We Decided…
c. 1975
Publisher
Akwesasne Notes
Artist
Bruce Carter
DIMENSIONS
23 1/4 x 17 1/2 in. (59.1 x 44.5 cm)
OBJECT NUMBER
PH.7650
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
United States
CREDIT LINE
Poster House Permanent Collection
KEYWORDS
Civil Rights, Man, Native American, Political, Protest, Wounded Knee

Intended to look like a woodblock print, this poster centers a dignified, calm, yet bound Native man in a traditional buffalo-bone breastplate (most commonly associated with the Comanche but broadly used throughout the Plains). Below the image, a quote from American Indian Movement leader Carter Camp (Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma) asserts that the threat of imprisonment was not powerful enough to deter Indigenous activists from fighting for their rights and those of future Native generations. In 1972, Camp organized the Trail of Broken Treaties takeover of the Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs. He and 500 others occupied and set fire to some of the offices, demanding that the government address issues like treaty rights, the termination of federal policies harmful to Native Americans, and the establishment of better living conditions. He then led the first wave of the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation on Pine Ridge Reservation, where this quote originates. At Wounded Knee, Camp and fellow organizers Dennis Banks and Russell Means seized the trading post, expelled Bureau of Indian Affairs staff, took 11 hostages, and held the site for 71 days to force recognition of Lakota sovereignty and expose government corruption. For his participation, Camp served 3 years in federal prison.

For inquiries about image licensing, please contact collections@posterhouse.org.

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