Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West

Within many Native American cultures, this term refers to God. The Great Spirit was thought of as the Supreme Being—a benevolent creator who cared for and guided people. However, it should not be assumed that the Indigenous theologies of the Great Spirit are an exact parallel with God as understood in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Many Native American cultures were not monotheistic; aspects of pantheism, panentheism, and nature spirituality were frequent elements of Native American religion.

Within Brown’s text, the standard way to refer to people of Native American descent is “Indian,” following accepted conventions at the time of its writing. The term derives from the initial period of European exploration of the Americas, which at first had been erroneously supposed to be an extension of the Indies (that is, eastern and southern Asia). Later conventions tended to opt for other terms, such as “Native American,” “Indigenous,” or (particularly in Canada) “First Nations.” Nevertheless, “Indian” remains in regular use, both as part of official governmental nomenclature as well as a self-referential term among Native American peoples, so its use in the text aligns with Brown’s overall method of using nomenclature as it was used by the Native American populations themselves.

Throughout the period covered in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1860-1890), the US government’s institutional response to Native American affairs evolved. In the early part of the period, officials were designated as “Indian agents” and sent out to be the liaisons between particular Native American nations and the US government. These officials had the administrative authority to lead negotiations, authorize trading exchanges, and distribute goods and services. The outposts from which they worked provided a centralized location, referred to as the Indian agency, which was a precursor to later developments in the reservation system.

This term is the historical designation for the permanent reservation for Native American populations of the land in the current state of Oklahoma. Indian Territory was used to resettle deported populations from both the east and the west, including the Cherokee nation and the southern Cheyenne group. In a broader sense, before being linked with Oklahoma, the term “Indian Territory” encompassed a wide geographic area that had at various times been promised to Native American nations for their exclusive use, including most of the American West.