Dakota Cross Bearer

Dakota Cross-Bearer is the story of Harold S. Jones, a Dakota Indian born in 1909 and raised on the Santee Reservation in Nebraska, who rose through the ranks of the Episcopal Church to become the first Native bishop of a Christian church. Jones's biography sheds light on the importance of Christianity for the Dakotas and other Native peoples during the twentieth century. His story yields insights into the history of twentieth-century missionary activity among Native communities and illuminates instances of conflict and discrimination within the Episcopal Church, the processes of clerical training and testing, and the demands of constant relocation. Mary E. Cochran is the wife of an Episcopal bishop who worked on the Standing Rock Reservation and who later was named bishop of Alaska. She and her husband live in Tacoma, Washington. Raymond A. Bucko, S.J., a Catholic priest, is the director of the Native American Studies Program and an associate professor of anthropology at Creighton University. He is the author of The Lakota Ritual of the Sweat Lodge: History and Contemporary Practice (Nebraska 1998). Martin Brokenleg, an enrolled member of the Sicangu Lakota, is a professor of Native American studies at Augustana College and an Episcopal priest. He is a coauthor of Reclaiming Youth at Risk: Our Hope for the Future.

Ornately decorated objects created by Dakota women -- cradleboards, clothing, animal skin containers -- served more than a utilitarian function. They tell the story of colonization, genocide, and survival. Colette Hyman traces the changes in the lives of Dakota women, starting before the arrival of whites and covering the fur trade years, the years of treaties and shrinking lands, the brutal time of removal, starvation, and shattered families after 1862, and then the transition to reservation life, when missionaries and government agents worked to turn the Dakota into Christian farmers. The decorative work of Dakota women reflected all of this: native organic dyes and quillwork gave way to beading and needlework, items traditionally decorated for family gifts were also produced to sell to tourists and white collectors, work on cradleboards and animal skin bags shifted to the ornamenting of hymnals and the creation of star quilts.

A celebration of achievement, accomplishments, and courage! Native American Medal of Honor recipients, Heisman Trophy recipients, U.S. Olympians, a U.S. vice president, Congressional representatives, NASA astronauts, Pulitzer Prize recipients, U.S. poet laureates, Oscar winners, and more. The first Native magician, all-Native comedy show, architects, attorneys, bloggers, chefs, cartoonists, psychologists, religious leaders, filmmakers, educators, physicians, code talkers, and inventors. Luminaries like Jim Thorpe, King Kamehameha, Debra Haaland, and Will Rogers, along with less familiar notables such as Native Hawaiian language professor and radio host Larry Lindsey Kimura and Cree/Mohawk forensic pathologist Dr. Kona Williams. Their stories plus the stories of 2000 people, events and places are presented in Indigenous Firsts: A History of Native American Achievements and Events, including … Suzanne Van Cooten, Ph.D., Chickasaw Nation, the first Native female meteorologist in the country Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, Wampanoag from Martha’s Vineyard, graduate of Harvard College in 1665 Debra Haaland, the Pueblo of Laguna, U.S. Congresswoman and Secretary of the Interior Sam Campos, the Native Hawaiian who developed the Hawaiian superhero Pineapple Man Thomas L. Sloan, Omaha, was the first Native American to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court William R. Pogue, Choctaw, astronaut Johnston Murray, Chickasaw, the first person of Native American descent to be elected governor in the United States, holding the office in Oklahoma from 1951 to 1955 The Cherokee Phoenix published its first edition February 21, 1828, making it the first tribal newspaper in North America and the first to be published in an Indigenous language The National Native American Honor Society was founded by acclaimed geneticist Dr. Frank C. Dukepoo , the first Hopi to earn a Ph.D. Louis Sockalexis, Penobscot, became the first Native American in the National Baseball League in 1897 as an outfielder with the Cleveland Spiders Jock Soto, Navajo/Puerto Rican, the youngest-ever man to be the principal dancer with the New York City Ballet The Seminole Tribe of Florida was the first Nation to own and operate an airplane manufacturing company Warrior's Circle of Honor, the National Native American Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, on the grounds of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian The Iolani Palace, constructed 1879–1882, the home of the Hawaiian royal family in Honolulu Loriene Roy, Anishinaabe, White Earth Nation, professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Information, former president of the American Library Association Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Northern Cheyenne, U.S. representative and U.S. senator from Colorado Hanay Geiogamah, Kiowa /Delaware, founded the American Indian Theatre Ensemble Gerald Vizenor, White Earth Nation, writer, literary critic, and journalist for the Minneapolis Tribune Ely S. Parker (Hasanoanda, later Donehogawa), Tonawanda Seneca, lieutenant colonel in the Union Army, serving as General Ulysses S. Grant’s military secretary Fritz Scholder, Luiseno, painter inducted into the California Hall of Fame The Native American Women Warriors, the first all Native American female color guard Lori Arviso Alvord, the first Navajo woman to become a board-certified surgeon Kay “Kaibah” C. Bennett, Navajo, teacher, author, and the first woman to run for the presidency of the Navajo Nation Sandra Sunrising Osawa, Makah Indian Nation, the first Native American to have a series on commercial television The Choctaw people’s 1847 donation to aid the Irish people suffering from the great famine Otakuye Conroy-Ben, Oglala Lakota, first to earn an environmental engineering Ph.D. at the University of Arizona Diane J. Willis, Kiowa, former President of the Society of Pediatric Psychology and founding editor of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology Shelly Niro, Mohawk, winner of Canada’s top photography prize, the Scotiabank Photography Award Loren Leman, Alutiiq/Russian-Polish, was the first Alaska Native elected lieutenant governor Kim TallBear, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, the first recipient of the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience, and Environment Carissa Moore, Native Hawaiian, won the Gold Medal in Surfing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Will Rogers, Cherokee, actor, performer, humorist was named the first honorary mayor of Beverly Hills Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations by Lois Ellen Frank, Kiowa, was the first Native American cookbook to win the James Beard Award Diane Humetewa, Hopi, nominated by President Barack Obama, became the first Native American woman to serve as a federal judge Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail, Crow, the first Native American nurse to be inducted into the American Nursing Association Hall of Fame Indigenous Firsts honors the ongoing and rich history of personal victories and triumphs, and with more than 200 photos and illustrations, this information-rich book also includes a helpful bibliography and an extensive index, adding to its usefulness. This vital collection will appeal to anyone interested in America’s amazing history and its resilient and skilled Indigenous people.

