On view October 14 – November 8, 2024
Presented in partnership with the Indigenous Engagement in Place Initiative
The 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee was a defining moment in the centuries-long struggle for American Indian self-determination, and has become a world-wide emblem for Indigenous resurgence.
Designed by the Warrior Women Project to commemorate the occupation’s 50th anniversary, this exhibit draws upon two decades of oral history interviews and a range of archival material, casting new light on the ways in which Indigenous women forged a self-governed community and fought for Native rights in the American Indian Movement of the 1970s. The exhibit foregrounds the often forgotten women leaders at the center of this iconic resistance movement—and their fights for self-determination before and since. In so doing, the exhibit reveals that women initiated the occupation, coordinated logistics, fed the masses, and healed the wounded at the camp. They also coordinated the occupation’s communications strategy, founded the Independent Oglala Nation, and took up arms to protect it.
