Lakota Woman

Crow Dog describes her friend Annie Mae Aquash, “a rock to lean on, a rock with a lot of heart” (187). Originally from Nova Scotia, at age seventeen she moved to Boston, where she married and had two children, living “like a white middle-class housewife” (188) until her husband turned abusive. A member of AIM, Annie Mae takes part in the BIA building takeover and also Wounded Knee. She marries again, this time “in the Indian way” (190), but she divorces her second husband after he, too, beats her. She stays for a time at Crow Dog’s Paradise and takes leadership positions in AIM. She also travels frequently to join protests. 

When someone at Crow Dog’s Paradise steals her jewelry, Annie Mae states she doesn’t need it. She gives all her possessions to Crow Dog, believing her dedication to her cause will bring her an early death. 

Meanwhile, violence continues at neighboring Pine Ridge Reservation under the “regime of terror” (192) of Wilson, the tribal chairman, and “the violence spilled over onto Rosebud” (193). Annie Mae goes to Pine Ridge to help Wilson’s opponents and is there when a shootout with the FBI leaves two agents and one Sioux man dead.