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Chapter 12
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lakota Woman, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Activism and Resistance
Assimilation, Tradition, and Identity
Unity, Inclusion, and Equality
Racism and Sexism
Summary
Analysis
Mary describes her beloved friend Annie Mae as a kind-hearted woman and a force to be reckoned with. Annie Mae was diligent, hard-working, and eager to help—both around the home and in the community as an AIM activist and a director for various Native American youth and anti-alcohol organizations. Annie Mae was a wonderful friend, and she “did not deserve to die.”
Mary describes Annie Mae as a woman who embodied indigenous solidarity—she was someone who offered her time and talent to a variety of organizations that served Native American communities. It is clear that Mary loved and admired her friend for her incessant activism and efforts to improve the social and economic problems that Native Americans struggled with.
Themes
Mary provides Annie Mae’s backstory. A Micmac woman, Annie Mae’s experience living on a reserve in Canada was very similar to Mary’s childhood. As Mary puts it, the poverty, harassment from law enforcement, and tumultuous family life are common for many Native American women.
Mary draws parallels between her and Annie Mae’s life experiences to show how Native American women face unique problems because of the combination of racism and misogyny. Like Mary, Annie Mae struggled with poverty, a difficult family environment, and predatory law enforcement.
Themes
Annie Mae left her reserve at the age of 17. She went to Boston, where she married a Micmac man named Jake Maloney. Jake abused Annie Mae, and Annie Mae eventually divorced him, won custody of their children, and left him. Shortly afterward, Annie Mae joined AIM to fight for Native American rights.
Annie Mae was also a victim of domestic abuse, a problem that Native American women suffer at a disproportionately high rate, particularly in comparison to white women.
Themes
Around 1972, Annie Mae fell in love with another Native American man named Nogeeshik Aquash. They were both dedicated to the AIM cause and often worked together. Like Mary, they were both at the siege of Wounded Knee, where they got married. Unfortunately, Nogeeshik was mentally and physically abusive to Annie Mae. After splitting up and getting back to together several times, she left him for good after he broke the sacred pipe that they were married with.
Annie Mae was abused in her second marriage as well. The domestic abuse that she suffered throughout her life speaks to how Native American women experience domestic abuse at disproportionately high rates.
Themes
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After leaving Nogeeshik, Annie Mae moved onto Mary and Leonard’s land, where she built a tipi and lived simply. She was always generous with her possessions, often casually adding that the government would kill her soon, anyway. As she told Mary, “I’ve fought too hard […] They won’t let Indians like me live.”
Annie Mae’s decision to live simply in a tipi reflects a desire to live more traditionally, even though the traditions she was adhering to were Lakota, and not necessarily Micmac (traditionally, Micmac people lived in wigwams). All the same, given her wish to live in a tipi, it appears that she valued the opportunity to embrace the culture of another indigenous tribe. It is also clear that political activism was extremely important to Annie Mae—the fact that she was willing to die for her political beliefs suggests that she found activism validating and empowering.
Themes
At this time, many Native American civil rights activists were brutally murdered, with the government rarely investigating these deaths. On Pine Ridge, where tribal chairman Wilson “had established a regime of terror,” the homicidal violence reached such a level that it is estimated that about 250 people were murdered between 1973 and 1975. The reservation had a population of just 8,000 people at the time. Among the many activists who were mysteriously murdered was Pedro Bissonette, whom the police shot for supposedly “resisting arrest.”
Pine Ridge suffered from internal political division. Mary has described Wilson as an extremely corrupt tribal chairman who exploited his position for power and money. The violence that he and his supporters wreaked on Pine Ridge was devastating, as homicide violence increased to shocking rates. The implication is that division within the tribe—in this case, one man and his supporters working with the U.S. government for their own benefit—hurts the entire tribal community.
Themes
Mary emphasizes how no one felt safe at this time. In addition to Wilson’s murderous goons, the FBI infiltrated AIM with spies and informers, which only added to the paranoia. Leaders began suspecting one another; Annie Mae became one of the people whom certain AIM leaders began to suspect. One night, Annie Mae cried to Mary, begging her to protect her truthful legacy after her death.
The FBI also caused division within AIM—they planted spies and informers within the movement, causing people to suspect each other. Mary shows the individual impact that this division caused by depicting Annie Mae’s distress when people began to accuse her of being an FBI informer.
Themes
The situation worsened after a violent confrontation between Native American activists and FBI agents that resulted in the deaths of one Native American and two FBI agents. Annie Mae’s close friend Leonard Peltier was a wanted man after this incident, even though the evidence against him was flimsy. Shortly thereafter they started looking for Annie Mae.
Mary reveals one of the double-standards within the U.S. justice system: while the government didn’t examine many of the suspicious deaths that took place on Pine Ridge, they deeply investigated the deaths of the two FBI agents. This passage also sheds light on the dangers of being an activist—by being important members of AIM, Leonard Peltier and Annie Mae attracted the FBI’s attention.
Themes
In 1975, about 180 government agents stormed the Crow Dogs’ property to arrest Annie Mae, who was staying with Mary and Leonard Crow Dog at the time. Once they arrested Annie Mae, they questioned her about Peltier and other matters, all the while telling her that she would die—sooner or later—if she didn’t cooperate. When she refused to answer their questions, the agents let her go. She briefly returned to Mary and Leonard’s, where she told Mary that the agents were watching her, hoping that she’d lead them to Peltier. The next time Mary saw her was in South Dakota, where she (Annie Mae) went to support Mary and Leonard during his trial.
Again, Mary illustrates how Annie Mae was risking her life for her political beliefs and activism. In this instance, government agents threatened her to try to get her to reveal another AIM member’s whereabouts. Even knowing that government agents were following her, Mary suggests that Annie Mae never stopped fighting for AIM, which again shows her dedication to the cause and indicates that she found political resistance and activism rewarding in their own right—even in the face of danger.
Themes
In November 1975, Annie Mae vanished. In early March 1976, her body—which bore signs of rape—was found on Pine Ridge Reservation. The FBI cut off her hands for lab identification, even though they could have taken fingerprints at the crime scene. After identification, the FBI announced that she had died of exposure, even though there were no drugs or alcohol in her system to suggest that she passed out. Suspicious of this report, Annie Mae’s friends and family exhumed the body and performed another autopsy. During this autopsy, they discovered a bullet in her skull, suggesting that she had been killed execution style.
Annie Mae’s rape, suspicious death, and mutilation are reflective of the sexual and physical violence that plagues Native American women. Mary suggests that it was U.S. government officials who killed Annie Mae, presumably because of her political activism. In addition to the potential murder, Annie Mae’s rape and mutilation (FBI agents needlessly cut off her hands) show how the officials did not respect Annie Mae, living or dead. The implication is that Annie Mae’s race and gender made her a target for sexual violence and degradation.
Themes
Shifting to the present, Mary mourns the loss of her dear friend Annie Mae, who had sacrificed herself for the AIM cause.
Mary again recalls Annie Mae’s dedication to AIM and Native American civil rights, honoring her for her kindness, selflessness, and activism. Mary’s appreciation for Annie Mae’s work supports the idea that activism is inspiring and preferable to compliance or passivity.
Themes
