ABSTRACT
This chapter traces a sequence of events that illustrate the challenges and changes that Plains Indians faced because of the intrusion of non-Indians into their territories. The early decades of the nineteenth century formed a prelude to total conquest. In these years the Plains tribes dealt mainly with each other in ever-shifting plays for access to good hunting and trade. The early reservation years spanning the late nineteenth and beginning twentieth century were grim times. Tribal populations, which had been on the decline since the great epidemics and eruption of all-out war, plummeted once the remaining Plains peoples were concentrated and kept immobile. Poverty and poor health were still everywhere in Plains Indian communities in the 1920s. During this era many Plains Indians still lived in canvas tents. World War II was a turning point in the history of Plains Indian cultural life. Several Plains Indians stand out as influential in politics and the arts during the rise of self-determination.
