07/28/2026
"THE GREAT SPIRIT MADE ME WHO I AM" — SITTING BULL AND THE FIGHT TO REMAIN LAKOTA
"I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man, he would have made me so in the first place."
— Sitting Bull (Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake)
Few figures in Native American history embody courage, cultural pride, and unwavering resistance as powerfully as Sitting Bull. To the Hunkpapa Lakota, he was more than a warrior. He was a spiritual leader, a protector of his people, and a man who refused to believe that Indigenous identity should ever be surrendered in exchange for survival.
The words associated with him are not a rejection of another people—they are a declaration that every nation, every culture, and every human being deserves the dignity of existing as they were created.
That belief lies at the heart of Indigenous history.
Long before the United States expanded westward, the Lakota Nation flourished across the Great Plains. Their lives were deeply connected to the buffalo, whose annual migrations provided food, clothing, shelter, tools, and spiritual meaning. The open prairie was more than a homeland—it was a living relative, entrusted to each generation with the responsibility to protect it for those yet to come.
Among the Lakota, wealth was not measured by how much land a person owned.
No one owned the prairie.
The people belonged to it.
Children grew up learning that courage meant defending the weak, generosity was a sign of true leadership, and every ceremony strengthened the relationship between humanity, the Creator, and the natural world. Elders taught history through stories, songs, and oral traditions, ensuring that each generation understood where they came from and what they owed to those who would follow.
This way of life faced unprecedented challenges during the nineteenth century.
As settlers, miners, and railroads pushed westward, treaties were signed, broken, and replaced with new agreements that steadily reduced Indigenous homelands. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills—known to the Lakota as Paha Sapa, one of their most sacred places—brought thousands of prospectors into territory that had been recognized by treaty as Lakota land.
For Sitting Bull, this was not merely a political dispute.
It was a sacred obligation.
He believed that the land given by the Creator could not be sold, traded, or abandoned simply because another nation demanded it.
In 1876, that conviction helped unite Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors during one of the most significant moments in Native American history: the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Under leaders including Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Gall, and others, Indigenous forces defeated Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry.
For many Native Nations, the battle represented more than a military victory.
It was proof that Indigenous sovereignty, courage, and unity could withstand overwhelming pressure, even if only for a moment.
Yet history reminds us that victories on the battlefield do not always change the course of governments.
In the years that followed, the United States committed even greater military resources to forcing Native Nations onto reservations. Buffalo herds—once numbering in the tens of millions—were systematically reduced to near extinction, undermining the economic and cultural foundations of Plains tribes. Families faced hunger, displacement, and relentless pressure to abandon their languages, ceremonies, and traditions.
Sitting Bull sought refuge in Canada for several years before eventually returning to the United States, where he surrendered in hopes of protecting his people from starvation.
Even then, he remained a symbol of Indigenous independence.
His popularity worried federal officials, who viewed his influence as a threat during a period of growing support for the Ghost Dance movement. In December 1890, Sitting Bull was killed during an attempted arrest on the Standing Rock Reservation.
Just weeks later, the tragedy at Wounded Knee would claim the lives of hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children, marking one of the darkest chapters in American history.
Many believed Indigenous cultures would disappear.
They were wrong.
The Lakota language is still spoken.
Sacred ceremonies continue.
Traditional songs are still sung.
Young Indigenous leaders are reclaiming their history, protecting sacred sites, revitalizing their languages, and teaching future generations that being Native is not a relic of the past—it is a living identity.
Today, Native Nations across North America continue to defend treaty rights, preserve cultural traditions, strengthen tribal sovereignty, and protect lands and waters that remain central to their communities. Their work reminds us that Indigenous history did not end in the nineteenth century.
It continues every single day.
Sitting Bull's words endure because they speak to something universal.
Every culture deserves respect.
Every language carries wisdom.
Every people have the right to remember who they are without being told they must become someone else.
His life reminds us that cultural identity is not something to be hidden.
It is something to be honored.
When we study Native American history, we do more than remember the past. We recognize the resilience of Nations that survived war, displacement, broken treaties, and forced assimilation—yet still carry forward the teachings of their ancestors with remarkable strength.
Perhaps that is Sitting Bull's greatest legacy.
Not that he resisted change for its own sake.
But that he believed no society should be asked to erase its identity in order to deserve respect.
That message remains just as meaningful today as it was nearly 150 years ago.
If Sitting Bull could speak to the world today, what lesson do you think he would ask us never to forget about identity, freedom, and the responsibility to protect our cultures? Share your thoughts below and help keep Indigenous history alive.
