Sitting Bull was a great
Lakota/Sioux warrior and chief whose story chronicles the dignity of native
peoples and the disastrous intersection of two cultures as wasichus
(white men) moved into their lands over the course of the nineteenth century.
In Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of His People, author and
illustrator S. D. Nelson, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in the
Dakotas, tells this story in the voice of Sitting Bull. At its best, the
relationship between native peoples and whites was uneasy; at its worst it
brought destruction of native culture and death to many. Sitting Bull relates
that though white men said they came in peace, trading posts turned into forts,
and buffalo that provided primary sustenance for native inhabitants became
prized by the newcomers only for their skins, threatening the existence of
whole native communities. Bloody battles and treaties marked the relationship
between native peoples and the U.S. government. Some agreed to the U.S.
treaties, living in designated areas and no longer hunting. Sitting Bull
resisted limitations on the ways of his Lakota people, speaking always of the
relationship to the land and its creatures as Wakan Tanka, the Great Mystery or
sacred spirit that sustains life. Ultimately, after General Custer was
overwhelmed in the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, Native Americans were
parceled into reservations; Sitting Bull went to the Standing Rock Agency in
North Dakota, dying by gunshot in 1890. Enormous complexities are contained in
this history, and it can be told from many points of view. The immediacy of
Nelson’s telling, through the words of Sitting Bull and dramatic artwork, will
engage readers in searingly important issues that remain a part of deep
national concerns. Maps and extensive endnotes amplify Sitting Bull’s story,
inspiring further exploration. Ages 9 up.
