Powwow Native (2024)

12/06/2024

Rocky Bear. Oglala
(abt. 1825/30 – Oct 29, 1909)
Inyan Mato
Rocky Bear, a minor Kiyuksa Oglala band chief at Pine Ridge Agency, was born about 1825/30. Rocky Bear is mainly known for his work with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Shows. Only little is known of his life as a young man. In 1866 he participated in the Fetterman Fight and in 1876 he was at the Greasy Grass (Little Bighorn River).
He became publicly known as a member of the first Red Cloud delegation to Washington in 1870 (see NYT, June 2, 1870).
In February 1871 General C.C. Augur reported to Washington that 2.795 Lakotas, among them Rocky Bear with 17 Lodges and 85 persons, settle around Fort Laramie. Agent J.J. Saville engaged Rocky Bear, who was related to Big Bat Pourier, in 1874 as Policeman for the town Pine Ridge.
In 1881 Rocky Bear became contracted employee of William Cody’s Wild West Show; in the mid eighties he travelled with Cody as far as Europe, where a curious incident was reported.
Rocky Bear clashed with fellow Oglala Red Shirt. Red Shirt was one of the leading Indians with Cody's Wild West Show, but in 1889 he left the show in Barcelona following a quarrel with Rocky Bear in France. Rocky Bear then took over as the leading Indian. One reason suggested for the quarrel was jealousy. Apparently, Red Shirt had more luck with the French women than Rocky Bear.
On July 5, 1895 reported the Concord Evening Monitor:
"Rocky Bear, the 70-year-old chief who commands Colonel Cody's detachment of Sious [sic] and who is second in authority in the whole Sioux nation, has been with the Wild West show for 14 years, and even the charms of undivided rule could hardly tempt him from his place in the front line of the "Congress of Rough Riders."
Rocky Bear, who was an early and longtime favorite of Cody, received $75 a month's salary. According to Cody he was noble and articulate and with an impressive and powerful physical appearance. Rocky Bear was a defender of Cody's treatment of Indian performers; he interacted with royalty, had an audience with Pope Leo XIII, and met President Cleveland.
Except for his time in Europe he was several times listed as Head of the Household on the Indian Census at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation / Wounded Knee District. Rocky Bear died at his home on Oct 29, 1909.
Father: Savage Bear, born abt. 1792
Mother: White Thunder Woman, born abt 1800
Spouses
No.1: White Buffalo Cow (?), married about 1842
No.2: Road or Tracks (1836?- 1904), married abt. 1854
No.3: Runs Ahead (1844 – aft. 1904), married abt. 1864
Children:
Sophia Rocky Bear b: abt. 1850
Lucy Rocky Bear, b: 1850
Ela Rocky Bear - Bissonett b: bef. 1865
Silas Hawk b. 1879
Jessie Rocky Bear b. 1878
Thomas Rocky Bear b. 1880
Mary Rock Bear b. 1884

12/06/2024

WHITE MOUNTAIN APACHE SCOUTS, WITH PEACHES CENTER c.1885:

Apaches are also known for their sense of humor. So, one day Peaches was part of a homeward bound raiding party that stopped to rest. He dozed off, and woke up to find only his horse as a companion. Transported by rage, he went and enlisted as a scout. General Crook took a liking to him, and made Peaches his personal scout. He accompanied the general into the Sierra Madres, Mexico for surrender talks with Geronimo. Some of his descendants are at San Carlos to this day.

Photo Courtesy~Pinterest

12/06/2024

Wanted to share a picture I found of my grandpa at the white house with his buddies. Felt compelled to stay up til 4 am lastnight looking through archives and I found there are lots of photos of “Unidentified Dakota Men” I seen this one (no one was identified) and I recongnized Unka right away. Hopefully we can identify everyone else in all these pictures so we never forget them.

12/06/2024

Isabelle, a Native American woman on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana, poses with a young girl standing in front of her and a baby resting in a cradleboard on her back. The woman has a long blanket wrapped around her. She wears a large earring in her left ear. The young girl wears a striped dress and has her hair in braids. Several trees are in the background.

12/06/2024

Navajo Women and Their Important Roles:
Women in the Navajo society were equal to men. They could earn the title of War Women and sit in councils as equals. This privilege led an Irishman named Adair who traded with the Navajo from 1739-1745 to accuse the Navajo of having a "petticoat government".
Clan kinship followed the mother's side of the family. The children grew up in the mother's house, and it was the duty of an uncle on the mother's side to teach the boys how to hunt, fish, and perform certain tribal duties. The women owned the houses and their furnishings. Marriages were carefully negotiated, but if a woman decided to divorce her spouse, she simply placed his belongings outside the house. Navajo women also worked hard. They cared for the children, cooked, tended the house, tanned skins, wove baskets, and cultivated the fields. Men helped with some household chores like sewing, but they spent most of their time hunting.
Navajo girls learned by example how to be warriors and healers. They learned to weave baskets, tell stories, trade, and dance. They became mothers and wives, and learned their heritage. The Navajo learned to adapt, and the women were the core of the Navajo.

