Líderes religiosos en A. Norte

Red Power Movement

See American Indian Movement (RedPower Movement)

Religious Leaders, Alaska

With more than 200 Alaska Native nationsand 20 major languages, cultural diversityand shortcomings in education oftenleave Alaska Natives uncertain about whoqualifies as a spiritual leader. One ele-ment common to all customary defini-tions of Alaska Native spiritual leaders,however, is the notion of having a missionthat goes beyond human endeavors. Themen and women listed below representonly a fraction of those identified as spiri-tual through oral tradition, positionsheld, or election. They all conducted theirlives and maintained religious traditionsin a matrix of cultural theories, para-digms, ontologies, and epistemologies.

Ka-shishk (Tlingit)One of the earliest Alaska Native spiritualleaders in recorded history is Ka-shishk,

who is thought of as the greatest of theseven Tlingit men to inherit the title ofChief Shakes. He lived sometime in thesixteenth century, before Euro-Ameri-cans arrived in Alaska, as detailed byTlingit oral tradition. The southern endof southeast Alaska has long been a trad-ing, meeting, and war zone of theTsimshian, Haida, and Tlingit nations.Several generations ago, at the end of awar in what is now British Columbia, theNisq’a chief We-Shakes, in a move toavoid the humiliation of becoming aslave to the victorious Tlingit chief, re-moved his “killer whale” hat and placedit on his enemy’s head—that of Tlingitchief Gushklin of the Stikine River nearWrangell. As he placed the killer whalehat on Nan-yan-yi Gushklin’s head, theNisq’a chief gave the Tlingit leader hisown name, “We-Shakes.” For unclearreasons, the title has since been short-ened to “Shakes.” The position maintainstraditional Tlingit spiritual, military, andpolitical dimensions.

This title has passed from ChiefShakes I to the present-day Chief Shakes

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VI according to the customary laws ofthe Tlingit: through men of the maternalline. Chief Shakes I died in a smallpoxepidemic soon after receiving the title.He was succeeded by his brother, Ka-shishk. Ka-shishk was renowned be-cause of his benevolence and considera-tion for his people, thus living theparadigmatic life of Tlingit religious tra-ditions as a “crystal person.” He diedafter a long reign when he was killed by afalling tree on his return from a tradingexpedition on the Stikine River. Indicat-ing his stature at the time of his death,many slaves were sacrificed at his fu-neral in order to serve him in the nextworld. (Excerpts from a pamphlet firstprinted in 1940 by the Wrangell Sentineland written by E. L. Keithahn.)

While Ka-shishk and his successorsmet, or attempted to meet, expectationsset on them as chiefs through ancientTlingit notions of power, human moral-ity, and the numinous, contemporaryTlingit spiritual leaders have had to facethe challenges of postcolonial suppres-sion of indigenous religious practices.Some of them, like Walter Soboleff, havecombined formal Christian training withequally formal Tlingit customs in orderto meet the spiritual needs of their fol-lowers. On the other hand, some spiri-tual leaders strive to meet the needs ofjustice beyond their own cultural bound-aries. One such leader was Elizabeth Per-atrovich. Still others, like Ethel Lund,have recognized the practical impor-tance of Tlingit theories of spiritualpower with respect to medicine, and

they use their roles as leaders to bringthese important elements into the clinicsand hospitals of southeastern Alaska.

Walter T’aaw Chán Soboleff (Tlingit)Walter Soboleff was born on November14, 1908, in Killisnoo, Alaska, to AnnaHunter Soboleff (Shaaxeidi Tláa), a Tlin-git woman, and Alexander (Sasha)Soboleff, of Russian and German de-scent. Dr. Soboleff’s common Tlingitname is T’aaw Chán, and his ceremonialname is Kaajaakwti. He is of theAanx’aakhittaan house (People of theCenter of the Village House) of theL’eineidi (Dog Salmon) clan in the Ravenmoiety. Perhaps inspired by his father,who was a Russian Orthodox priest, Dr.Soboleff pursued his interest in Chris-tianity at the University of Dubuque inIowa, where he received a bachelor ofarts degree in 1937 and a bachelor of di-vinity degree in 1940. In that same yearhe was ordained as a Presbyterian minis-ter, and he served at the Memorial Pres-byterian Church in Juneau for twenty-seven years. In addition, he served aschaplain for the Alaska National Guard,achieving the rank of lieutenant colonelprior to his retirement. Dr. Soboleff re-ceived an honorary doctor of divinity de-gree from the University of Dubuque in1952, and in 1968 he received an hon-orary doctor of humanities degree fromthe University of Alaska at Fairbanks.From 1970 to 1974 he headed the AlaskaNative Studies Program in Fairbanks. Atthe age of ninety-five, Dr. Soboleff re-turned briefly to Fairbanks from his

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home in Juneau to be the 2003 com-mencement speaker at the graduationceremony of the University of Alaska atFairbanks.

Dr. Soboleff married Genevieve Ross,a Haida woman. Genevieve, born De-cember 17, 1914, died on January 27,1986. She and her husband had four chil-dren: Janet Soboleff Burke, Sasha, WalterJr., and Ross. Dr. Soboleff married StellaAtkinson, Tsimshian, in 1997. For moreinformation, consult Dauenhauer andDauenhauer (1994).

