On this day in 1973, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, 200 Sioux Natives, led by members of the American Indian Movement (AIM), occupied Wounded Knee.

And Wounded Knee Is...? The site of the infamous 1890 massacre in which 300 Sioux were killed by the US Seventh Cavalry. (See Today Only for December 29)

And AIM Is... The American Indian Movement. It was founded in 1968 by Russell Means, Dennis Banks, and other Native leaders as a militant political and civil rights organization.

Back to Wounded Knee. The 200 Natives and AIM members were demonstrating against the elected council head of the Pine Ridge Reservation ~ Richard (Dick) Wilson. The charges? That Wilson's administration was corrupt, and that it silenced its critics by intimidation and violence.

Wilson Rule. The Sioux traditionalists at Pine Ridge did not accept the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) government as represented by Wilson. They called AIM for help when Wilson and his administration began beatings and shootings to enforce "Wilson rule."

Tensions Mount. Tensions between protesters and the local authorities grew. The situation turned into a siege of the town. Over 2,000 Natives from the surrounding area joined the movement, which lasted 71 days.

The Feds... Three hundred federal marshals and FBI agents equipped with guns and armored personnel carriers responded.

Declaration. On March 12, the Natives declared Wounded Knee a sovereign territory of the new Oglala Sioux Nation, as per the Laramie Treaty of 1868. The Laramie Treaty of 1868 recognized the Sioux as an independent nation.

AIM Demands. Russell Means demanded that the US Senate launch an investigation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and all Sioux reservations in South Dakota. He also insisted that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hold hearings on the multitude of Indian treaties that the US government had broken over the years.