NativeAmericanHeros

"I have seen that in any great undertaking it is not enough for a man to depend simply upon himself."

Isna-la-wica (Lone Man ), Teton Sioux

Motavato was born in 1803 near the Black Hills, South Dakota. By 1832 he moved to the Southern Cheyenne tribe. Later he became chief of the Wuhtapiu of the Cheyenne. The Pikes Peak gold rush sent people into the Cheyenne lands. The U.S. government tried to 'resolve' this conflict by having the Cheyenne sign a new treaty ceding all their lands except the small Sand Creek reservation in south eastern Colorado. Black Kettle, fearing a worse situation, agreed to this treaty. But the Sand Creek area could not support the people. Because of this young men left the reservation to steal livestock to help feed their families. The settlers formed a militia and attacked the Native encampment. This was later called the Sand Creek Massacre.

Black Kettle survied this massacre. Black Kettle was always a man of peace and in October 1865 he and the other leaders signed a new treaty exchanging the Sand Creek reservation for reservations in southwest Kansas. Others in the tribe continued thier raids on white settlements. The U.S. government sent General Sheridan and his Commander George Custer to put a stop to the raiding.

On November 27, 1869 Customer followed the trail of a raiding party to Black Kettle's encampment on the Washita river. Though a white flag flew above Black Kettle's tipi Customer ordered an attack on the village at dawn. Black Kettle and his wife, along with 150 warriors and an estimated 20 more civilians were killed.

Wovoka was a Paiute medicine-man was born in Nevada around 1856. His father Tavibo was also a medicine man. After his father died he was taken in with a rancher and his wife. They gave Wovoka the name of Jack Wilson. When Wovoka grew up he returned to the Paiute where he became a powerful shaman. In 1889, during the solar eclipse, he had a prophetic vision of the return of the Paiute dead and the removal of the white settlers. In order for this to come true he taught his people that they must live righteously and perform the Ghost Dance.

Wovoka dies on September 20, 1932 and is buried in the Paiute cemetery at Schurz, Nevada

"I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, in my heart he put other and different desires. Each man is good in his sight. It is not necessary for Eagles to be Crows. We are poor..but we are free."

Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Sioux

Kintpuash, a Modoc warrior who was also known as Captain Jack to whites, was the leader of the Modoc War 1872-1873. Back in 1864 he agreed to go to live on the Klamath Reservation in Oregon with the Klamath and Yahooskin tribes. But the Modoc and klamath were enemies. In 1870 Kintpuash and 371 Modoc left the reservation and held a stronghold in California. The U.S. tried to remove them but failed. In 1873 Kintpuash met with a peace commision where Kintpuash shot the unarmed General Canby. The band fled and pursued by the U.S. Army. He was captured on June 1, 1873 and sent back to the Klamath reservation.

Dull Knife was noted for his active resistance to settlers and the U.S. government. Because of his courage and determination of Dull Knife and other Cheyenne leaders the Northern Cheyenne still possess part of their traditional home in Montana.

Dull Knife died at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, the way he had lived, with courage, determination and unfailing dedication to freedom.

All the people at Fort Robinson, the women included, knew their way of life was gone and they decided to make one last stand. The women smuggled weapons into the imprisoned men. The men broke out and joined the women in a revine nearby. There they fought until all the ammunition ran out then explosed thier chests to the bullets. All were killed, including the women and children.

"Our land is everything to us... I will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We remember that our grandfathers paid for it - with their lives."

John Wooden Leg, Cheyenne

A Northern Cheyenne warrior who fought against Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. He was born in 1858, in the region of the Black Hills, near the Cheyenne river. At fourteen he was invited to the warrior society of the Elkhorn Scrapers. The morning of the 25 June 1876, while sleeping under a tree after a feasting night, Wooden Leg and his brother Yellow Hair were awaken by the cries of the old men claiming the arrival of the soldiers. He quickly prepared himself for the battle, then moved himself to the melee with his brother. At first, he fought with soldiers hidden and surrounded in the woods near the river. Defeating these enemies, he went towards the river where he found a rifle and ammunition. Then, he attacked the soldiers on the hills. The Battle of Little Bighorn began. In 1906, thirty years after the battle of Little Bighorn, he took part to a meeting of whites and Indians, gathered on the field of the battle to remember that event. He spoke of the battle, being one of the few Indians who had the courage to tell his experience to Dixon, a white doctor.

"The idea of full dress for preparation for a battle comes not from a belief that it will add to the fighting ability. The preparation is for death, in case that should be the result of conflict. Every Indian wants to look his best when he goes to meet the great Spirit, so the dressing up is done whether in imminent danger is an oncoming battle or a sickness or injury at times of peace."