Elizabeth Jean WanamakerPeratrovich (Tlingit)Although most would not consider Eliza-beth Jean Wanamaker Peratrovich(1911–1958), whose Tlingit name wasKaaxgal.aat, a spiritual leader, her im-pact on Alaska has a strong spiritualcomponent for all Alaskans. She wasborn and reared in Petersburg, in south-east Alaska, having been born to theLukaax.adi clan in the Raven moiety andadopted in early childhood by AndrewWanamaker of the Kaagwaantaan clan(Eagle moiety). She married Roy Peratro-vich in 1931 in Washington state, and in1941 they moved to Juneau, where theydiscovered that racial discrimination inAlaska prevented them from buying orrenting certain homes and that “No Na-tive” signs were often displayed in storefronts. Both Elizabeth and her husbandinitiated efforts toward an Anti-Discrim-ination Act in the Alaska Territorial Leg-islature in 1943, although Elizabeth iscredited with the testimony that moved

legislators to pass the Anti-Discrimina-tion Act on February 16, 1945, a day thathas since been named Elizabeth Peratro-vich Day by former Alaska state governorTony Knowles. Although her life was rela-tively short (she died in 1958 of cancer),memory of her lives on in annual cere-monies, plays, stories, and other mediaevents.

Ethel Aanwoogeex’ Shtoo.aak Lund(Tlingit)Another Tlingit leader whom manymight not view as spiritual is Ethel Aan-woogeex’ Shtoo.aak Lund. Lund wasborn in Wrangell, Alaska, to Carl Lund ofSweden and Maartha Ukas Lund ofWrangell. She is of the Tlingit nation,Raven moiety, Frog clan. Granddaughterof Thomas Ukas, a totem carver andTlingit historian, Dr. Lund has threechildren: David, Diane, and Leah. Dr.Lund suffered with severe illness as achild, and she was not expected to sur-vive to adulthood. But survive she did,and with determination to enter thehealth field. She attended the GoodSamaritan School of Nursing in Port-land, Oregon. Throughout her lifetimeshe has combined Tlingit cultural meth-ods of healing with Western medicine.One of the founders and president of theSoutheast Alaska Regional Health Con-sortium (SEARHC), she has overseen itsregional operations, which include theMt. Edgecumbe Hospital in Sitka, theoutpatient medical facilities in Juneau,in Haines, and on Prince of Wales Island,and the village-based health programs

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in outlying communities. To retain Tlin-git cultural doctrines of medicine, sheestablished an elder’s council as a man-agement advisory group.

Dr. Lund served as chair of the AlaskaNative Health Board from 1978 to 1981,and she developed a landmark Memo-randum of Agreement with the IndianHealth Service in 1978. She served aschair of the Alaska Tribal Health Direc-tors and vice chair of the National IndianHealth Board. In addition, she served onPresident Carter’s Mental Health Com-mission. Dr. Lund served as grand presi-dent of the Alaska Native Sisterhood(ANS) Grand Camp, as well as local pres-ident of the ANS Camps 1 and 70. In 1984she was selected Woman of the Year bythe Business and Professional Women,Juneau Chapter, making her the firstAlaska Native woman to receive thathonor. In 2001 the University of Alaska,Anchorage, offered Dr. Lund an hon-orary doctor of laws degree. Dr. Lund hasa life of service in the field of health careto Alaska Native people, and a commit-ment to retaining cultural input in pres-ent-day programs.

Maniilauraq, or Maniilaq (Inupiaq)There have been many other Alaska Na-tive spiritual leaders in other regions ofAlaska, each following paths that meetthe needs of both their times and theircultural traditions. One of the bestknown of Alaska’s spiritual leaders isManiilauraq, or Maniilaq as he was morecommonly called, an Inupiaq man of theearly 1800s. He came from the Upper

Kobuk region of northwestern Alaska offKotzebue Sound near a place called Qala.Born to an Inupiaq woman namedQupilguuraq and a father whose namehas been lost, Maniilaq was the oldest ofthree children. He was celebrated as agreat prophet, and the Maniilaq Associa-tion (a nonprofit agency sponsored bythe Northwest Arctic Native Association[NANA]) is named for him. His manyprophecies included the passing orchange in the powers of the agnatkut_(the Inupiaq word for medicine people),as well as travel on water without the useof paddles and in boats through the air.

Maniilaq and his wife had two sons,Uqquutaq and Itluun, as well as a daugh-ter, Piqpukpak. According to oral tradi-tion, Maniilaq traveled throughout theKotzebue Sound area telling people ofhis prophecies. Before the arrival ofEuro-Americans in this region (1850s),he disappeared without a trace (Terryand Anderson 2001). Legends about hislife and prophecies are still an importantpart of Inupiat education.

Dr. Della Puyuk Keats (Inupiat)A half-century later, in 1906, the late Dr.Della (Puyuk) Keats was born near Mani-ilaq’s homeland on the Noatak River,north of the Kotzebue Sound. Keatsserved the people of Alaska for morethan sixty years as a bridge betweenmodern medical techniques and tradi-tional practices. Her hands were her pri-mary diagnostic tool. By touching thearea of pain on a patient, Dr. Keats couldhelp by locating the trouble, describing


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it, performing a curative maneuver orprescribing herbal remedies, or by usingmassage or exercise. Her hands “were sostrong they could move the powerfulmuscles of a man who worked all his life.They were delicate enough to feel thewalls of an organ inside a person’s body.They were so exacting they could movean umbilical cord wrapped around theneck of a baby inside a mother’s womb”(Mauer 1986, B-1).

In the 1970s, Della Keats spent manyhours recording stories by Inupiat eldersalong the Kobuk River in northernAlaska, as well as in the Senior Center inKotzebue, where she was a board mem-ber. When she was in her seventies, sheworked for Maniilaq Association (thenonprofit organization in Kotzebuenamed for the nineteenth-century Inu-piaq prophet) as a healer and teacher.Her teachings led to the development ofthe Della Keats Summer EnrichmentProgram at the University of Alaska, An-chorage, a scholarly course designed tohelp Native students study for health-re-lated professions. Della Keats receivedan honorary doctorate of humane lettersin health sciences from the University ofAlaska, Anchorage, in 1983. She died inMarch 1986 in Kotzebue.

Albert Edward Tritt (ChandalarGwich’in Athabascan)To the east and south of the Inupiat ofnorthern Alaska are northern Athabas-cans, of which there are eleven languageareas, and at least as many traditionalnations. Near the Canada/Alaska border,

a well-known Chandalar Gwich’in Atha-bascan medicine man known as AlbertEdward Tritt was born around 1880 nearSmoke Mountain, in a place close toVashraii K’oo, or Arctic Village. He wasborn about twenty years after the Cana-dian Anglican missionary Robert Mc-Donald began translating the Bible intoTakudh, an eastern Gwich’in dialect. Mc-Donald finished his translation in 1898,when Tritt was very young. By carefullycomparing the Takudh Bible with theKing James version, Albert Tritt taughthimself to speak English in what RobertMcKennan (1965, 86) described as a“truly biblical manner”; he referring towomen as “damsels” and “virgins” whenMcKennan visited him in 1962 (ibid.).

At some time in the early 1900s, Trittconverted to Christianity, and hebrought copies of McDonald’s Bible andhymnals from Gwichyaa Zhee (FortYukon) to Vashraii K’oo in order to teachGwich’in children to read and write. Oneof his greatest projects was to ensure thatthe people of Vashraii K’oo had enoughfood; at that time they were enduring ter-rible epidemics, loss of viable hunters,and long periods of starvation. Tritt’sproject, which took several years, endedin 1914 with the construction of a longcaribou fence at the base of one of thenearby mountains. The fence, built ac-cording to traditional Gwich’in stan-dards, was used to snare caribou of spe-cific sizes on their migration routesthrough the mountain passes. Traces ofthe fence are still in place. Besides thecaribou fence, Tritt also had villagers

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construct a small chapel in Vashraii K’oo.The chapel was finished in 1922. Sincetrees of sufficient size are not abundantin the area, logs had to be hauled from asfar away as twenty miles from the village.His last proposal, to cut a wide, straightroad to Gwichyaa Zhee, met with toomuch opposition in the community; itwas never completed.

Despite Albert Tritt’s conversion toChristianity, many of his activities as aleader in northeastern Alaska followedtraditional Athabascan religious tradi-tions, insofar as he believed that his mis-sions were directed by sacred forces.However, although he had many follow-ers, other spiritual leaders in the com-munity eventually withdrew their sup-port of his visions and mandates. Tritt’slegacy is carefully guarded by his descen-dants. He compiled an early Gwich’inlexicon, and he wrote the story of his lifein several ledgers that are accessible forstudy only by the Venetie Tribal Govern-ment (IRA).

While Tritt’s knowledge of Christianitywas primarily self-taught and informedby prophecies and visions, otherGwich’in leaders of that era were edu-cated, and often raised, by an Episco-palian missionary—Hudson Stuck. Onesuch was John Fredson (1895–1945),whom Stuck hoped would become a fu-ture Native leader and missionary. Fred-son, who came from a community a littleto the south of Tritt’s birthplace, becamesuccessful in creating public facilities,such as schools, a medical clinic, mailservice, and finally a reservation. Hear-

ing of new federal legislation to create re-serve lands for Indians, Fredson recog-nized the potential and solicited supportfrom Gwichyaa Zheh, Viihtaii, VashraiiK’oo, and Zheh Gwatsal. As a conse-quence of his efforts, the 1.8-million-acre Venetie Reserve was officially cre-ated in 1943 (MacKenzie 1985, 170). JohnFredson died of pneumonia two yearslater in 1945, at the age of fifty. He is ven-erated in his community through oraltradition, schools, and other public facil-ities that bear his name, and in theethnographies of Cornelius Osgood.

Chief Andrew Isaac (TanacrossAthabascan)Chief Andrew Isaac was born in 1898 inKetchumstock, Alaska, near the Canada/Alaska border, 70 miles south of theYukon River and south of the Gwich’innation. He lived there with his familyuntil 1917, when an epidemic claimedthe lives of many people in his familyand community. The survivors moved toMansfield Lake, now thought of as thespiritual home of the Tanacross Athabas-can people, for whom Chief AndrewIsaac is a beloved ancestor. In 1942 theentire community moved to TananaCrossing, now called Tanacross. Isaaclearned English and worked for the U.S.military during the 1940s as a construc-tion worker; later he worked in coalmines near Eagle and Chicken Creek andin gold mines at Fortymile.