11/06/2024

Hidatsa Mother, 1908
"The Hidatsa, commonly known under the inappropriate appellation 'Gros Ventres of the Missouri,' differed from most of the tribes of the northern plains in that they were a sedentary and semi-agricultural people, gaining part of their livelihood, of course, by the chase. Their habitat for many generations has been along the Missouri from heart river to the Little Missouri, in North Dakota."

11/06/2024

Oregon Indigenous. There are nine federally recognized tribes with reservation lands in Oregon. Those nine tribes have about 24,500 members, according to the latest figures.
Some prominent Indigenous tribes of Oregon include:
Chinook: This tribe primarily resided in the coastal areas of the Pacific Northwest and had a significant influence on the region's trade and language.
Kalapuya: This group inhabited central and western Oregon, with numerous branches and subdivisions.
Klamath: The Klamath tribe lived in the Klamath and Agency Lake regions in southern Oregon.
Modoc: This tribe lived in both Oregon and California, with a portion of their territory now situated in Klamath County, Oregon.
Nez Perce: While also present in Idaho and Washington, some Nez Perce tribal members resided in eastern Oregon.
Paiute: Among the largest Indigenous groups in Oregon, the Paiute people have numerous branches and subdivisions spread across the state.
They range in size from the Burns Paiute Tribe, with 349 members, to the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, with 5,200 members. There are smaller tribes not on the that list, including the Takelma Tribe, whose members lived in the Rogue Valley until they were forcibly moved to the Siletz and Grand Ronde reservations in northern Oregon in the 1800s. Some members of that tribe have returned to Southern Oregon, notably tribal spokeswoman Agnes Baker Pilgrim, the granddaughter of a Takelma chief. The estimated population of all Native Americans in Oregon — including tribal members, members of tribes without federal recognition and those who self-identify as American Indian or Alaskan Native — was 109,223 in the 2010 Census.
Here’s the list of the nine tribes with reservation lands, with the number of members, per the Blue Book: Burns Paiute Tribe, 349 members. Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw, 953 members. Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, 5,200 members. Confederated Tribes of Siletz, 4,677 members. Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, 2,893 members. Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation, 4,306 members. Coquille Indian Tribe, 963 members. Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe, 1,536 members. Klamath Tribes, 3,700 members.
These Indigenous tribes have rich cultural heritages and have historically played integral roles in shaping the region's history and identity. Despite facing significant challenges and disruptions due to colonization and historical injustices, they continue to preserve and honor their traditions, languages, and ways of life in contemporary society.

11/06/2024

Traditional doll maker, schoolteacher, and Fort Sill Apache tribal leader, Mildred Imoch (En-Ohn or Lay-a-Bet) was born a prisoner of war at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on December 11, 1910. Her grandfather had followed Geronimo into battle, and her grandparents and parents were imprisoned with the Chiricahua Apache in Florida, Alabama, and at Fort Sill. Her family was one of only seventy-five that chose to remain at Fort Sill instead of relocating to the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico in 1913.

Mildred Cleghorn attended school in Apache, Oklahoma, at Haskell Institute in Kansas, and at Oklahoma State University, receiving a degree in home economics in 1941. After she finished her formal education, she spent several years as a home extension agent in Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, and then worked for sixteen years as a home economics teacher, first at Fort Sill Indian School at Lawton and then at Riverside Indian School at Anadarko. Later, she taught kindergarten at Apache Public School in Apache. She was married to William G. Cleghorn, whom she had met in Kansas, and their union produced a daughter, Peggy. In 1976 Mildred Cleghorn became chairperson of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe, newly organized as a self-governing entity. Her leadership in that government revolved around preserving traditional history and culture. She retired from the post at age eighty-five in 1995.

Cleghorn's many awards and recognitions included a human relations fellowship at Fisk University in 1955, the Ellis Island Award in 1987, and the Indian of the Year Award in 1989. She also served as an officer in the North American Indian Women's Association, as secretary of the Southwest Oklahoma Intertribal Association, and as treasurer of the American Indian Council of the Reformed Church of America.

11/06/2024

Nettie Morris. Nez Perce girl. Photo taken 1900.

11/06/2024

Donacha Vigil Quintana and child, Jicarilla
Apache. Photograph by Hendrina Hospers, 1925.
She wears an “old-style” dress with wide yoke and
open outer cape sleeves with inner pinned-on
sleeves. Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Van
Roekel Collection 83-027.
A loose cape-like rectangular flap sewn at the
shoulder extending down the arm – which in effect
was a cape. Women usually added a shawl when
away from home.

