Standing Rock Indian Reservation

"Standing Rock" redirects here. For other uses, see Standing Rock (disambiguation).

Standing Rock Indian Reservation straddles the border between North and South Dakota

The Standing Rock Indian Reservation is a Lakota, Yanktonai and Dakota Indian reservation in North Dakota and South Dakota in the United States. The sixth-largest reservation in land area in the United States, it comprises all of Sioux County, North Dakota, and all of Corson County, South Dakota, plus slivers of northern Dewey and Ziebach counties in South Dakota, along their northern county lines at Highway 20.

The reservation has a land area of 9,251.2 square kilometers (3,571.9 sq mi) and a population of 8,250 as of the 2000 census. The largest communities on the reservation are Fort Yates, Cannon Ball and McLaughlin. Other communities within the reservation include: Wakpala, Little Eagle, Bullhead, Porcupine, Kenel, McIntosh, Morristown, Selfridge, Solen.

Background

The Yanktonai and Dakota live in North Dakota; the Lakota live in South Dakota. The Upper Yanktonai people used a language called Ihanktonwana, which translates as "Little End Village." The Lower Yanktonai were called Hunkpatina in their language, meaning "Campers at the Horn" or "End of the Camping Circle". Thunder Butte, a prominent landmark, is along the border between the Standing Rock Reservation and the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. The Cheyenne River Lakota Nation were a nomadic people who lived in teepees year round. Their Plains Indian culture was based strongly upon horses and buffalo.

In the late 19th century, Sitting Bull was a highly respected Lakota war chief and medicine man who led the Lakota in years of resistance to the United States. He commanded forces, with the assistance of other leaders including Gall, that defeated General George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Not long after the battle, however, many of the Lakota and their allies moved to Canada. A group (including Gall) returned to the United States in 1881 after splitting with Sitting Bull, and were resettled on this reservation. After touring with a Wild West show, Sitting Bull returned to this reservation in 1890, but was shot dead at Fort Yates by a tribal policeman in a bungled confrontation possibly involving the Ghost Dance movement, and was buried there. In 1953 his remains were exhumed and reinterred on the reservation near his birthplace, at a site overlooking the Missouri River at present-day Mobridge, South Dakota. The tribal college, Sitting Bull College, established in the 1970s, was named in his honor. His people, the Hunkpapa (Húŋkpapȟa), mainly reside on this reservation. Húŋkpapȟa means "Head of the Circle", due to the tradition of their setting their lodges at the entryway to the circle during Sioux council.

Originally having a territory of 4 million acres (16,000 km²) when established in 1864, the reservation was reduced in size after the Indian Wars of the 19th century. This made more land available for sale to and development by European-American settlers.

Governance and districts

Standing Rock Administrative Service building, Fort Yates

According to its constitution, Standing Rock's governing body is the elected 17-member Tribal Council, including the Tribal Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, and 14 representatives: six at-large and eight from its regional districts:

• Fort Yates (Long Soldier)
• Porcupine
• Kenel
• Wakpala
• Running Antelope (Little Eagle)
• Bear Soldier (McLaughlin)
• Rock Creek (Bullhead)
• Cannonball

Flooding

In the 1960s, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation built five large dams on the Missouri River, and implemented the Pick–Sloan Missouri Basin Program, forcing Native Americans to relocate from flooded areas. Over 200,000 acres on the Standing Rock Reservation and the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota were flooded by the Oahe Dam alone. As of 2015, poverty remains a problem for the displaced populations in the Dakotas, who are still seeking compensation for the loss of the towns submerged under Lake Oahe, and the loss of their traditional ways of life.

Mascot issue with University of North Dakota

See also: Ralph Engelstad Arena

The athletic teams of the University of North Dakota (UND) are known as the Fighting Sioux. Controversy surrounding the use of Native American mascots prompted the NCAA to ban the use of "hostile and abusive" Native American mascots in August 2005. An exception was made to allow the use of tribal names if they are approved by that tribe. Since the Tribal Council of the Standing Rock Sioux has not approved UND's use of "Fighting Sioux", the ban applies. It prevents the university from hosting any championships and prohibits use of UND's team logo or nickname at any championship events.

In 2011 the North Dakota Legislative Assembly tried to circumvent the Association by passing House Bill No. 1263, which declares

"The intercollegiate athletic teams sponsored by the University of North Dakota shall be known as the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux....If the National Collegiate Athletic Association takes any action to penalize the University of North Dakota for using the Fighting Sioux nickname or logo, the attorney general shall consider filing a federal antitrust claim against that association."

Notable tribal members

• Vine Deloria, Jr. (1933–2005), activist and essayist
• Susan Power (b. 1961), novelist
• Tiffany Midge, poet
• Chase Iron Eyes, lawyer, activist and founder of American Indian news and media website LastRealIndians
• Chiefs of Standing Rock

External links

• Standing Rock website