In the years following World War II An-drew Isaac became a leader of theTanacross Athabascans and traveled


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often to Washington, D.C., where he ad-vocated for personal development andeducation. He became the chief of theUnited Crow Band (one of the six matri-lineages of the Tanacross people), hold-ing that position for fifty-nine years. In1972 he was named a traditional chief ofthe interior Athabascans, a role that hemaintained until his death in 1991 at theage of ninety-two. The Alaska Nativemedical clinic in Fairbanks is named forhim. In 1979 he received an honorarydoctorate in humanities from the Uni-versity of Alaska, Fairbanks, and in 1990he was named Citizen of the Year by theAlaska Federation of Natives.

Howard Luke (Tanana Athabascan)Fairbanks, one of the three large popula-tion areas of Alaska, is home to theTanana Athabascans, and now it is hometo Howard Luke. Luke is one of the mostinfluential spiritual leaders in interiorAlaska. The Howard Luke Academy, analternative public high school, is namedafter him. Born in Linder Lake, a TananaAthabascan community near Fairbanks,Alaska, Howard was raised in a tradi-tional subsistence way of life. Althoughhe was unable to finish a Western educa-tion at St. Marks boarding school in Ne-nana, his mother taught him to read andwrite at home while she and other rela-tives taught him the Tanana Athabascancultural ways.

Dr. Luke developed the Bear ChildGaalee’ya Camp on grounds of the origi-nal Old Chena Village, just outside theFairbanks city limits. People from

throughout Alaska, and some from othercultures and nations, go there to learnAthabascan ways as well as to refreshthemselves spiritually. He is particularlyattentive to the needs of children andhas achieved remarkable results with al-coholic and drug-addicted children, aswell as with the children of addicts. In ac-knowledgment of his work, he receivedthe Alaska Social Worker of the YearAward in 1993, and an honorary doctor-ate of humane letters from the Universityof Alaska, Fairbanks, in 1996. In additionto his work at Gaalee’ya Camp, Dr. Lukevolunteers in classrooms at all levels ofeducation, teaching the Tanana Athabas-can language and culture. His snow-shoes, sleds, fish wheels, and other tradi-tional tools form an important part of hislectures and discussions.

Less is known about southwesternprecolonial Aleut spiritual leaders thanthose from anywhere else in Alaska,since Russian Orthodoxy has become thereligion of choice throughout that exten-sive coastal and islandic region. Two lin-guistic regions compose the Aleut re-gion, and within them are severalsmaller nations. The two languages areUnangan and Alutiiq (also known as Sug-stun). The nations include the Unanganof the Aleutian Chain, the Unangan ofthe Pribiloff Islands, the Alutiiq of KodiakIsland, the Alutiiq of Prince WilliamSound, and the Alutiiq of Cook Inlet. De-spite the devastating effects of history,Unangan religious traditions are knownand taught to young people. These in-clude respect for elders, recitation of

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Northeast

As with most Native American groups, Northeastern tribal groups variedgreatly. However, the region has a fairly unified cultural history, resulting insome important similarities across tribal groups.

Since 1000 BCE, the areas encompassing what are now the states east ofthe Mississippi River, north of the Mason-Dixon line, and bordered to thenorth by the Great Lakes and the east by the Atlantic Ocean have been occu-pied by relatively sedentary agricultural communities. Corn has been culti-vated by the region’s Native peoples from the Adena (1000 BCE–200 CE) andHopewell (300–700 CE) periods of prehistory, to the arrival of Europeans tothe area in the early 1500s. In fact, the United States owes much of its gene-sis to the interactions between the first European settlers and the Nativepeoples of the Northeast.

The mound-building Adena and Hopewell cultures contributed a re-gionally interactive collection of independent nation-states to the Nativehistory of the area, culminating in the Mississippian influence, mostly lim-ited to the southern portion of the area, in which hierarchical societies over-seen by religious leaders dominated. From the north came more aggressivehunting cultures, which vied for control of the fertile and game-rich Missis-sippi and Ohio river valleys. This can be seen as a model for the Native his-tory of the region: a tension between the tribal groups adhering to the moresedentary agricultural aspects of the southern influence and those that car-ried on the hunting traditions of their northern tribal cultures.

By the time European contact was made with the northeast region, Al-gonquin-speaking tribal groups were moving into the region and puttingpressure on the more sedentary Iroquoian peoples, a situation that boththe English and the French immigrants exploited for their own purposes.The Iroquoian tribes generally occupied the area that is now upstate NewYork and the lower Great Lakes, growing pumpkins, beans, squash, andcorn in the extremely fertile soil. Algonquin speakers tended to settle nearthe coast in what is now New England, hunting and trapping inland andfishing at the coast. The arrival of Europeans increased the tendency for theAlgonkin tribes to move west into Iroquoian regions, displacing those tribal

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usually shamanic oral traditions, andmedicinal knowledge.

Anfesia Shapsnikoff (Aleut)Among the Aleuts’ many respected spiri-tual leaders is Anfesia Shapsnikoff(1900–1973), who was born at Atka. Herfather, Avakum Lazarov, was from Atka,while her mother, Mary Prokopeuff, wasfrom the island of Attu near the westernend of the Aleutian Chain. When Anfesiawas six her mother took her and herbrother John to Unalaska, a large islandnear the mainland. Anfesia’s mother died

in 1919 during the flu epidemic, follow-ing her father’s death in 1914. In that yearAnfesia married the Russian Orthodoxdeacon Michael Tutliakoff, who died in1934 during the wreck of the Unmak Na-tive. A few years later she married SergieShapsnikoff. Anfesia learned to read andwrite English, Unangan, and Russian,highly prized skills in Unalaska as well asthroughout the Aleut region. She was or-dained a reader of the Orthodox Churchand often conducted services when thepriest was absent. Throughout her life-time she taught and promoted Unangan

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groups and prompting the creation of what came to be known as the Iro-quois Confederacy, a formal cohort of tribal groups in which each tribe hadrepresentation.

Religiously, the northern tribal groups tend to maintain an array of spir-itual beings associated with the tasks of hunting cultures, with religious pro-tocols, the proper behaviors dictated by the beings, dominating much ofdaily life. To the south, seasonal cycles associated with the agriculturalneeds of the people take precedence, owing to the need for continued fertil-ity in the land. Both the Algonkin groups of the north and the Iroquoians tothe south participate in annual or semiannual memorial ceremonies for im-portant leaders who have died. These regular ceremonies serve to providecentripetal focus where the tendency is to favor difference and indepen-dence and to allow for the meeting of trade and potential marriage partnersand the formation of other types of important allegiances.

The Native peoples who inhabited the region at the time of contact sus-tained perhaps the longest and most intense pressure to conform to thecolonialist project, from the Plymouth colony and French fur trappers of thesixteenth century, to colonial law and French-English hostilities, to Amer-ica’s war for independence from England.

culture, and she was called on to lecturein California, Arizona, Oregon, and theYukon Territory of Canada. Her patternfor a child’s rainproof kamleika (hoodedjacket) made of young sea lion or seal in-testine is included in Unugulux Tunu-sangin (Hudson 1992).

Peter Kalifornsky (Dena’inaAthabascan)Like so many other Alaska Natives fromAlaska’s southern coastal area, Athabas-can leader Peter Kalifornsky (1911–1993)would not have considered himself aspiritual leader, but he is included herebecause of his extensive knowledgeabout Dena’ina Athabascan philosophyand culture. He was born on October 12,1911, at Kalifornsky Village on the CookInlet bluff on the Kenai Peninsula, insouth-central Alaska, at a place he calledUnhghenesditnu (“farthest creek over”).His mother, Agrafena Chickalusion Kali-fornsky, died when he was two years old,and he was raised by his father, Nick, hisaunts, and an uncle. Kalifornsky spentmost of his life in Kenai, working at vari-ous construction- and fishing-relatedjobs, as well as subsistence hunting,trapping, and fishing. Although he at-tending public school only through fifthgrade, he worked closely for almosttwenty years with linguists Kari and Bo-raas to record and study his languageand the oral traditions of his ancestors.In addition to his work on Dena’ina cul-tural traditions, Peter Kalifornsky was anaccomplished poet in both English andDena’ina. He was an inspiration to manygenerations of Athabascan people. For

more information, see K’tl’egh’i Sukdu, ADena’ina Legacy: The Collected Writingsof Peter Kalifornsky (Kalifornsky 1991).

The Alaska Native spiritual leadersnamed in these pages are but a few of thehundreds of people who have informedthe lives and history in every Alaskancommunity. Some, such as the nine-teenth-century Inupiaq agnatkut_ Mani-ilaq, never saw Euro-Americans but toldof the cataclysmic changes that wouldoccur because of their imminent arrivalin northwestern Alaska. Another, EthelLund of southeastern Alaska, became aspiritual leader by virtue of her survivalfrom a terrible illness in childhood andher frequent testimony to her belief in theextraordinary powers of traditional Tlingitmedicine in combination with Westernknowledge. Still others, such as Paul John,traditional chief of Tooksook Bay insouthwestern Alaska, and Peter Kaliforn-sky of south-central Alaska, have devotedmuch of their lives to explaining the spiri-tual roots of their cultural practices. In sodoing, they have become leaders in spirit,political action, public and traditional ed-ucation, as well as language.

Phyllis Ann Fast

See also Ceremony and Ritual, Yup’iq;Missionization, Alaska; Oral Traditions,Haida; Oral Traditions, NorthernAthabascan; Oral Traditions, Tlingit; OralTraditions, Yupiaq; Potlatch; Potlatch,Northern Athabascan

References and Further ReadingDauenhauer, Nora Marks, and Richard

Dauenhauer. 1994. Haa Kusteeyi, OurCulture: Tlingit Life Stories. Seattle andLondon: University of Washington Press;Juneau, AK: Sealaska HeritageFoundation.


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Fast, Phyllis Ann. 2002. NorthernAthabascan Survival: Women,Community and the Future. Lincoln:University of Nebraska Press.

Hudson, Ray. 1992. Unugulux Tunusangin:Oldtime Stories: Aleut Crafts andTraditions as Taught to Students at theUnalaska City School by AugustaDushkin, Sophia Pletnikoff, AnfesiaShapsnikoff, Agnes Sovoroff, SergieSovoroff, Annie Tcheripanoff, and BillTcheripanoff. Unalaska, AK: UnalaskaCity School District.

