1973 - AIM begins occupation of Wounded Knee, SD (ends in May)
In 1973, AIM activists barricaded themselves in the hamlet of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. They were alleged to have taken eleven hostages, which led to a seventy-one-day standoff with federal agents. In the ensuing trials most accused AIM members were acquitted.
The 1973 stand-off centered around a federal settlement of Pine Ridge's claim to the gold-rich Black Hills of South Dakota, as well as allegations of federal and tribal police brutality on the Pine Ridge Reservation and allegations of brutality by a tribal group affiliated with the tribe's government Guardians Of the Oglala Nation (GOONS).