The lawyers had been talking for more than nine hours. The case was United States ex rel. Standing Bear v. Crook. The courtroom sat on the third floor of the federal building at Fifteenth and Dodge in Omaha, and the date was May 2, 1879. The crowd had stayed past the dinner recess and into the dark. When the last argument ended, Judge Elmer Scipio Dundy made an announcement. One more speaker, he said, had asked to be heard, and he believed it was the first time in the country’s history such a request had come from an Indian. Standing Bear rose from among the prisoners. He wore an eagle feather in his braided hair, a blue shirt trimmed in red, deerskin moccasins, a Thomas Jefferson peace medal, and a necklace of bear claws. He walked to the front of the room, faced the audience, and held out his right hand. The hand stayed there, still, for a long time. Then he began to speak in Ponca, in a low voice, and the interpreter gave the room his words in English.

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