Kalifornsky, Peter. 1991. K’tl’egh’i Sukdu, ADena’ina Legacy: The Collected Writingsof Peter Kalifornsky. Edited by James Kariand Alan Boraas. Fairbanks: AlaskaNative Language Center.

Mauer, Richard. 1986. “Death Stills HealingHands. Tribal Doctor’s Skill KnownStatewide.” Anchorage Daily News,March 13, 1986, p. B-1.

McClanahan, A. J. 1986. Our Stories, OurLives: A Collection of Twenty-ThreeTranscribed Interviews with Elders of theCook Inlet Region. Anchorage, AK: CIRIFoundation.

McKennan, Robert. 1965. “The ChandalarKutchin.” Technical paper 17. Toronto:Arctic Institute of North America.

Osgood, Cornelius. 1936. Contributions tothe Ethnography of the Kutchin. NewHaven: Yale University Press.

Terry, Steven B., and Jill K. Anderson. 2001.Maniilaq: Prophet from the Edge ofNowhere. Seattle, WA: OnjinjinktaPublishing.

Religious Leaders, Basin

See Winnemucca, Sarah

Religious Leaders,California

What constitutes “religion,” and like-wise, what constitutes a “religious

leader,” is an important question whendiscussing American Indian spiritualand cultural leaders. The individualsmentioned in this essay might not all bewhat many anthropologists would callshamans. Many of these people are doc-tors, writers, educators, political ac-tivists, basket weavers, mothers, and fa-thers. What they share is a commoncommitment to preserving the tradi-tional lifeways and spiritual practices oftheir people. Spirituality takes manyforms: prayers offered when collectingplants for weaving a basket, healing asick child, or leading people into war.These individuals are important leadersbecause they have worked to maintain acontinuity with traditional California In-dian culture, and they carry those tradi-tions into the present. What follows are afew brief biographies of some importantcultural and spiritual leaders in NativeCalifornia. This collection is by nomeans inclusive. Many, many more indi-viduals should have been included. Thisis but a small selection of some of thecentral figures.

Elsie Allen (Pomo)Born in 1899, Elsie Allen was a renownedPomo basket weaver and cultural expert.She was active in the Pomo Women’sClub, which worked to provide financialand social support for individuals andfamilies within the Pomo community.She took up basket weaving at the age ofsixty-two, having been trained by hermother. Her book Pomo Basketry: ASupreme Art for the Weaver was publishedin 1972. She was a primary consultant for

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the Warm Springs Cultural ResourcesStudy, and she received an honorary doc-torate of divinity for her work as a tribalscholar and basket maker. She was thefirst to teach the art of Pomo basket mak-ing to people outside the Pomo commu-nity, breaking with an older practice butensuring that the art of this traditionwould be known and respected through-out the country and the world.

Curly Headed Doctor (Modoc)Born in 1890 on the Modoc Reservation,Curly Headed Doctor was a powerfulspiritual leader among his communitywho played an instrumental role in theModoc War of 1873. Curly Headed Doc-tor was believed to have the ability toprotect his followers from death and in-jury, and to draw a line that the enemycould not cross. Through his instigationthe Modoc pursued a course of waragainst the U.S. Army that ultimatelyfailed.

During the 1860s the U.S. governmentwas aggressively seeking the separationof Native people from their traditionalhomelands and their consolidation onreservations. The United States sought toplace the Modoc on the Klamath Reser-vation along the California-Oregon bor-der. The Modoc people at first refused tobe separated from their ancestral home-lands and the spiritual and cultural tra-ditions that they contained. When theywere later relocated, the Modoc foundthemselves as unwanted guests amongthe Klamath, who were themselvesstruggling to survive on a reduced land-

base with limited resources. Discour-aged by reservation life, Captain Jack, aModoc tribal leader, left the reservationand returned to Lost River near Tule Lakein the Modoc’s ancestral homelands.Delegations from the U.S. Army, led bySuperintendent Meacham, sought toconvince them to leave. While Superin-tendent Meacham was speaking withCaptain Jack, Curley Headed Doctorstood and announced that the Modocwould not go back to the reservation. Atthat sentiment shifted, and Captain Jackand the rest of the community likewiserefused to leave Lost River. Captain Jackpreferred to resist nonviolently, but Cur-

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Curly Headed Doctor (Modoc) was a powerfulspiritual leader whose followers believed he hadthe ability to protect them from death andinjury. 1873. (Louis Heller/Library of Congress)

ley Headed Doctor advocated violent re-sistance and encouraged the Modoc tokill the army delegation.

Meacham and his party called for re-inforcements, and the Modoc fled to thelava beds on the south shore of TuleLake, where they established a strong-hold. The army was unable to dislodgethem. General R. S. Canby sought to es-tablish peace, and he met with CaptainJack. At Curley Headed Doctor’s instiga-tion, Captain Jack killed Canby. The armyresponded by sending in fifteen hundredadditional troops. Curley Headed Doctortold his followers that the army would beunable to cross a tule rope that hepainted red and laid around the strong-hold. He promised as well that nonewould be injured by gunfire. He then ledthe community in a night-long circledance around a central medicine poleand medicine flag, in preparation forbattle. On April 15, Curley Headed Doc-tor’s power was discredited when thearmy crossed the threshold of the com-pound and a Modoc man was killed by acannonball. Curley Headed Doctor sur-rendered on May 23, 1873, and soon afterled the army to Captain Jack’s hideout.He was exiled to Indian Territory in pres-ent-day Oklahoma, where he lived untilhis death in 1890.

