The artifacts being returned were given to the Smithsonian between 1891 and 1964. They include six Ghost Dance shirts, a saddle, a whip, a war club, a peace pipe, a leather bag, a medicine man's ceremonial stick, a doll, a child's cap and a child's moccasin, among other items. LeBeau said the eventual disposition of the objects would be a private matter for the Sioux themselves to determine. Disposition is not part of repatriation. It is not a condition of repatriation.
Disposition is exclusive to the tribes and the lineal descendants.
Acting on behalf of the Wounded Knee Survivors Association and Sioux tribal organizations in South Dakota and four other states, LeBeau's group initiated a claim for repatriation of the artifacts in 1994, after being informed of their existence by Killion's staff. I know it sounds melodramatic when it comes out that way, but it's the truth. A lot of non-Indians can't understand. It's because it's our past that tells us who we are, and it's knowledge of the past that will set up the road that we are going to take into the future. We can't get anywhere until we know where we came from, and how things got stopped.