The House approved legislation Wednesday that would facilitate a memorial for the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.
Lawmakers advanced H.R. 165, the “Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act,” by a 416-0 vote under suspension of the rules. The bill, from the Natural Resources Committee, passed in September 2023 but failed to become law.
The legislation would direct the Interior Department to place 40 acres of South Dakota land, where the massacre is believed to have taken place, into restricted fee status for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. The tribes have expressed interest in memorializing the massacre of Native Americans by United States soldiers.
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), the bill’s sponsor, said that the measure ensures that the two tribes “can retain their sovereignty to manage that land appropriately.”