Delfina Cuero (Diegueño Kumeyaaye)Born around 1900 in the San Diego areain the Diegueno Kumeyaaye nation,Cuero was one of the few to survive theforced removal of her people. Havinglived on the land for thousands of years,

her family’s rights to ownership were de-nied with the arrival of the Spanish mis-sions and later the Euro-American set-tlers. They were frequently forced tomove as more and more settlers enteredthe area. Cuero moved with her family toBaja California, where she lived a diffi-cult life. With the assistance of FlorenceShipek, Cuero wrote her biography, pre-serving knowledge of the traditions andnatural surroundings of her Kumeyaayepeople. She also narrated the difficultiesfaced by Native women and children in achanging world characterized bypoverty, inequality, wage labor, and abu-sive homes. She was able to establish herright to U.S. citizenship through thepublication of her book, and she re-turned to live in the San Diego area. Shedied in 1972.

Doctor Charley (Modoc)Born around 1880, Doctor Charleyplayed an important role as a Modocspiritual leader and healer, empoweredby spirit powers of dog and frog. Throughhis spiritual abilities he was able to dis-cern an illness affecting many Modoc in-fants. Children’s hearts, he explained,were linked to an object in the supernat-ural realm. This caused their hearts tobecome irritated. A nightmare of eitherparent prior to the infant’s birth couldcause this ailment. Doctor Charley wasable to cure the infant by means of a cer-emony involving the infant’s entire fam-ily, who grasped a cord representing thatwhich bound the infant to the spiritualrealm. During an era of rapid change

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characterized by reservations, diseaseand malnourishment, and the loss of tra-ditional cultural practices, DoctorCharley’s mode of curing met an impor-tant need. It enabled parents and fami-lies to come together to create healthyinfants. Many California Indians duringthis time suffered from the spiritual andcultural trauma of changing ways of life.Doctor Charley’s cure was a means ofstrengthening the bonds between fami-lies and communities during this diffi-cult time.

Doctor George (Modoc)Born in the mid-nineteenth century, Doc-tor George was an important spiritualleader and healer among his Modoc peo-ple. He was initiated as a healer during atraditional five-night ceremony attendedby hundreds of people. Doctor Georgewas widely known for his abilities to cureand also to change the weather. A localwhite cattle rancher asked him to pray forrain, and Doctor George was successful.The cattleman paid him for his serviceswith money and food. He was a leader ofthe Dream Dance, a local variation of the1870s Ghost Dance brought to the areafrom the Paiute. His wife, Sally George,who also served as a singer, as well as hisson, Usee George, assisted him in all hisceremonial activities. (For more on theDream Dance, see “Ghost Dance Move-ment,” and “Dreamers and Prophets.”)

Domenico (Luiseño)Born in the mid-nineteenth century onthe Rincon Reservation, Domenico was a

powerful Luiseño spiritual leader andhealer. He trained with his father, whowas also a powerful healer, and began toreceive power visions early in his life.Domenico was known to have the abilityto hear conversations taking place milesaway, to control the weather, and to bean effective and powerful healer. Whenhealing his patients he would take ontheir symptoms, sharing in their suffer-ing. He was able to communicate withpowerful curing and disease-causingspirits and to effect cures through thatcommunication. People of all ethnic andracial backgrounds sought out his assis-tance in curing physical, emotional,mental, and spiritual illnesses. He main-tained an amiable relationship withEuro-American physicians and referredhis patients to local doctors whom hetrusted. He saw traditional and Westernmedicine as working cooperatively, andhe had great success with his patients.He did not charge for his curing services,though appreciative patients often of-fered him gifts. He died in 1963.

Florence Jones, Pui-lu-li-met (Wintu)Born in 1909 within the Wintu commu-nity, Florence Jones is widely known forher work as a doctor proficient in theWintu tradition. In her early childhoodJones encountered powerful spirit pow-ers, and at seventeen she entered herfirst trance. During such trances thespirit powers of animals, deceased rela-tives, and the powers inherent in sacredplaces would come and speak with her,teaching her songs and rituals for curing.


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She was able to diagnose illness as thesespirit powers worked through her hands,as well as locate lost objects. She was alsoa skilled herbalist. She trained severalother Wintu in the traditional healingpractices of her people. Florence Jonesheld public ceremonials at Mount Shastafor many years before retiring in 1995.

Ruby Modesto, Nesha (DesertCahuilla)Born in 1913 to her Desert Cahuilla fa-ther and Serrano mother, Modesto grewup speaking the Cahuilla language andlearning the traditions of her father’speople. She received her spirit helper,the eagle (Ahswit), when she was tenyears old. As a young child she enteredinto a deep trance-sleep that lasted sev-eral days. It required the work of a tradi-tional Cahuilla healer to bring her out ofher sleep. She chose to devote her life topul, the traditional spiritual practice ofher Cahuilla people. As a healer she waswidely known for her ability to cure peo-ple made ill by demonic influences. Shewas a teacher of her Native language andguest lecturer at colleges and universi-ties. She also wrote a book, Not for Inno-cent Ears: Spiritual Traditions of a DesertCahuilla Medicine Woman. Modestolived on the Martinez Reservation untilher death in 1980.