In The Education of Clarence Three Stars Philip Burnham tells the life story of the remarkable Packs the Dog, a member of the Minneconjou Lakotas who was born in 1864 east of the Black Hills. His father, Yellow Knife, died when the boy was five, and the family eventually enrolled at Pine Ridge Agency with the Oglalas under an uncle’s name, Three Stars. In 1879 Packs the Dog joined the first class of Indian students to be admitted to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. An enthusiastic student, Clarence Three Stars, as he would come to be known, was one of five Lakota children who volunteered to stay at Carlisle after the three-year plan of instruction was finished—though he eventually left the school in frustration. Three Stars returned to Pine Ridge and married Jennie Dubray, another Carlisle veteran, and they had seven children. The life of Lakota advocate Three Stars spanned a time of dramatic change for Native Americans, from the pre-reservation period through the Dawes Act of 1887 until just before the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Three Stars was a teacher, interpreter, catechist, lawyer, and politician who lived through the federal policy of American Indian assimilation in its many guises, including boarding school education, religious conversion, land allotment, and political reorganization. He used the fundamentals of his own boarding school education to advance the welfare of the Oglala Lakota people, even when his efforts were deemed threatening or subversive. His dedication to justice, learning, and self-governance informed a distinguished career of classroom excellence and political advocacy on his home reservation of Pine Ridge.

Until the last two centuries, the human landscapes of the Great Plains were shaped solely by Native Americans, and since then the region has continued to be defined by the enduring presence of its Indigenous peoples. The Encyclopedia of the Great Plains Indians offers a sweeping overview, across time and space, of this story in 123 entries drawn from the acclaimed Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, together with 23 new entries focusing on contemporary Plains Indians, and many new photographs. ø Here are the peoples, places, processes, and events that have shaped lives of the Indians of the Great Plains from the beginnings of human habitation to the present?not only yesterday?s wars, treaties, and traditions but also today?s tribal colleges, casinos, and legal battles. In addition to entries on familiar names from the past like Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, new entries on contemporary figures such as American Indian Movement spiritual leader Leonard Crow Dog and activists Russell Means and Leonard Peltier are included in the volume. Influential writer Vine Deloria Sr., Crow medicine woman Pretty Shield, Nakota blues-rock band Indigenous, and the Nebraska Indians baseball team are also among the entries in this comprehensive account. Anyone wanting to know about Plains Indians, past and present, will find this an authoritative and fascinating source.

While Native Americans are perhaps the most studied people in our society, they too often remain the least understood and visible. Fictions and stereotypes predominate, obscuring substantive and fascinating facts about Native societies. The Extraordinary Book of Native American Lists works to remedy this problem by compiling fun, unique, and significant facts about Native groups into one volume, complete with references to additional online and print resources. In this volume, readers can learn about Native figures from a diverse range of cultures and professions, including award-winning athletes, authors, filmmakers, musicians, and environmentalists. Readers are introduced to Native U.S. senators, Medal of Freedom winners, Medal of Honor recipients, Major League baseball players, and U.S. Olympians, as well as a U.S. vice president, a NASA astronaut, a National Book Award recipient, and a Pulitzer Prize winner. Other categories found in this book are: History Stereotypes and Myths Tribal Government Federal-Tribal Relations State-Tribal Relations Native Lands and Environmental Issues Health Religion Economic Development Military Service and War Education Native Languages Science and Technology Food Visual Arts Literary and Performing Arts Film Music and Dance Print, Radio, and Television Sports and Games Exhibitions, Pageants, and Shows Alaska Natives Native Hawaiians Urban Indians Including further fascinating facts, this wonderful resource will be a great addition not only to tribal libraries but to public and academic libraries, individuals, and scholars as well.

This unique collaboration by academic historians, Oneida elders, and Episcopal clergy tells the fascinating story of how the oldest Protestant mission and house of worship in the upper Midwest took root in the Oneida community. Personal bonds that developed between the Episcopal clergy and the Wisconsin Oneidas proved more important than theology in allowing the community to accept the Christian message brought by outsiders. Episcopal bishops and missionaries in Wisconsin were at times defenders of the Oneidas against outside whites attempting to get at their lands and resources. At other times, these clergy initiated projects that the Oneidas saw as beneficial—a school, a hospital, or a lace-making program for Oneida women that provided a source of income and national recognition for their artistry. The clergy incorporated the Episcopal faith into an Iroquoian cultural and religious framework—the Condolence Council ritual—that had a longstanding history among the Six Nations. In turn, the Oneidas modified the very form of the Episcopal faith by using their own language in the Gloria in Excelsis and the Te Deum as well as by employing Oneida in their singing of Christian hymns. Christianity continues to have real meaning for many American Indians. The Wisconsin Oneidas and the Episcopal Church testifies to the power and legacy of that relationship.