Crow Tribe elder, historian Joe Medicine Crow dead at 102

[webfact]

Crow Tribe elder, historian Joe Medicine Crow dead at 102
By MATTHEW BROWN

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Joseph Medicine Crow, an acclaimed Native American historian and last surviving war chief of Montana's Crow Tribe, has died. He was 102.

Medicine Crow died Sunday, Bullis Mortuary funeral home director Terry Bullis said. Services will be announced Monday, he said.

A member of the Crow Tribe's Whistling Water clan, Medicine Crow was raised by his grandparents in a log house in a rural area of the Crow Reservation near Lodge Grass, Montana.

His Crow name was "High Bird," and he recalled listening as a child to stories about the Battle of Little Bighorn from those who were there, including his grandmother's brother, White Man Runs Him, a scout for Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer.

His grandfather, Yellowtail, raised Medicine Crow to be a warrior. The training began when Medicine Crow was just 6 or 7, with a punishing physical regimen that included running barefoot in the snow to toughen the boy's feet and spirit.

Medicine Crow in 1939 became the first of his tribe to receive a master's degree, in anthropology. He served for decades as a Crow historian, cataloging his people's nomadic history by collecting firsthand accounts of pre-reservation life from fellow tribal members.

"I always told people, when you meet Joe Medicine Crow, you're shaking hands with the 19th century," said Herman Viola, curator emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Indians.

During World War II, Medicine Crow earned the title of war chief after performing a series of daring deeds, including stealing horses from an enemy encampment and hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier whose life Medicine Crow ultimately spared.

"Warfare was our highest art, but Plains Indian warfare was not about killing. It was about intelligence, leadership, and honor," Medicine Crow wrote in his 2006 book "Counting Coup."

Soon after returning from the European front, Medicine Crow was designated tribal historian by the Crow Tribal Council.

With his prodigious memory, Medicine Crow could accurately recall decades later the names, dates and exploits from the oral history he was exposed to as a child, Viola said. Those included tales told by four of the six Crow scouts who were at Custer's side at Little Bighorn and who Medicine Crow knew personally.

Yet Medicine Crow also embraced the changes that came with the settling of the West, and he worked to bridge his people's cultural traditions with the opportunities of modern society. His voice became familiar to many outside the region as the narrator for American Indian exhibits in major museums across the country.

"He really wanted to walk in both worlds, the white world and Indian world, and he knew education was a key to success," said Viola, who first met Medicine Crow in 1972 and collaborated with him on several books.

Gov. Steve Bullock said Medicine Crow was an inspiration to his tribe and others.

"Joe was a Crow war chief, veteran, elder, historian, author, and educator. His legacy will forever serve as an inspiration for all Native Americans — and all Montanans," he said.

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines said Medicine Crow was a good leader and the first member of the Crow Tribe to attain a master's degree.

"Medicine Crow's spirit, humility and life achievements leave a lasting imprint on Montana's history," Daines said.

President Barack Obama awarded Medicine Crow the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

During the White House ceremony, Obama referred to Medicine Crow as "a good man, a 'bacheitche' in Crow."

"(His) life reflects not only the warrior spirit of the Crow people, but America's highest ideals," Obama said.

He was nominated for the Congressional Gold Medal and was awarded honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Southern California and Montana's Rocky Mountain College.

In the years leading to his death, Medicine Crow continued to live with his family in Lodge Grass. His wife died in 2009. Even after his hearing and eyesight faded, Medicine Crow continued to lecture into his 90s on the Battle of Little Bighorn and other major events in Crow history.
___

Associated Press writer Steven K. Paulson contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-04-04

[craigt3365]

RIP my Father.

"We don't own the land; we belong to it. Father Sky is getting mad at us. There are tornadoes and hurricanes, and it goes on and on." Joe Medicine Crow

Clip Title: Living in Two Worlds
Summary: Dr. Medicine Crow explains how by embracing both cultures that were around him growing up he was able to survive the reservation times in his childhood while keeping the Native Spirit alive. He also gives to the Indian youth of today to honor the tribal ways, through Indian Days and Pow Wows.

http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/authors/Joe-Medicine-Crow.aspx

http://www.indianz.com/News/2015/016814.asp

Edited April 4, 2016 by craigt3365

[lovelomsak]

RIP

A sad moment for North America..

[shunter]

lovelomsakpost # 3

RIP

A sad moment for North America..

A sad loss for the Great Indian Nation.

The Indian tribes and their peoples, their customs and their cultures etc were systematically attacked and slaughtered by the land grabbing European settlers in a classic case of ethnic cleansing..

http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v029/v029p324.pdf

Edited April 4, 2016 by shunter

[SgtRock]

This reminds me of the old Indian guy I met back in the 80's in the town of Medicine Hat in Canada.

This old guy had the most wonderful stories, no idea if they were true but it was amazing listening to them, told with so much energy and passion.

RIP fella's.

[craigt3365]

My great aunt. I'll try to find the pic of my great, great uncle who was a medicine man. Pretty cool.

Edit: Taken near Colgate, Oklahoma on the reservation where my father was born.

Edited April 4, 2016 by craigt3365

[sgtsabai]

RIP Father

I was fortunate enough to know Medicine men Wallace Black Elk and Lenard Crow Dog of the Lakota. We have lost some great leaders in the past few years. In many cases too much knowledge and history passes with them. My friend Russel Means comes immediately to mind. Another was a very, very old man, frankly I don't think anybody but him knew how old he really was. He was the Medicine man for several of the pueblos in New Mexico. I seemed to be the only one he would really talk with. He told me once the old people (him)knew where the Anasazi went but would never tell. I asked him once what would happen to his religious and historical knowledge when he finally died. He said it dies with me because the young generation doesn't deserve it. I'm Creek/Choctaw, member Oglala Independent Nation.

[Scott]

I had the honor and privilege of knowing an amazing elderly lady who died at the age of at least 108 years old. Her name was Mattie Grinnell and she was last fullblooded Mandan Indian. She died in 1975.

Her stories recounted a colorful and sometimes tragic tapestry of life from the middle of the 1800's through much of the 20th century. The Mandan were not a nomadic or warring tribe and engaged in agriculture on the banks of the Missouri River. Eventually it became the Fort Berthold Reservation and was later flooded by the Garrison Dam and Lake Sakakawea. The tribe went from self-sufficiency to abject poverty and dependency. The Reservation is now part of the Bakkan Oil Field and the tribe is awash in money.

Like Medicine Crow, she recounted the the history of her people, who now no longer exist.

Much of what we know of history is from the records of the rich, famous and infamous. We know how the royalty of Europe and the Emperors of China lived, but the day to day life of those whose life was reduced to day-to-day survival is not well recorded. These people never became rich and never lost touch with their root, their culture or their traditions.

It is prudent that we take a moment to remember Medicine Crow and people like him.

RIP

[craigt3365]

RIP Father I was fortunate enough to know Medicine men Wallace Black Elk and Lenard Crow Dog of the Lakota. We have lost some great leaders in the past few years. In many cases too much knowledge and history passes with them. My friend Russel Means comes immediately to mind. Another was a very, very old man, frankly I don't think anybody but him knew how old he really was. He was the Medicine man for several of the pueblos in New Mexico. I seemed to be the only one he would really talk with. He told me once the old people (him)knew where the Anasazi went but would never tell. I asked him once what would happen to his religious and historical knowledge when he finally died. He said it dies with me because the young generation doesn't deserve it. I'm Creek/Choctaw, member Oglala Independent Nation.

Choctaw. My ancestors survived the Trail of Tears.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears