Biography
Gladys Bissonette was an Oglala Lakota elder and a leader of the traditionalist opposition to Pine Ridge tribal chairman Dick Wilson. She helped convene the meeting that led to the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation, ran the occupation’s health clinic and negotiated with federal officials. Afterward she testified for the defense at the trial of Dennis Banks and Russell Means and later joined a civil lawsuit challenging the government’s use of military force at Wounded Knee. The sources reviewed do not show that she was charged or jailed for the occupation.