Wooden Leg, Cheyenne

Techumseh was born in 1786 at the Shawnee village on the Mad River, Ohio. He was a highly skilled warrior, orator and statesman who advocated "civilized resistance". Techumseh believed their lands belonged to all the tribes in common and refused to acknowledge the U.S. government's purchasing land from any single tribe. When Techumseh refused to sign the Treaty of Greenville, which ceded much of presetn day Ohio to settlers he formed a confederacy of tribels to hold the Ohio river as the permanent bonundary between white settlers and native. In 1808 he and his brother Tenskwatwa, who was known as the "Prophet" established a headquarters on the banks of the Tippecanoe River, Indiana. In 1811, when Tecumseh was away, the Territory governor William Harrison attacked and defeated the "Prophet" at Timmecanoe. Despite this Tecumshe persisted in his dream. Tecumseh led a 2,000 warriors to support the British in the War of 1812 and was given a regular commission as Brigadire General. Tecumseh was killed in the Battle of the Thames on Octover 5, 1813

"Upon suffering beyond suffering: the Red Nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations. A world longing for light again. I see a time of Seven Generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the Sacred Tree of Life and the whole Earth will become one circle again. In that day, there will be those among the Lakota who will carry knowledge and understanding of unity among all living things, and the young white ones will come to those of my people and ask for this wisdom. I salute the light within your eyes where the whole universe dwells. For when you are at that center within you and I am at that place within me, we shall be one."

Crazy Horse, Oglala Sioux Chief

"I do not see a delegation for the Four Footed. I see no seat for the Eagles. We forget and we consider ourselves superior. But we are after all a mere part of Creation. And we must consider to understand where we are. And we stand somewhere between the mountain and the Ant. Somewhere and only there as part and parcel of the Creation."

Chief Oren Lyons, Oneida to U.N. organizations in Geneva 1977

Cogwagee (Thomas Longboat) (June 4, 1887-January 9, 1949) was an Onondaga distance runner from the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation Indian reserve near Brantford, Ontario, and for much of his career the dominant long distance runner of the time. When he was a child a Mohawk resident of the reserve, Bill Davis, who in 1901 finished second in the Boston Marathon, interested him in running races. He began racing in 1905, finishing second in the Victoria Day race at Caledonia, Ontario. His first important victory was in the Around the Bay Road Race in Hamilton, Ontario in 1906, which he won by three minutes. In 1907 he won the Boston Marathon in a record time of 2:24:24 over the old 24-1/2 mile course, four minutes and 59 seconds faster than any of the previous ten winners of the event. He collapsed, however, in the 1908 Olympic marathon, along with several other leading runners, and a rematch was organized the same year at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Longboat won this race, turned professional, and in 1909 at the same venue won the title of Professional Champion of the World in another marathon.

Tom Longboat, 1907 His coaches did not approve of his alternation of hard workouts with "active rest" such as long walks. When he was a professional, these recovery periods annoyed his promoters and the sports press often labelled him "lazy," although the practice of incorporating "hard", "easy", and "recovery" days into training is normal today. Because of this and other disputes with his managers Longboat bought out his contract, after which his times improved.

Longboat's chief rival was Alfred Shrubb, whom he raced ten times, winning all the races at 20 miles or more and losing all those at shorter distances. He served as a dispatch runner in France in World War I while maintaining a professional career. He retired following the war.

Wikipedia

Sherman Alexis was born on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington.

"Sherman Alexie's inventive, realistic, and often humorous writing evokes contemporary American Indian life. The son of a Spokane Indian mother and a Coeur d'Alene Indian father, Alexie first found his voice as a poet. His debut The Business of Fancydancing (1991) was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993), a book of short stories, became the basis for the movie Smoke Signals (1998), which Alexie wrote and co-produced. Alexie's crowd- and critic-pleasing works include the novel Reservation Blues (1995), the mystery Indian Killer (1996), and the short-story collections The Toughest Indian in the World (2000) and Ten Little Indians (2003). His latest is the poetry collection Dangerous Astronomy, published in 2005"

