Native Americans Long Ago

02/04/2024

02/04/2024

OUR PEOPLE ARE NOT POOR.....THEY BEEN ROBBED....
I did some research on gold mining in the Black Hills (Khe Sapa).
There was approximately 31,207,892 ounces of gold taken from the Black Hills up to 1965. The value of gold has fluctuated over the years but today it’s valued at about $1,204.50 an ounce.
That equates to $37,589,905,914 (thirty-seven billion five hundred eighty-nine million nine hundred five thousand nine hundred fourteen dollars) worth of gold that was taken from the Black Hills by today’s market value. That’s also not counting gold that was taken after 1965. I bet it’s in the trillions.
Reminder: under the Fort Laramie treaty (and treaties are the supreme law of the land according to the U.S. Constitution), the Black Hills belong to the Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux Nation) and the Supreme Court of the United States held in U.S. vs. Sioux Nation of Indians that the theft of the Black Hills from the Oceti Sakowin was a wrongful taking without just compensation.
I never want to hear another person question why our reservations are so poor again. Poverty was absolutely imposed upon us. Another realization- this theft likely propped up the U.S. economy for decades.
pic: Blackfoot Couple..

02/02/2024

Members of the Yellow Salt family outside their hogan in Coconino County, Arizona - Navajo - 1948..

02/01/2024

Navajo family - circa 1895

02/01/2024

Members of the Yellow Salt family finished up their outdoor chores and start the fire for their evening meal in Coconino County, Arizona - Navajo - 1948
Note: Naatsisʼáán or Navajo Mountain can be seen in the background to the north, in San Juan County, Utah....

01/31/2024

Lucy Nicolar was born June 22, 1882, on Indian Island, Maine, the daughter of Joseph Nicolar and Elizabeth Joseph. Every summer, her family traveled to the resort town of Kennebunkport to sell baskets. Lucy and her sister performed in Indian dress for the tourists. In her late teens she started performing at public events such as sportsman’s shows.
During those performances, she came to the attention of a Harvard administrator who hired her as his assistant. He took her into his household and gave her musical and educational opportunities in Boston and New York. In 1905, she married a doctor and moved to Washington, D.C. Eight years later they divorced, and Lucy moved to Chicago to study music.
Lucy Nicolar also toured as part of the Redpath Chatauqua Bureau, then the Keith vaudeville circuit. She married a lawyer who became her manager. He took all her money and fled to Mexico after the stock market crashed in 1929.
When vaudeville died, she returned to the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation with her husband Bruce Poolaw, a Kiowa entertainer from Oklahoma. They opened a gift shop — a teepee 24 feet in diameter — called it Poolaw’s Indian TeePee and sold traditional Indian crafts. They also continued to entertain locally.
Lucy and her sister Florence campaigned to improve life for their people on the reservation,. Their land stretched along the Penobscot River from Indian Island near Old Town to East Millinocket.
The sisters raised the educational standards for Penobscot children by gaining access to the public schools. And they persuaded the state to build a bridge to the island.
liberty-pole-old-town
Postcard of Indian Island before the bridge
Lucy and Florence also demanded the right to vote for their people. When the state extended suffrage to the Penobscots in 1955, Lucy Nicolar cast the first ballot.
The Old Town Enterprise reported “The princess has done much for the uplift of her people during her public career, both locally and nationally.”
Lucy Nicolar died at Indian Island on March 27, 1969, at the age of 87....

01/31/2024

Quapaw family in Ottawa County, Oklahoma - taken sometime before the death of Mrs. Minnie (Coldspring) Red Eagle in 1914
*Standing in back L-R: John Doane Red Eagle, Josephine Sophia Red Eagle, and LeRoy Red Eagle.
*Seat in front L-R: Mrs. Minnie (Coldspring) Red Eagle and her husband, George Red Eagle..

01/31/2024

Sasakiu and his family in front of their lodge, in camp on Sarcee Reserve No. 145, near Calgary in southern Alberta - Sarcee - 1885..

01/29/2024

A PARENTS WORST NIGHTMARE./. !
Losing a child and having to bury them. A man lost his son and couldn’t bare the thought of living without him. He was suffering and couldn’t believe his son was gone. He cried and cried every day and night, missing his son, wishing things were different.
He couldn’t sleep and hadn’t slept in a long time. One night an old medicine man came to him in a dream and told him “Enough!! That’s enough crying!!” The dad told him “I cannot stop, I am never going to see him again!” The old Medicine man said, “Do you want to see him again?” The dad says “yes of course” the old medicine man takes him to the entrance of happy hunting ground where he sees many little beautiful children, so happy and innocent, carrying eagle feathers into the happy hunting grounds, smiling and laughing and just so beautiful. The dad asks “where is my son? Who are these kids?” The old medicine man said “these are the children that are called home early, they are innocent and loved and they go right through to the happy hunting grounds, so happy” the dad says “and my son? Where is he? Why isn’t he with these children?” The old medicine man said, “come this way” and guided him to the side of entrance. A small boy with a beautiful smile was standing there watching all the children enter the happy hunting grounds. He was standing there within reach of an eagle's feather. His dad grabbed him and hugged him, and the boy kissed his dads' cheeks and told him he missed him. The dad said “why don't you have a eagles feather like the other kids? Why are you waiting here at the entrance?”
The boy said “I keep trying to get the eagle feather Daddy, but your tears pull it out of reach. I see you are so sad, and I am tied to that feeling so I wait here until you’re ok” the dad burst out crying for the last time, he told his son, “Get that eagle feather and go, I will be ok, and I know you will be too”
- Don't cry too long for that loved one you lost, whether son, daughter, husband, mother or father!! Let them rest in peace, don't torment your life, because they won't come back, have faith that you will be together again, and that Creator makes us a beautiful home with all our loved ones when we leave this world.