11/06/2024

Southern Arapaho man, in Concho Community, in central Oklahoma Territory - 1893

11/06/2024

𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗢𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥 (aka 6 Pool), Medicine Man and War Leader. 1905, wearing a raptor headdress. The Crow tribe of eastern Montana call themselves the Apsaalooke (Absaroka), said to mean children of the large-beaked bird. Before battles, Long Otter painted the back of his head red, his face yellow, and his body blue to attract the strongest challengers in war. His stunning leather shirt had intricate bead work and numerous danglers. Such finery would have been worn only for special occasions.
The photo was featured on the cover of “Crow Indian Photographer: The Work of Richard Throssel.” Throssel was adopted into the Crow Nation in 1906 and lived on the reservation for some years. Restoration of old photos have been becoming a trend lately. Shout out to Garry Coffrin for the details on this one.

11/06/2024

"The sacred ceremonies do not belong to Indians alone, they can be done by all who have the right attitude and who are honest and sincere about their beliefs in Wakan Tanka (Great Spirit) and follow the rules.
Survival of the world depend on sharing what we have, and working together. If we don't the whole world will die, first the planet and then the people." -- Ceremonial Chief, Frank Fools Crow, Lakota 1890-1989

11/06/2024

Sits-Down-Spotted and Goes-Amongst. Crow. 1881. Montana. Photo by L.A. Huffman. Source - Montana Historical Society.

11/06/2024

Matȟó Wanáȟtake, called Kicking Bear, was born in an Oglala Lakota community near Pine Ridge, South Dakota. (The exact date given is a guess by sources.) He was in charge of his own group of fighters in the War for the Black Hills, also known as the Great Sioux War, fighting with his brother, Flying Hawk, and his first cousin, Crazy Horse. After the war, Kicking Bear put down arms and began non-violent methods to resist efforts by the U.S. government to take their land and herd them into reservations.
Kicking Bear became active in the Ghost Dance religious movement of 1890. Along with fellow Lakota Short Bull and the Paiute holy man Wovoka, he brought the movement to the reservations in South Dakota. Kicking Bear staged the first Lakota Ghost Dance and soon developed a reputation as a distinguished holy man.
“The Ghost Dance” was a rite involving drums, dancing, and prayer, and made the whites very nervous. They feared the dance was just a precursor to an Indian uprising. The Ghost Dance was the “excuse” for the 1890 massacre by the U.S. Army of mostly old men, women, and children, at Wounded Knee on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
More than 200 men, women, and children of the Lakota were killed and 51 were wounded (4 men and 47 women and children, some of whom died later). As the wounded fled, the soldiers pursued them to finish them off. Many of the women were r***d before they were killed, and a number of soldiers hacked off body parts to take as souvenirs. (At least twenty of the soldiers were later awarded the Medal of Honor.)
When the carnage was over, surviving Lakota were “allowed” either to join Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, go to prison, or go to Oklahoma where the tribes hated them.
Washington sent troops to Standing Rock Reservation where they found and arrested Kicking Bear and other prominent figures. Similarly to the situation at Wounded Knee, Kicking Bear and his fellow captives were offered release provided they join the 1891-92 European Tour of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.
Kicking Bear agreed but became enraged over the depiction of Native Americans in the show.
In 1896, Kicking Bear was one of five elected to travel to Washington to air grievances about Native American treatment by the U.S. Government.
While in Washington, Kicking Bear agreed to have a life mask made of himself. The mask was to be used as the face of a Sioux warrior to be displayed in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.
Kicking Bear died on May 28, 1904, at the age of 51, it is believed that he is buried in the area of Manderson, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

11/06/2024

A Ute man. Colorado. ca. 1865-1885. Source - New York Public Library

11/06/2024

The Cayuse Indians were once masters of a vast homeland of more than six million acres in what is now Washington and Oregon. The first of the Northwest tribes to acquire horses, they were relatively few in number but outsized in influence, noted for their shrewd bargaining ability and much feared as warriors. Fur trader Alexander Ross (1783-1856) described them as "by far the most powerful and warlike" of the tribes on the Columbia Plateau in 1818. They were at the peak of their power in 1836, when they invited Marcus (1802-1847) and Narcissa (1808-1847) Whitman to establish a mission on Cayuse land near Walla Walla. What began as accommodation ended in disillusionment and resentment. A group of Cayuse attacked the mission in November 1847, killing the Whitmans and 11 others -- a brief flurry of violence that led to the first Indian war in the Northwest, the creation of Oregon Territory as a federal entity, and, eventually, a treaty that stripped the tribe of most of its land. But that was not the end of the story. As historian Clifford Trafzer has pointed out, "Their lives did not end in the last century, and their cultures did not fade away" (Trafzer, 7). The Cayuse survive as part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, with a 172,000-acre reservation near Pendleton, Oregon; an annual operating budget of nearly $230 million; and businesses ranging from a casino to a wind farm. In the words of a tribal brochure, "We are still here. We will continue to be here."

