BADLANDS
SOUTH DAKOTA

Now both Indians and whites are
living in isolation in the Badlands,
forgotten communities
left to survive if they can.

B Y  D A N N Y  W I L C O X  F R A Z I E R

Rob Lawrence and his 7-year-old son, Zuya Cicala, on the morning after the Sun Dance at Red Shirt Table, Pine Ridge Reservation.
Buffalo Gap National Grassland.
Youth rodeo, Oglala, Pine Ridge Reservation. Lakota traditions as well as Western culture are strong throughout the reservation.
John Nuemann's self-described "dirt poor" horse and cattle ranch near Cactus Flat, South Dakota. Over most of the past decade, Nuemann struggled to survive eight-straight years of draught but has maintained his family's ranch just north of the Badlands National Park.
Friends gather to practice steer roping near Kadoka, South Dakota.
Backflip, Allen, Pine Ridge Reservation. Allen has been called the poorest town in America and is part of the Pine Ridge Reservation. Over 90 percent of Pine Ridge residents live below the federal poverty line, and the unemployment rate hovers between 85 and 90 percent.
Ponies after a storm, Neumann ranch, Cactus Flat, South Dakota. John and Julie Neumann take in unwanted horses and donkeys, nursing them back to health and selling some for a small profit.
John and Julie Neumann along with John's first cousin, Colten Triebwasser (center), have lunch before returning to work on the Neumann ranch near Cactus Flat, South Dakota.
Crying in the kitchen cupboard, Allen, Pine Ridge Reservation. Over 90 percent of Pine Ridge residents live below the federal poverty line, and the unemployment rate hovers between 85 and 90 percent.
Great Plains, southwestern South Dakota.
Julie Neumann gets dressed for a night of steer roping with friends. Traditional Western life still lives strong throughout the region surrounding the Badlands.
A boy plays in a creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Traditional life, including the Lakota language, are constantly challenged as elders pass and the reservation's youth embrace urban and gang culture.
Summer evening near Allen, Pine Ridge Reservation.
Selecting shirts, John and Julie Neumann, Cactus Flat, South Dakota.
Lakota youth play basketball during the Oglala Lakota Nation Pow Wow. Lakotas celebrate throughout late summer with Sun Dances and Pow Wows across the reservation.
Practicing steer roping, Kadoka, South Dakota. Traditional Western life still lives strong throughout the region surrounding the Badlands.
John Neumann and Colten Triebwasser take a break from cutting hay and vaccinating cattle on the Neumann ranch near Cactus Flat, South Dakota.
Father and daughter, Allen, Pine Ridge Reservation. Allen has been called the poorest town in America. Over 90 percent of Pine Ridge residents live below the federal poverty line, and the unemployment rate hovers between 85 and 90 percent.
Horse in field after a storm, Oglala, Pine Ridge Reservation. Historically, Lakotas were masterful in their horsemanship in battle and while hunting buffalo on the Great Plains. Horses still have much importance in Lakota life across the reservation today.
Watching the wild horse race, youth rodeo, Oglala, Pine Ridge Reservation. Lakota traditions as well as Western culture are strong throughout the reservation.
Neumann ranch, Cactus Flat, South Dakota.

BADLANDS

Photography by Danny Wilcox Frazier

The Badlands of South Dakota are surrounded by one of the most economically depressed regions in the United States.  While economic and social strife are commonplace in the Badlands, this is also a section of the country rich with culture and traditional life.  Much of the Badlands are part of the Pine Ridge Reservation, home of the Oglala Lakota, a tribe once led by the legendary war chief Crazy Horse.  Pine Ridge is also where some 300 men, women, and children were slaughtered by the U.S. 7th Calvary at the Massacre of Wounded Knee in 1890, the tragic end to the Indian Wars.

Conditions on the Pine Ridge Reservation are equal to the most impoverished nations in the world.  Over 90 percent of Pine Ridge residents live below the federal poverty line, and the unemployment rate hovers between 85 and 90 percent.  Life expectancy is 48 years for men and 52 for woman.  Though faced with staggering poverty, many Lakotas work to preserve traditional culture and maintain their community.

Lakotas are not the only people who struggle economically in the region today.  Small towns across the Badlands have suffered greatly as an economic shift in America has bankrupted and depopulated many rural communities.  Broken-down ranches litter the landscape, while leather-faced cowboys seemingly as old as the soil itself pass in sun-faded pickups.  Many ranchers in South Dakota are descendants of the land-hungry settlers who pressured the U.S. government to take Lakota territory and confine the Sioux to reservations.  Now both Indians and whites are living in isolation in the Badlands, forgotten communities left to survive if they can.

© Danny Wilcox Frazier and Facing Change: Documenting America

LEFT, CACTUS FLAT, SOUTH DAKOTA:
Wallpaper on the Neumann ranch.
LEFT, PINE TREES, PAHA SAPA (BLACK HILLS), SOUTH DAKOTA:
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the terms of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty had been violated and that the Black Hills had been illegally taken.
RIGHT, ALLEN, PINE RIDGE RESERVATION, SOUTH DAKOTA:
Horse on the Waters’ property.
RIGHT,  PINE RIDGE, SOUTH DAKOTA:
Girl on horse, Oglala Lakota Nation Pow Wow.

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