American Experience

The Way West: The War for the Black Hills/Ghost Dance (7x9)

Air date: May 09, 1995

The third part examines the fight for the last remaining Native American territories. Included: the treaty-breaching plunder of the Black Hills of the Dakotas in 1873 in a search for gold; and the U.S. Army's defeat at the 1876 Battle of Little Big Horn. "The Way West" concludes with an examination of the crackdown on Native Americans following Custer's defeat, and their desperate fight to hold fast to their traditions and culture. Included: the tragic fates of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull; and the Government's banning of the "Ghost Dance," which led to the deaths of 250 Sioux in 1890 at the Battle of Wounded Knee.