ABSTRACT
On 27 February 1973, approximately 200 American Indian Movement (AIM) activists and local residents began an occupation—ultimately to last 71 days—of the village of Wounded Knee, SD, within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Within a short time, the Wounded Knee site was surrounded by an impressive show of government force: FBI agents and specially trained federal Marshals equipped with high-tech hardware provided, it was only later revealed, by the U.S. Army. Just as importantly, a virtual army of both domestic and international television and print reporters also surrounded the site.