Inforplease

Sherman Alexie on Wikipedia

"At an early age, Dennis Banks was removed from his home and sent to boarding schools, run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in which native Indian languages were forbidden. After a hitch in the military, he got in trouble with the law and was eventually jailed for burglary. He was released from prison in 1968 and helped found the American Indian Movement (AIM). AIM spearheaded the 1969 Alcatraz occupation, in which the organization demanded the return of federal lands to Indian control; the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties caravan to Washington, D.C.; and the 71-day siege of Wounded Knee, S.D., in 1973. After a long trial, Wounded Knee felony charges against Banks and AIM co-founder Russell Means were dropped. In 1975, Banks was convicted for riot charges concerning the Custer courthouse incident that led to Wounded Knee. He went underground, returning in 1984 to serve more than a year in prison. Banks founded Sacred Run to promote the sacredness of all living things and has led runs across the United States, Canada, and Europe. He had small roles in the movies War Party (1988), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), and Thunderheart (1992). His autobiography Ojibwa Warrior: Dennis Banks and the Rise of the American Indian Movement, was published in 2004."

Infoplease

Dennis Banks on Wakipedia

Adam Beach was born in Ashern, Minatoba, Canada.

"Adam Beach was born a Saulteaux Indian (part of the Ojibwa Nation) and lived on the Dog Creek Indian Reservation in Manitoba until the death of his parents when he was eight years old. His first love was music and for a short time he played in a heavy metal band. Acting quickly became his professional choice when he got a small part in a Graham Greene TV movie, Lost in the Barrens (1990). His big break came when he earned the lead in Disney's Squanto: A Warrior's Tale (1994). He played the part of Victor Joseph in Chris Eyre's Smoke Signals (1998), a film that won the Audience Award and Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival. Beach costarred with Nicolas Cage in 2002's Windtalkers, about the World War II Navajo code talkers. He played the role of Jim Chee in PBS's productions of Tony Hillerman's novels, Skinwalkers (2002), Coyote Waits (2003), and A Thief of Time (2004). He portrays one of the men who raised the flag on Iwo Jima in Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and late 19th century Indian writer and activist Charles Eastman in HBO's production of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007)."

Infoplease

Adam Beach on Wakipedia

"Deloria, of Standing Rock Sioux origin, was born in South Dakota near the Pine Ridge Oglala Sioux Indian Reservation. He was educated at reservation schools, graduated from Iowa State University in 1958, received a master's degree in theology in 1963 from the Lutheran School of Theology in Illinois, and a law degree at the University of Colorado in 1970.

He began his career as an eloquent, and often highly provocative spokesperson for Indian identity and social change while working at the National Conference of American Indians in Washington from 1964 to 1967. In 1969 he published the first of more than 20 books, Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto. His most famous book, Custer shattered Indian stereotypes and challenged white audiences to take a hard look at brutal history of American expansionism across the west. His prose and ideas were charged with biting wit ("When asked by an anthropologist what the Indians called America before the white man came, an Indian said simply, 'Ours.' ") and incendiary statements meant to shock audiences out of their complacency (Custer, he said, was "the Adolf Eichmann of the Plains.")

Among his other books are We Talk, You Listen (1970), Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties: An Indian Declaration of Independence (1974), God Is Red: A Native View of Religion (1994), and a variety of works on history, theology, and contemporary Indian life.

He taught at the University of Arizona from 1978 to 1990, and then at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He retired in 2000 but continued to write and lecture until his death."

Inforplease

Vine Deloria Jr. on Wikipedia

"Chris Eyre's determination to eliminate "humiliating" stereotypical representations of Native Americans in film and television stems from his childhood movie-going experiences. As a descendant of members of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, Chris Eyre attempts to display portraits of contemporary Native Americans as individuals who are plagued by problems common to all people, but who react within the confines of their own particular circumstances. After receiving accolades for his short films while obtaining his Master's degree at New York University, Eyre approached distinguished Native American writer Sherman Alexie with the desire to transform Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993) into a film. Determined to produce an honest portrayal of Native American life, the result was the highly acclaimed Smoke Signals (1998). Eyre's other productions have included a music video, Things We Do (1998), a documentary, Doe Boy (2001), and films, Skins (2002), Skinwalkers (TV) (2002), and A Thief of Time (TV) (2003). He also founded Riverhead Entertainment, a production company that for several years produced commercials, films, and documentaries."

The Chris Eyre official web site

"Winona LaDuke, active in American Indian environmental issues since her teen years, gained nationwide attention as vice presidential running mate to Ralph Nader on the 1996 and 2000 Green Party tickets. The daughter of an Anishinabe (Ojibwa) father and a Jewish mother, LaDuke earned a degree in economic development from Harvard and then moved to Minnesota's White Earth reservation, where she still lives. There she became involved in a land recovery lawsuit and founded the White Earth Land Recovery Project, which works to buy back tribal lands. LaDuke has written numerous articles and is the author of the novel Last Standing Woman (1997); its final chapter is written in Ojibway."

