The rapid series of events in the last quarter of the nineteenth century brought tremendous change to the lives of the Plains peoples. These encounters and conflicts with Euro-Americans are often seen as symbols for all the hardships that Native Americans have confronted. In 1876 the Lakota and Cheyenne fought General George A. Custer in the Battle of Little Big Horn. The Lakota were forced to give up their sacred Black Hills to gold-mining interests by an act of Congress in 1877. The last buffalo hunt occurred in 1882. In 1890 Chief Big Foot and his band were brutally fired upon at Wounded Knee Creek.

The Lakota have continued to occupy a central role in the national political Indian movement of the last half of the twentieth century. Two were founding members of the American Indian Movement (AIM), the militant Indian rights group whose protests culminated in the occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973. The site at Wounded Knee has become a symbol of Native American desire for sovereignty based on the tribal system of values.

Although many Lakota have relocated from reservation to urban areas and despite daunting social and economic problems, including high unemployment and poor health care, the Lakota people continue a rich ceremonial and community life. Traditional Lakota values, the use of the Lakota language and an expressive artistic heritage remain strong.