Photograph taken of shuffling boxes outside the Drawing Booth for the land opening at El Reno, Oklahoma..
The land runs had proven too chaotic so a lottery system was established for potential land seekers.
Omaha, Nebraska. May 1879. The courtroom was packed. On one side sat the United States Army attorneys. On the other sat Chief Standing Bear of the Ponca tribe, worn out and grieving.
A year earlier, the US government had forcibly removed the Ponca people from their home in Nebraska and marched them to a reservation in Oklahoma. The conditions were horrific. One-third of the tribe died from starvation and malaria. Among the dying was Standing Bear’s 16-year-old son, Bear Shield. On his deathbed, the boy made his father promise: "Do not bury me in this strange country. Take me home."
Standing Bear kept his word. In the dead of winter, he and 29 others walked 600 miles back to Nebraska, carrying the boy's bones. When they arrived, they were arrested by General George Crook. But General Crook was a soldier with a conscience. He didn't want to send them back. He secretly told the local newspapers, and a team of lawyers volunteered to help Standing Bear sue the government for his freedom.
The government’s argument was cold and simple: Under American law, an Indian was not a citizen. An Indian was not even a "person." Therefore, Standing Bear had no right to be in court. He was property of the government.
As the trial ended, Standing Bear was allowed to speak. He didn't use legal jargon. He stood up, facing the judge. He held out his right hand in front of him. He waited for the silence to settle. "That hand is not the color of yours," he said softly. "But if I prick it, the blood will flow, and I shall feel pain." He looked at the judge. "The blood is of the same color as yours. God made me, and I am a man."
The courtroom erupted in tears. Even General Crook was weeping. Days later, Judge Elmer Dundy issued his ruling. He ignored the government's protests and wrote a sentence that had never been written in US history: "The Indian is a 'person' within the meaning of the laws of the United States."
Standing Bear was free. He buried his son in the Niobrara River valley, proving that the law can be wrong, but the truth is undeniable.
