Pine Ridge Indian Reservation - Definition and Overview

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is a Lakota-Sioux Native American reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Most of the land comprising the reservation lies within Shannon County and the reservation occupies the two poorest counties in the U.S.

During the 1970's, the reservation was the site of numerous murders of those opposed to the tribal government installed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, many of which which were never investigated.

On June 26, 1975, the reservation was the site of an armed confrontation between American Indian Movement (AIM) activists and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in an event which became known as the Pine Ridge Shootout. It resulted the death of two FBI agents and the controversial extradition, trial, and conviction of the AIM member Leonard Peltier. This event is chronicled in the film Incident at Oglalla, a Robert Redford production.

The reservation is also the setting for the Chris Eyre movie Skins and the book On the Rez by Ian Frazier.

See also

• Pine Ridge, South Dakota

External link

• Reservation Profiles: Pine Ridge (http://www.airc.org/reservations/pineridge.html)
• FreePeltier.org's information on the 'Pine ridge Shootout' (http://www.freepeltier.org/peltier_faq.htm)