01/29/2024

Origin, digital painting.
The work is influenced by a wide array of myths and legends, many from Native American cultures, that describe how the raven (or crow) was originally white. Most Native American stories portray crows/ravens as helping humans in one way or another, and in these stories their helpful actions are what causes their feather to turn black. Here the raven holds a pocket watch without hands to represent a time before time./..

01/28/2024

This picture is amazing

01/28/2024

Each line on a Native Americans face is a badge of honor, every line holds sacred knowledge from their experiences in this life. Like the tree that has lines in their inner trunk for every year it has existed and holds the knowledge of all those years, so does these lines show the knowledge amassed in these faces. For honor and respect were shown to these elders, and the more lines meant more knowledge to share. For these Elders usually had the last word for the most important decisions for the well being of their Nation. These lines had just as much stature as Eagle feathers collected and they were shown proudly. We did not see beauty as young appearance but saw beauty and gave reverance to these lines..

01/27/2024

Native beauty...

01/27/2024

Majestic Native American Beauty. Irene Bedard was born on July 22, 1967 in Anchorage, Alaska and is of Inupiat, Inuit and Métis Ancestry.../
P/s: Internet

01/27/2024

Native American woman./...

01/26/2024

Alfredo RODRIGUEZ ✿
A member of the American Indian and Cowboy Artists Association, Alfredo Rodriguez established a studio in Corona, California. His rich and vivid colors depict scenes of the inhabitants of the American West: Indians, Mountain Men, Cowboys, nestled in the mountains, deserts, and Indian villages. Painting has always been a part of Alfredo Rodriguez' life. He was born in 1954 in the small Mexican town of Tepic, Nayarit which is located in the heart of Mexico and very close to the Huichole Indian reservation. He was born and raised into a family of nine children, and the first gift he can recall was a gift of watercolors from his mother. Some of his earliest memories are of illustrating classroom assignments and painting portraits of family members, he used his talent to supplement his family's income needs. In 1968, an American art dealer discovered Alfredo's art and commissioned him to paint American Indians. The paintings were highly successful and in 1973 Alfredo moved to America. He has been painting American Indians and Mountain Men ever since. Alfredo considers himself a traditional artist and describes his style of painting as Classical Realism with a bit of Impressionism. Now living in California and winning awards from several of the most prestigious organizations, Rodriguez' work is also included in the books "Western painting Today" by Royal B. Hassick and "Contemporary Western Artist" by Peggy and Harold Samuels. Alfredo also has been featured in magazines such as "Art of the West," "Informart," "Western Horseman" and "International Fine Art Collector." Alfredo lives with his wife Cheryl and three daughters in Corona, California....

01/26/2024

Lee Bogle can't remember when he wasn't an artist. Drawing, painting, and picturing life are among his earliest memories and have always been more than a pastime. For many years he has described his art, prints and posters as a passion. "Painting defines me," he says from his home in Kirkland, Washington, where he lives with his wife, Sherri, and their two sons. "It's who I am, not just what I do." Bogle received his degree in art from Central Washington University and pursued graduate study at the University of Washington. His art, prints and posters are exhibited widely in galleries and museums throughout the country. With a growing number of avid collectors, his limited edition prints sell out soon after release. Collectors know him for his art, prints and posters of Native Americans, often solitary figures of women whose beauty far surpasses the superficial. Other works depict men and women, who appear as soulmates rather than mere romantic couples. While his paintings artistically speak for themselves, they also reflect his appreciation for the organic. Working with muted, atmospheric colors,..

01/25/2024

Painting by Lee Bogle
American Native Painter born in 1946.

01/25/2024

Well, would you look who it is?
P/s: This painting is by my friend.

01/24/2024

Lead vocalist of Testament, Chuck Billy is of the Pomo people of Northern California and is proud of his heritage, sometimes giving a shoutout to his "Native brothers and sisters" in the audience. He participated in the inaugural Native American Music Awards and California State Assemblyman Jim Frazier honored him on the State Assembly floor for his positive influence on the Native American community.

01/23/2024

Clarence Tinker (Osage) 1887-1942 was the first Native American in United States Army history to attain the rank of major general and was an accomplished flier. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, General Tinker was given command of the Army Air Forces stationed in Hawai’i. He was the first U.S. general to die in World War II.
Clarence L. Tinker, commander of the 20th Pursuit Group, in front of a Boeing P-12, Mather Field, California, about 1930. Tinker Air Force Base Historical Archives

01/23/2024

L-R: Aloysius White Cow with his wife, Mrs. Lena (Coleman) White Cow and their son, Joseph A. White Cow, in front of their home on the Fort Belknap Reservation, in the community of Lodge Pole in Blaine County, Montana - A'aninin - 1925

"Note: White Cow (aka Aloysius White Cow) was born in 1874, the son of Bushy Head & Pitiful Woman. Later, Aloysius White Cow married Lena Coleman (b. 1881), and they raised three children, Joseph A. White Cow (b.1910-d.1981); George White Cow (b.1916-d.1925); and Bernadette White Cow (b.1939-d.2020). Sadly, George White Cow died at age 8 in 1925 from Tuberculosis. Aloysius White Cow died in 1961, and his wife, Mrs. Lena (Coleman) White Cow died in 1971."

01/23/2024

Eugene Roan Horse Crawford - Navajo - 1929
Note: "Eugene Roan Horse Crawford was born in 1911, in the community of Tohatchi, McKinley County, New Mexico. Later in 1942, he became one of the first 29 Navajo Code Talkers in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II"

01/23/2024

The Narragansett homeland is primarily in Rhode Island, with a small community in Brothertown, Wisconsin.

01/22/2024

LONG HAIR
Traditionally, long hair was always a symbol of masculinity. All of history's great warriors had long hair, from the Greeks (who wrote odes to their heroes' hair) to the Nordic, from the American Indians (famous for their long shiny hair) to the Japanese. And the longer and beautiful the hair was, the more manly the warrior was considered. Vikings flaunted their braids and samurai wore their long hair as a symbol of their honor (they cut their braid when they lose honor).
When a warrior was captured, his mane was cut to humiliate him, to take away his beauty. That custom resumed in what is today military service. There when new soldiers begin their training the first thing they do is cut their hair to undermine their self-esteem, make them submissive and make them see who's boss.
The Romans were the ones who "invented" short hair so to speak, between the 1st and 5th centuries AD.. In battles they believed this gave them defensive advantages, since their opponents couldn't grab them by the hair. This also helped them to recognize each other in the battlefield.
Short hair on men is a relatively new "invention" that has nothing to do with aesthetics.
But today we often see men being humiliated, sometimes called "gay" for wearing long hair, not knowing that short hair is actually the "anti-masculine" and is a repressive social imposition, while long hair symbolizes freedom.

01/20/2024

They’ve since been erased, but Native American women were highly visible in early 20th century suffrage. White suffragists were fascinated by matriarchal power within tribes, but quickly forgot them by 1920. “The Indian woman rejoices with you,” one woman told Alice Paul, but she was quick to remind too that the fight was far from over. The 19th Amendment didn’t grant voting rights to Native women— at that point, they weren't even considered US citizens.
That woman who reminded Alice Paul was Zitkala-Ša (“Red Bird”), who spent her entire life straddling two cultures. Born and raised on a reservation in South Dakota, she was taken by Quaker missionaries to attend boarding school. Later, she wrote on her struggles with identity, the inner conflict she felt between the culture she came from, and the culture she was educated in— the joy of learning to read, write and play music, but also the pain of losing her heritage.
While studying at Earlham College and the New England Conservatory of Music, she began recording Native American oral histories and translating them into English. It was her belief that because many Indigenous customs were passed orally through music, opera would be a powerful way to share her cultural values with a new audience. So in 1913, she wrote the libretto and songs for the first Native American opera— composed in the romantic style, and based on a sacred Sioux dance deemed illegal by the US Government.
She argued that as the original people of America, indigenous people had a right to be citizens and be represented in government with the right to vote. Her relentless work in promoting a pan-Indian movement across all tribes for the cause of citizenship rights led to the passage of the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act. In 1926, she co-founded the National Council of American Indians, lobbying for Native suffrage rights. Her later books were amongst the first to bring traditional Native American stories to white audiences.
On International Women’s Day, it’s important to remember Zitkala-Ša’s call to remember Native women, and the full range of their political and cultural experiences./.

01/19/2024

𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐍𝐨𝐬𝐞
Pretty Nose :A Fierce and Uncompromising Woman War Chief You Should Know
Pretty Nose (c. 1851 – after 1952) was an Arapaho woman, and according to her grandson, was a war chief who participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.In some sources, Pretty Nose is called Cheyenne, although she was identified as Arapaho on the basis of her red, black and white beaded cuffs. The two tribes were allies at the Battle of the Little Bighorn and are still officially grouped together as the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.
According to a 1878 Laton Alton Huffman photograph which shows the two girls together, Pretty Nose had a sister named Spotted Fawn who was 13 in 1878 making Spotted Fawn about 14 years younger than Pretty Nose.
Pretty Nose's grandson, Mark Soldier Wolf, became an Arapaho tribal elder who served in the US Marine Corps during the Korean War. She witnessed his return to the Wind River Indian Reservation in 1952, at the age of 101./.
P/s: Internet

01/18/2024

My heart salutes all tribes../.