Echoes of the civil rights movement rang in my head when I heard that a security force guarding the Dakota Access Pipeline had unleashed dogs on protesters at a site considered sacred by North Dakota's Standing Rock Sioux reservation.

Since April, tribes and environmental groups from across the nation have gathered to fight the four-state, $3.8 billion oil pipeline. The pipeline would cross the Missouri River near the reservation. "We belong to the river," a banner at the camp reads.

A judge ruled on Sept. 9 that the project could proceed. On the same day, three federal agencies temporarily blocked work.

When I arrived on Sept. 10, more than 1,000 people were living at Red Warrior Camp, just outside the reservation. It was ablaze with energy. One day during my visit, there was a rap concert that included Minnesotan Chief Thomas X, a survivor of the 2005 Red Lake High School mass shootings whose real name is Thomas Barrett Jr. Another morning, I was sitting at a campfire with 60 or so people when I saw a woman singing. She's pretty good, I thought. It was Joan Baez, who has been protesting since the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War.

The protest has stretched all the way to Washington, where hundreds gathered in front of the White House on Sept. 13 to demand an end to the project. Work has stopped for now, but the protest will go on. Activists and "water protectors" say they are determined to stay as long as it takes to stop the project.