Infoplease

"Mankiller was born in Mankiller Flats near Tahlequah, Oklahoma, but as a child was moved with her family to California as part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Relocation program, an event she details in her book Mankiller: A Chief and Her People. Mankiller's concern for Native American issues ignited in 1969 when members of AIM (American Indian Movement) occupied Alcatraz Island to attract attention to issues affecting their tribes. In 1974 she divorced her husband, by whom she had two daughters, and moved back to her ancestral home, where, in 1985, she became the first woman chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and the first female in modern history to lead a major Native American tribe. She was reelected in 1991, but resigned her position in 1995 for health reasons. Mankiller's numerous awards include: Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame, 1986; Woman of the Year, Ms. magazine, 1987; John W. Gardner Leadership Award, Independent Sector, 1988; National Women's Hall of Fame, 1993. She married her second husband, Charlie Soap, in 1986."

Inforplease

"Russell Means, an Oglala Lakota, served as the first national director of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and became one of the organization's best-known spokespeople. Means was one of the Indian activists who in 1969 occupied San Francisco's Alcatraz Island in a landmark AIM-led protest that lasted 19 months; in 1973, he helped lead the AIM takeover of Wounded Knee. Both events brought worldwide attention to the injustices and privation faced by American Indians past and present. As an actor, Means has appeared in such films as The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and Natural Born Killers (1994) and provided the voice of Powhatan in 1995's Pocahontas. In 2004, Means ran for president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, but was defeated by Cecelia Fire Thunder, the first woman to be elected to that office."

Infoplease

Russell Means official web site

Wesley "Wes" Studi (born December 17, 1947) is a U.S. actor of Native American descent.

Born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Studi was schooled at Chilocco Indian Boarding School in Northern Oklahoma. Until he attended grade school, he spoke only Cherokee. In 1967, he was drafted into the Army and served 18 months in Vietnam. After his discharge, Studi studied at Tulsa Junior College.

Studi won a Western Heritage Award (shared with cast and crew) in 1994 for Geronimo: An American Legend

He is best known for his roles as both brave and vicious Indians, such as the Pawnee warrior in Dances with Wolves and Magua in The Last of the Mohicans (1992). A year later, he was casted with Eric Schweig again for TNT's telefilm The Broken Chain which was shot in Virginia. In 2002, Studi brought to life the legendary Tony Hillerman character Lt. Joe Leaphorn, for a series of PBS movies produced by Robert Redford.

In addition to acting, Studi is a stone carver, an author of two children's books, and plays bass in a local band.

Wikipedia

He does unbelievably beautiful carvings!
The Wes Studi Official Site

Greene is an Oneida, born in Ohsweken on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, the son of Lillian and John Greene, who was an ambulance driver and maintenance man. He lived in Hamilton, Ontario as a young adult. Greene's first brushes with the entertainment industry came when he was an audio technician for rock bands. He graduated from The Centre for Indigenous Theatre's Native Theatre School program in 1974, and began appearing in theater in Toronto and England.

Greene's TV debut was in an episode of "The Great Detective" in 1979 and his screen debut was in 1983 in Running Brave, and appeared in such films as Revolution and Powwow Highway, but it was his Academy Award nominated role Kicking Bird in the 1990 film Dances with Wolves that brought him stardom. This role was followed by such films as Thunderheart, Benefit of the Doubt, and Maverick, and the television series Northern Exposure and The Red Green Show. He also hosted the reality crime documentary show Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science. In 2004, he accepted the Earle Grey Award for lifetime achievement at the Gemini Awards. He also appeared as himself in a parody of the famous Lakota-brand pain reliever commercials, on CBC Television's Rick Mercer Report.

Wikipeida

Heroes come in all sizes and from all walks in life. Some are with us, some are not. Some are well known and some are not but all heroes have an extra something special that makes them heroes to us.
Here are reader suggested heroes.

State Newspaper - Posted on Fri, Feb. 18, 2005

Native Americans claim birthright
S.C. commission votes to give tribes formal recognition

By JOEY HOLLEMAN
Staff Writer

The tears started streaming down Linda Hatcher Atkinson's face Thursday as a state commission moved to formally recognize the Waccamaws as a Native American tribe in South Carolina.

