Slow Bull became a subchief of the Oglala Sioux Indians of South Dakota in 1878. This photograph illustrates many aspects of the differences that evoked outright hostility by the United States Government and continue to challenge our ability to protect the religious freedom of these native peoples. Their religion has no house of worship; their sacred place is the land; their rituals and practices, including ritual attire and adornment—from peace pipes to loin cloths to eagle feathers—challenge customary norms and sometimes even federal laws. Finally, their source of authority is a rich and multifaceted oral tradition and not a written text or canon.

These differences and others caused violent attempts to silence and extinguish the Indians. American Indians were harshly persecuted particularly in the late nineteenth century and their religious Ghost Dance ritual was brutally suppressed by the United States Army at the battle of Wounded Knee, where over 300 Oglala Sioux Indians were slaughtered in a single day.