The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

In 1928, the US government released the Meriam Report, named for its lead investigator, Lewis Meriam. Meriam had worked as a statistician, particularly for the Census Bureau, before he was asked to conduct a study on the conditions of Indigenous people around the country.

Meriam assembled a team of experts in education, health, agriculture, law, economics, and other fields relevant to the study. Together, over seven months, they visited various locations, particularly hospitals, schools, and Indian agencies, in 22 states. They took another 30 months to review their data, which determined how Indigenous peoples had responded to a 40-year effort to assimilate them. The Meriam Report concluded that federal policy geared toward Indigenous peoples had been disastrous, resulting in poor health conditions and poverty.

In 1918, some tribes organized themselves formally to counteract the paternalism of the Office of Indian Affairs. At Red Lake Reservation, 21-year-old Peter Graves, a half-White and half-Ojibwe resident of the Leech Lake Reservation raised at Red Lake, was recruited to the Red Lake police force, and within five years he became police chief. He developed a good relationship with the Office of Indian Affairs and, in 1898, discouraged Red Lakers from joining Leech Lakers in an armed standoff against the US government, threatening them with being expelled from the tribe.