Survival through tradition and change

Despite the best efforts of many Native Americans did not disappear

They worked hard to maintain their traditions But were also open to change Native American lifestyles had never been

static Lewis Henry Morgan and Salvage

Archaeology in Playing Indian

Into the 20th C native groups still utilized native plants as medicine

Dorothy Joseph Paiute-Shoshoni

Grew up chewing early shoots of poison oak to make her immune to it as adult

Tohono O’odham gathered creosote plants Cahuilla gathered white sage Both to use as medicine Despite this use, knowledge of tradition was

less well spread

Katherine Saubal Cahuilla

Born 1920 Los Coyotes reservation

Southern California Talking of traditional medicine

in 1997 “they didn’t have textbooks on

these things, they carried the knowledge in their head and used this knowledge to teach me about the plants”

Inducted into National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993

Wyandot elder Eleonore Sioui 1st Canadian Indian to obtain doctorate

in Amerindian Philosophy and spirituality

uses plant and animals of her local region to teach history, culture and religion

cultural preservation was a conscious survival tactic

Yet as stated not trapped in a static past

Navajo women adopted rug designs from Persia Used wool from Germantown, Pennsylvania Kiowa artists moved from hides to canvas The Kiowa Five

Oscar Brousse Jacobson a Swedish immigrant MA in fine arts Yale University

Hired by University of Oklahoma 1915 to head art department

Fascinated by the drawings sent to him by Susie Peters Indian Agent at Anadarko, Oklahoma

Issued invitation to the Kiowa students to come to become special students in the art department.

Eagle Dance by Stephen Mopope Five Kiowa men from

Anadarko, Oklahoma James Auchiah (1906 – 1974) Spencer Asah (1905 – 1954) Jack Hokeah (1902 – 1969) Stephen Mopope (1898 – 1974) Monroe Tsatoke (1904 – 1937). Internationally known artists in

the 1920’s referred to as the “Kiowa Five.”

Lois Bougetah Smoky (1907 - 1981): Original member of the Kiowa Five artists

only female and the youngest member of the group.

customary among the tribes of the Plains that women not draw or paint in a representational style

return to the reservation after only a few short years of painting, she did not pursue a career in the art world.

Lois Smoky's art, due to its rarity, is now the most sought after of all the Kiowa Five artists

United States Post Office and Kiowa Indian Agency

Jim Thorpe Best Athlete of 1

st

half twentieth Century

Resistance through Religion

“Common folk never handled feathers they were to powerful” Katherine Saubel

Feathers carry prayers skyward Feathers can be seen in homes,

trees near homes or on pipes, dolls, and baskets

Agents and Missionaries on Reservations tried to ban their use but they remained and remain important items

Title 50 Part 22 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations

Tobacco another important item

Tobacco has been used for many generations as offerings to the spirits for: Planting Gathering food Healing Ceremonies

Tobacco is medicine Used for prayer,

protection, and respect.

Religious revivals 1850s On Lalac Mountain on

Columbia River An Indian died and

travelled to the ‘Sky Above’

Met Nami Piap (elder brother) Told to return and tell

the people to return to traditional way

Smohalla Hunchback, short legs

and large head

Gathered followers at Priest River Idaho Worshipped each Sunday and held traditional

food feasts Commemorated link between Nami Piap Indian Sacred foods Following his daughter’s death Smohalla

learned more songs and procedures from Nami Piap

His word spread, shared his teachings with many Plateau people

Impacted people on reservations Umatilla, Nez Perce, Colville Yakama, and

others Teachings of passive resistance Urged people to remain off reservations No one had the right to mark the earth or force

others onto designated land Urged Indians to return to traditional ways of

hunting, fishing, and gathering

People should reject white attitudes “You ask me to plough the ground! Shall I take

a knife and tear her bosom? Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest”

“You ask me to dig for stone! Shall I dig under her skin for her bones? Then when I die I cannot enter her body to be born again”

“You ask me to cut grass and make hay and sell it, and be rich like white men, but how dare I cut of my mothers hair?”

“men who work cannot dream and wisdom comes to us in dreams”

Passive resistance to the forces of modernization and cultural disintegration

After a while when God is ready, he will drive away all the people except those who have obeyed the laws

Those who obeyed the Washani Creed would experience new life

November 1882, Skookum Bay, Puget Sound

Squasachtun – John Slocam near death Died spoke to angels who took him to

both heaven and hell Given chance to return, end his drinking

and preach a native form of Christianity His wife Whe Bulehtash – Mary Slocam Witnessed these events

Together they created the Indian Shaker Church

Based on native beliefs, but acknowledged divinity of Christ

Church spread from northern California to Canada

Well known for healing the sick, exorcising demons, and empowering Native Americans to stop drinking

Healers travelled throughout the west

Indian Agents tried to eradicate Indian Shaker Church from reservations

Claimed Shakers howled like animals and knew nothing of prayers or Christ

Spread disease Parishioners kicked up dust during

ceremonies Early 20th C view changed as Agents

recognized the Church’s role in ending alcoholism and creating “model citizens”