11/06/2024

WE ARE NOT PRETTY BUT WE ARE ALWAYS SMILING 😊😊😊

11/06/2024

EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY. The Northern Cheyenne woman was holding a walking stick and wearing an ornate scarf, late 1920s or so. Her eyes had seen thousands of campfires.
The photo was labeled as the grandmother of John Kills. The portrait was by historian, medical doctor, and lawyer Thomas B. Marquis, who lived on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Eastern Montana for some years. Marquis positioned his camera at face level, indicating respect and empathy for his subject.

11/06/2024

A Kiowa girl. 1892

11/06/2024

Black Crow, Left Hand, Scabby Bull – Arapaho – 1898

11/06/2024

Jingle Dancer at Walker Pow Wow on July 4, 1964. No name unfortunately and no indication if she was from the area. Part of a collection of photos taken by Gretel Whitaker for the Headwaters Project in 1964-1965. Love her expression and pizzazz!

11/06/2024

"Crowfoot stood and watched as the white man spread many one dollar bills on the ground.
“This is what the white man trades with; this is his buffalo robe. Just as you trade skins, we trade with these pieces of paper.”
When the white chief had laid all his money on the ground and shown how much he would give if the Indians would sign a treaty, Crowfoot took a handful of clay, made a ball out of it and put it on the fire.
It did not crack.
Then he said to the white man, Now put your money on the fire and see if it will last as long as the clay.
The white man said, No….my money will burn because it is made of paper.
With an amused gleam in his eyes the old chief said, Oh, your money is not as good as our land, is it?
The wind will blow it away; the fire will burn it; water will rot it. But nothing will destroy our land.
You don’t make a very good trade.
Then with a smile, Crowfoot picked up a handful of sand from the river bank, handed it to the white man and said, You count the grains of sand in that while I count the money you give for the land.
The white man said, I would not live long enough to count this, but you can count the money in a few minutes.
Very well, said the wise Crowfoot, our land is more valuable than your money. It will last forever.
It will not perish as long as the sun shines and the water flows, and through all the years it will give life to men and animals, and therefore we cannot sell the land.
It was put there by the Great Spirit and we cannot sell it because it does not really belong to us.
You can count your money and burn it with a nod of a buffalo’s head, but only the Great Spirit can count the grains of sand and the blades of grass on these plains.
As a present we will give you anything you can take with you, but we cannot give you the land.”
Chief Crowfoot : Blackfoot Confederacy

10/06/2024

LAKOTA WOMAN IN ELK TOOTH DRESS c.1890:

Courtesy~Pinterest

10/06/2024

Two Bear ~ Dakota

10/06/2024

It Is Him. Otoe. 1907

10/06/2024

Seated close to the evening fire, 91-year old Navajo man, Gray Mountain, tells small children legends about the early days of the Navajo people. 1948. Photographed by, Leonard James McCombe, Photojournalist. (born June 1st, 1923, on the Isle of Man, and who passed away in 2015.).

10/06/2024

Stoney Chief Hector Crawler. ca. 1900. Photo by Harry Pollard

10/06/2024

Comanche Little Chief. Comanche self-name NERMERNUH, Native American Tribe of Equstrian nomads whose 18th & 19th Century territory comprised the Southern Great Plains. The name Comanche is deprived from a Ute word, meaning "anyone who wants to fight all the time", the Comanche had previously been part of the Wyoming Shoshone Tribe.

10/06/2024

Cherokee Women and Their Important Roles:
Women in the Cherokee society were equal to men. They could earn the title of War Women and sit in councils as equals. This privilege led an Irishman named Adair who traded with the Cherokee from 1736-1743 to accuse the Cherokee of having a "petticoat government".
Clan kinship followed the mother's side of the family. The children grew up in the mother's house, and it was the duty of an uncle on the mother's side to teach the boys how to hunt, fish, and perform certain tribal duties. The women owned the houses and their furnishings. Marriages were carefully negotiated, but if a woman decided to divorce her spouse, she simply placed his belongings outside the house. Cherokee women also worked hard. They cared for the children, cooked, tended the house, tanned skins, wove baskets, and cultivated the fields. Men helped with some household chores like sewing, but they spent most of their time hunting.
Cherokee girls learned by example how to be warriors and healers. They learned to weave baskets, tell stories, trade, and dance. They became mothers and wives, and learned their heritage. The Cherokee learned to adapt, and the women were the core of the Cherokee.

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