 2016, of its decision to take Pe’ Sla, a 2,200 acres (3.4 sq mi) sacred site in the Black Hills of South Dakota, into federal Indian trust status.

[7] On March 14, four days after Pe' Sla was granted a Federal Indian trust, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux tribe released a statement which acknowledged that 1,900 acres (3.0 sq mi) of Pe' Sla (also known as Reynolds Prairie) was jointly purchased in 2012 by the Rosebud, Shakopee Mdewakanton, Crow Creek, and Standing Rock Sioux Tribes.