As the members of the Commission for Minority Affairs voted one by one, tears spread throughout the audience. The last "yes" vote prompted a raucous cheer and hugs all around. Dozens of people who legally - and in many other ways - had been denied their birthright suddenly had reclaimed it. "It means, in a sense, freedom," Atkinson said after the meeting, another round of tears flowing. "I'm 59 years old. It was so hard to claim what I was growing up. We were called a negative name, and we weren't allowed to say we were Indians."

Technically, the recognition doesn't mean much for the tribes. They don't get any state funds. But they now legally can label their work as Native American art and can apply for some grants targeted for Native Americans.

Spiritually, it means everything. "It is the most significant thing South Carolina has done for Native American Indian people in 300 years," said Dr. Will Moreau Goins, chief executive officer of the Eastern Cherokee, Southern Iroquois and United Tribes of S.C. "For the first time, this state is going to embrace their people who happen to be Indian."

The commission approved as Native American tribes the Waccamaws, many from the Horry County community of Dimery, and the Pee Dee Tribe of Upper South Carolina, based in the Dillon County community of Little Rock.

The Eastern Cherokees Southern Iroquois and United Tribes of South Carolina, Inc, based in Oconee, Anderson, Pickens, Richland, and Greenville Counties and headquartered in Columbia (a statewide tribal organization), and the Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians, based in Berkeley County, were approved as Native American Indian tribal groups.

They were four of six entities that applied in the first round of recognition since the Legislature approved the process last year. Tribal applications were denied for the Chaloklowa Chickasaw Indian People and the Fields Indian Family-Pine Hill Indians because they didn't meet standards proving their historical basis. The Chaloklowa Chickasaw plan to reapply for group status immediately, said Chief Vernon Tanner.

Buster Hatcher, the burly chief of the Waccamaw, isn't the crying type, yet he wiped tears off his cheek several times during the meeting. For the 365 members of his tribe, "it legitimized who they've always been and who they've always been told they couldn't be," Hatcher said.

Before Thursday, the federally recognized Catawbas of the Rock Hill area were the only tribe in the state. Thursday's decision added about 2,600 people in the state who legally can claim to be Indians. To earn the state recognition, the various entities had to provide paperwork showing they had enough people with common heritage and a long-standing tribal history. Genealogical records had to go back several generations, back to times when Native Americans had reason to deny their heritage to avoid persecution.

In recent years, South Carolina residents with Native American backgrounds have embraced their heritage. They organized powwows and other events to spotlight their customs. Many already declared their race as Native American on their voter registration cards. Now, four tribes have state recognition of their heritage.

As Chief Carolyn Chavis Bolton of the Pee Dee Indian Nation said, "I don't have to prove who I am anymore."

____________________________________________________________________

South Carolina General Assembly
115th Session, 2003-2004

STATUS INFORMATION

Concurrent Resolution
Sponsors: Senator Elliott
Document Path: l:\council\bills\dka\3969dw04.doc

Introduced in the Senate on May 25, 2004
Introduced in the House on May 26, 2004
Adopted by the General Assembly on May 26, 2004

Summary: Chief Harold D. Hatcher

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
Date Body Action Description with journal page number
5/25/2004 Senate Introduced, adopted, sent to House SJ%uFDD310
5/26/2004 House Introduced, adopted, returned with concurrence HJ%uFDD34

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

TO COMMEND CHIEF HAROLD D. HATCHER, CHIEF OF THE WACCAMAW INDIAN PEOPLE OF CONWAY, SOUTH CAROLINA, FOR HIS OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REGULATIONS TO PROVIDE STATE RECOGNITION OF NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN ENTITIES AND HIS LEADERSHIP IN BRINGING THE CONCERNS AND ISSUES OF ALL NATIVE AMERICAN INDIANS TO THE ATTENTION OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Whereas, Chief Harold D. Hatcher, Chief of the Waccamaw Indian people of Conway, has worked diligently while serving on the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs Native American Ad Hoc Committee; and

Whereas, Chief Hatcher has contributed significantly to the development of legislative actions to amend the scope of the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs to encompass the representation of Native American Indians, Hispanics/Latinos, Asians, and other ethnic minorities; and

Whereas, he has shown great leadership in the development for criteria to recognize the state's Native American Indian population as tribes, groups, and special interest organizations; and

Whereas Chief Hatcher continues to seek solutions to the problems facing our Native American Indian state population. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring:

That the members of the General Assembly commend Chief Harold D. Hatcher, Chief of the Waccamaw Indian People of Conway, South Carolina, for his outstanding contributions to the development of the regulations to provide state recognition of Native American Indian entities and his leadership in bringing the concerns and issues of all Native American Indians to their attention.

____________________________________________________________________

Need we say more?