Before the Battle of Greasy Grass in 1874, gold was discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota, some 330 miles southeast. Custer laid claim to the discovery. This brought miners and prospectors to the area. The U.S. government constructed roads and railroads within the Great Sioux Nation breaching the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty—this breach sparked several conflicts with Custer and the U.S. Cavalry. When the Sioux and their allies defeated Custer and members of the 7th Cavalry, there was a call for swift retaliation. Two months later in August of 1876, the U.S. enacted “Sell or Starve” which withheld promised food rations from the tribes that defeated Custer and his men. The U.S. wanted the Black Hills—its gold and other resources. After suffering and starving, the Lakota relinquished their claim to their sacred lands: the Black Hills [Paha Sapa]. The Act of 1877 was another breach of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. A Congressional Act forced Indians onto reservations and the U.S. federal government took ownership of the Black Hills. Within the next few years, the Lakota and neighboring tribes faced the genocide of their culture, traditions, land—everything was gone. Sacred places like Wind Cave, Devil’s Tower, Black Elk Peak, and Six Grandfathers Mountain (now Mount Rushmore—named after a wealthy NY lawyer in 1885) were now in the hands of the Euro-Americans. The Six Grandfathers (Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe) was named by Lakota medicine man Nicolas Black Elk after a vision. “The vision was of the six sacred directions: west, east, north, south, above, and below. The directions were said to represent kindness and love, full of years and wisdom, like human grandfathers.” The granite bluff that towered above the Hills remained carved only by the wind and the rain until 1927 when Gutzon Borglum began his assault on the mountain. #fyp #Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe #lakotaland #landback #history - @vanessabuhnessuh