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Cegape or Strike the
Kettle (Lakota, ca. 1841?). Untitled painting, collected
in 1893. North or South Dakota. 20/5176. Most large paintings
of this kind focus on a single event, often a battle. This
painting, made by a follower of Sitting Bull, shows warriorsfigures
on horseback carrying lances and shieldswithin the Lakota
way of life. (National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian)
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For many Americans, the eagle feather headdress is a generic symbol
of Native America indivisible from the narrative of the wild west
and cowboys and Indians. For the Lakota, the wapaha is a
symbol of cultural values, responsibility, and leadership. In order
to wear a single eagle feather, a Lakota person must earn the right
to do so. As Lakota elder Duane Hollow Horn Bear explains in the
video below, Imbued in this mans life must be characteristics
of the values of our people, such as fortitude, perseverance, generosity,
bravery. And when he wears this, he must always think of the people
as a whole.
It has been 144 years since June 25 and 26, 1876, when the Lakota,
Cheyenne, and Arapaho defeated Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer
and the U.S. Armys 7th Cavalry at the Battle
of Little Bighorn. We remember the bravery of the victors, who
responded to a surprise attack and utterly annihilated Custer and
his troops in a last push to secure their homelands. What we often
forget are the difficult decisions leaders like Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa
Lakota), Hollow Horn Bear (Sicangu Lakota), American Horse (Oglala
Lakota), Gall (Hunkpapa Lakota), Crazy Horse (Oglala Lakota), and
others had to make to ensure the safety of their people following
the battle. There werent only warriors camped at the Little
Bighorn River; there were women and children, too. And almost immediately,
these leaders had to decide what to do next to protect their people.
Some, like Sitting Bull and Gall, fled to Canada, where they knew
their people would be protected from further attacks by the U.S.
Army. Others, like American Horse and Crazy Horse, stayed and continued
to fight. Ultimately, all surrendered, were imprisoned, or were
killed. Within less than a year following the battle, the United
States had confined to reservations all of its Plains Indian adversaries.
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Portrait of Chief Mato
He Hlogeca (Hollow Horn Bear, Sicangu Lakota, 18501913),
taken when he was a delegate to the U.S. Indian Congress of
the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition. Omaha,
Nebraska, 1898. Chief Hollow Horn Bear, who fought in the
Battle of Little Bighorn, remained an advocate for the Lakota
people all his life. (Frank Rinehart or his assistant Adolph
Muhr)
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For the Lakota, the core values of wówachantognaka
(generosity), wówachinthanka (perseverance), wóohitike
(bravery), and wóksape (wisdom) are exemplified in
leadership. At the time of the Battle of Little Bighorn, leaders
were selected from headmen called wicasas, or shirtwearers,
who represented each of the seven divisions of the Lakota. Four
were selected among the wicasas to serve as leaders for the
people as a governing council. Much has changed since that time,
but these values have endured through individual tribal members
and leaders alike.
These cultural values have helped the Lakota people and their tribal
governments persevere through the 20th century and into the 21st.
This spring, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Cheyenne River
Sioux Chair Harold Frazier and Oglala Sioux Tribal President Julian
Bear Runner made news by defying an order from South Dakota Governor
Kristi Noem to remove public health checkpoints established by the
tribes on highways crossing their respective reservations to protect
tribal citizens and others.
Indianz.com
and others have reported that Governor Noem and the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA) are asserting that the checkpoints violate a BIA memorandum
that requires tribes to consult with state officials before closing
or restricting travel on state or U.S. highways.
Both Chairman Frazier and President Bear Runner insist that they
have not closed any roads but are using the checkpoints to mitigate
and track the spread of the coronavirus.
Non-residents whose travel is considered non-essential are
advised to pass through the reservation without stopping,
wrote President Bear Runner to Noem. It is not our intent
to deny them passage through the reservation.
A group of state legislators from both sides of the political aisle
has written
to Governor Noem supporting the tribes and saying that South
Dakota has no jurisdiction over the highways running through
Indian lands in the state without tribal consent, citing the
1851
Treaty of Horse Creek and 1868
Fort Laramie Treaty.
Prior to the Battle of Little Bighorn, American Horse and Iron
Shell (father of Hollow Horn Bear), along with many other tribal
leaders, signed the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty to guarantee the sovereignty,
well-being, and lands of the Lakota for future generations. More
than 150 years later, their choices continue to provide protection
for their people and the value of wówachinthanka,
or perseverance, continues to guide the decisions of Lakota leaders
today.
The exhibition Americans
explores how the Battle
of Little Bighorn has influenced Americans ideas not only
about American Indians but about our national character. A dialogue
toolkit for Americans, created in collaboration with
the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, is also available
on the museums website.
The museums education initiative Native
Knowledge 360° includes lesson plans on Northern
Plains treaties and the
meaning homelands,
kinship systems, and nationhood hold for Native peoples of the Northern
Plains.
Mandy Van Heuvelen (Mnicoujou Lakota and member of the Cheyenne
River Sioux Tribe) is the Cultural Interpreter coordinator for the
National Museum of the American Indian.
Duane Hollow Horn Bear (Sicangu Lakota) is a longtime member of
the Lakota Studies Department at Sinte Gleska University on the
Rosebud Indian Reservation and a great-grandson of Chief Hollow
Horn Bear.
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