Book Review: Spotlight on Native Americans: Cheyenne

 Spotlight on Native Americans: Cheyenne by Terra Rose Maron, Power Kids Press, Rosen Publishing Group, New York, 2016.

The Cheyenne are a people from the great plains area.  Their creation story says the creator mae three types of people, white, red and hairy.  The red people followed the hairy south.  The hairy people disappeared.  When the red people returned north the wite people were gone, so the red peope made their homes there.  The creator gavre them corn and buffalo.  At this time they lived in th Great Lakes area.  However their enemies (the Ojibwes and  Assiniboine drove them west.  There the became nomadic buffalo hunters.  By the 1830s the Cheyenne had become two groups, one in the north, Montana area and the other in the south, Arkansas area.  

War came to the Cheyenne on the Plains after an incident with a wagon train.  The soldiers from Fort Kearney countered by killing eight Cheyenne.  This lead to a war that lasted 30 years.  As part of this war Colonel John Chivington with a militia attacked a peaceful village under Black Kettle.  Many women and children were killed.  This is known as the Sand Creek Massacre.  Over 230 Native Americans were killed.  In 1867 Black Kettle's camp was attacked again by Colonel George Armstrong Custer.  Black Kettle was killed.  The southern Cheyenne were forced onto a reservation in Oklahoma.  In the 1860s the northern Cheyenne joined Red Cloud and the Sioux in the war over the Bozeman Trail.  They forced the abandonment of forts along the trail.  In the 1870s was broke out again as gold miners were taking Indian land with the support of the army.  The army was defeated at the battle of Rosebud and the Little Big Horn.  However these victories only made the army fight harder and bring more and more men.  They too were forced onto the reservation in Oklahoma, with the promise they could return if they did not like it.  They did not.  It was a sickly place with malaria.  Even though originally denied, a group returned to Montana and were finally granted a reservation.  

The Cheyenne were famous for their horse riding skills.  Young people learn to ride from a young age.  Cheyenne were famous for their governing council of 44, four chiefs from eleven different bands.  There are less bands today.  Cheyenne also had different societies.  The most famous of these is the dog soldiers.  

There are two sacred relics for the Cheyenne.  The first is the sacred arrows which are replenished each year in a cremony.  The other is the sacred medicine or buffalo hat.  The northern Cheyenne guard the sacred medicine hat and the northern Cheyenne the sacred arrows.  The southern Cheyenne share their reservation with the Arapaho.  They deal with environmental issues.  The southern Cheyenne support a wind farm.  The northern Cheyenne fight against strip coal mining.

Book Review: This Land Called America: Nebraska

 Nebraska: This Land Called America by Rachael Hanel, Creative Education, Mankota, Minnesota, 2010.

This book seems to be more a picture book than a history book, but it does include some history.  Native tribes living in the area were the Pawnee, Sioux, Omaha, Oto, Ponca and Arapaho.  Spain climed the area, and then the French, and after the Louisiana Purchase the United States.  In 1804-1806 The Lewis and Clark Corp of Discovery explored the area and made contact with Native Americans on their adventure to the Pacific.  They did not find a water course to the Pacific.  

Gradually the Native Americans were pushed off of their native lands, and were confined to reservations.  Some fought against the encroachment, but eventually all were confined, the Omaha and Ponca and Santee Sioux have reservations in Nebraska.  

Over time more and more settlers stayed in Nebraska.  Nebraska had been a travel through area on the Mormon and Oregon and California Trails.  The Homestead Act encouraged people to use the land and slowly Nebraska became populated.  Nebraska became a territory in 1854 and a state in 1867.  It became a railroad area with the completion of the transcontinental rail in 1869.  This also lead to the area becoming a cattle area.  The stockyards in South Omaha established the area as the major cow processing area in the nation.

Some famous Nebraskans include author Willa Cather and comedian Johnny Carson.  Lincoln was established as the state capital.  University of Nevada Lincoln prides themselves for their football tradition.  The Offutt Air base in Bellevue Nebraska has often been the hub of the strategic air defense since after WWII.   

Documentary Review: What Was Ours

"What Was Ours" is a documentary from Indie Lens released January 17 on PBS.  I enjoyed this.  It is about the Shoshone and Arapaho from Wyoming, Wind River Reservation.  When the economic foundation of the Native Americans changed, many sold their artifacts to museums, or in one case to a Deacon of the Episcopal Church, and the items were lost to the tribe.
This documentary tells three stories, two young Arapaho, one a young woman, Mikala, a high school senior.  She was princess of a Denver March Pow Wow.  Her family is important to hear, going back through generations.  He tells the story of her grandfather who was a previous keeper of artifacts.   A young man, Jordan, interested in bringing the items back to the reservation.  He is interested in the storytelling of his paper, which tells you are part of a bigger picture.   Lastly an elderly Shoshone, Philbert, who served in the Viet Nam War as a helicopter gunner.  He always carried his talisman as a good luck charm.  All three are trying to maintain their Indian ways in a modern way.  Some of the items which have left the reservation were sacred objects.
There had been a museum on the reservation,  but the items were removed when there was no longer anyone to care for them.  Philbert works for the casino, and a space in the casino set aside for a museum.
These three are part of a group which traveled to Chicago to see items stored or displayed there.  However the focus on the film is the return of items owned by the Episcopalian Church; those which had been at the museum.  In the end, there is a cooperation between the reservation, the church and the casino which lead to the items being returned and displayed on the reservation.
This documentary is fascinating.  It shows a people trying to tight rope two cultures.  This struggle for their artifacts is just one part of that struggle.  The colors and the artwork in some of the pieces is just fascinating.  They also talk about the history behind some of the pieces they are creating contemporarily.  There is also insight given on how some of the ancient pieces were used.

Native American Biographies: Carl Sweezy: Arapaho Artist

Carl Sweezy was a pioneer in using Native American art style and moving it from book-style ledger drawing to devoting the Native American style.  He was employed by James Mooney, Smithsonian Museum anthropologist to restore old  shields and copy designs.  Mooney liked his style of painting and encouraged him to continue.  He depicted buffalo hunts Sun Dance, Little Big Horn and ceremonies.  He detailed Native American dress.  His paintings are displayed at the National Museum of the American Indian and many venues in Oklahoma.