There are over 70,000 Lakota (Sioux) Native Americans living in South Dakota. Over 75 percent of these live on either the Rosebud or Pine Ridge Reservation. These two reservations cover over 2 million acres. Most of the Native Americans live here part-time or make frequent visits to maintain family ties and keep cultural traditions, but go to work and school in the urban communities.

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation covers about 1.8 million acres and is the second largest in the United States. Two-thirds of the reservation is in Shannon County, which is consistently noted as the poorest in the United States.

Alcoholism and infant mortality are very high, with unemployment at 85 percent.

Most activities center around the town of Pine Ridge, which is at the very southern edge of the reservation. Everything comes to life the first week of August for the Oglala Nation Powwow and Rodeo.

This is a three-day rodeo and a four-day powwow with drummers and dancers, softball, golf, and horseshoe pitching. The Red Cloud Indian Mission School, off US-18, has an art show with over 300 works from 30 different tribes.

There are also Indian Star quilts and a gift shop in which to buy authentic bead and quill work.

Wounded Knee is east of the town of Pine Ridge and is marked as a National Historic Site. This is where, according to the Sioux, the soul of their nation is buried. The Wounded Knee Massacre marked a major turning point in world history—it symbolized the end of almost 400 years of unrelenting war against the indigenous people of the Americas. Years after the Black Hills were given to the US government, the Sioux leaders resisted relocating to the reservations as the treaty dictated. Big Foot was a respected chief and encouraged his people to perform the Ghost Dance, a ritual which the Sioux believed would restore their old way of life. In 1890, Sitting Bull, a great spiritual leader of the Sioux, was killed on his reservation in north-central South Dakota. Chief Big Foot decided to journey to Pine Ridge to see Red Cloud, another Sioux chief, to discuss the mounting tensions among the people.

There were 350 men, women and children in the group, and one bitterly cold morning, on December 29, 200 members of the 7th Cavalry caught up with them and about 200 men, women, and children were massacred.

Major airlines and bus routes are available from Rapid City, the nearest center to the reservation.