Julia Parker (Pomo)Born in 1919, Julia Parker is widelyknown for her work as a Pomo basketweaver and cultural expert. She rearedfour children and helped to rear two

granddaughters and seven grandsons.She worked as cultural demonstrator forYosemite National Park, educating thepublic as well as future generations ofPomo children in the art of California In-dian basketry. She studied with manywell-known California Indian basketmakers, including Carrie Bethel andMinnie Mike (Mono Lake Paiute andSouthern Sierra Miwok); Mabel McKay(Cache Creek Pomo); Molly Jackson(Yokavo Pomo); Ida Bishop (Mono LakePaiute); and Elsie Allen (CloverdalePomo). She has been instrumental in thepreservation of Yosemite Miwok andPaiute traditions. Julia Parker has taughtdemonstration classes at national parks,museums, colleges, and the Smithsonianin Washington, D.C.

Somersal, Laura (Wappo/Pomo)Born in 1892, Laura Somersal (Wappoand Dry Creek Pomo) grew to become avalued cultural expert, hand gameplayer, and internationally known bas-ket weaver and teacher among the Na-tive communities of Sonoma County.Somersal was a linguistic expert, fluentin Wappo (her first language) and sev-eral other Indian dialects, as well as En-glish, Russian, and Spanish. She beganher training as a basket maker when shewas only eight or nine years old, study-ing with her paternal uncle Jack Wohoand later with her sister-in-law. Duringher lifetime she lectured on Pomo andWappo cultural traditions and basketrytechniques at colleges and universitiesthroughout California. Her work as a

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cultural and linguistic expert made pos-sible the preservation of the Wappo lan-guage, and she coauthored a Wappo-En-glish dictionary. When the Army Corps ofEngineers proposed to flood an areawhere Wappo people traditionally gath-ered basketry materials (present-dayLake Sonoma), Somersal led efforts totransplant those native plants to safer lo-cations. Along with her brother Georgeand her mother, Mary Eli, Somersal col-laborated with Harold Driver to writeWappo Ethnography (Driver 1936).

Lucy Parker Telles (Miwok/MonoLake Paiute)Born around 1870, Lucy Park Telleswould become a well-known expert inthe art of California Indian basketry. Bythe time she was in her forties she hadearned the reputation as the finestweaver in the Yosemite region. She intro-duced new designs, which other weaverssoon began following. She worked formany years as cultural demonstrator andweaver for the Yosemite Valley NationalPark Service. She produced hundreds ofbaskets during her lifetime and was in-strumental in passing on this importantaspect of traditional California Indiancultural life.

Toypurina, Regina Josefa Toypurina(Gabrieliño)Born around 1760 in the area of present-day Long Beach, California, Toypurinawas an important spiritual and politicalleader for her Gabrieliño people. Thedaughter of a Gabrieliño chief, she was

widely known and feared among herpeople as a powerful spiritual leader andceremonial practitioner. Toypurina wasbelieved to have the power to kill as wellas to cure, and she was considered apowerful threat to the invadingSpaniards. She was able to divine the fu-ture, protect her people through the useof a sacred bundle, as well as exert con-trol over the weather. Through the use ofdatura, or jimsonweed, Toypurina wasable to enter the supernatural realm,communing with spirits and gaining su-pernatural power. On October 25, 1785,when she was only twenty-five, shehelped to lead a rebellion against SanGabriel Mission. As a spiritual authorityacknowledged by her own tribe as well asother local tribes, she was sought out bytribal leaders and warriors for her pro-tection and empowerment in their at-tack on the mission. By means of herspiritual power, Toypurina was to kill thesoldiers and padres, returning local con-trol to the Native people. She entered themission compound along with a groupof warriors, but news of the rebellion hadalready reached the mission fathers. Thegroup was intercepted and arrested, andfifteen people were taken into custody,including two indigenous chiefs andNicolas Jo’se, a newly converted neo-phyte. At her trial, Toypurina severelycastigated the Spanish fathers, denounc-ing them for trespassing on land ownedby and sacred to indigenous people. Jo’selikewise spoke out against the Spanish,their prohibitions against the practice ofGabrieliño religious traditions, and their


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coerced conversions of Native people.When called before the territorial gover-nor, Pedro Fages, Toypurina reportedlykicked over a stool that had been offeredher and proudly acknowledged her partin the rebellion and her anger at the in-vasive presence of the Spanish. Toypu-rina was held in custody at the missionuntil two years later, when she convertedto Christianity and was baptized. Shortlythereafter she was pardoned and de-ported to San Carlos Mission in northernCalifornia, where she lived until herdeath on May 22, 1799, at the San JuanBautista Mission. Jo’se was imprisonedalong with two other rebellion leaders atthe San Diego presidio.

Tsupu (Miwok)Born in 1815 near Petaluma California,Tsupu was fluent in the language andcultural traditions of her Miwok people.She passed on her cultural and linguisticknowledge to her sons Tom and BillSmith and their families. ThomasComtechal (Tom Smith) would becomean important Coast Miwok spiritualpractitioner and healer. Because of herknowledge and successful transmissionof that knowledge to her children anddescendants, traditional Miwok culturaltraditions survive to this day. Her grand-daughter Sarah Smith Ballard was thelast fluent speaker of Bodega Miwok, andshe taught much of her knowledge to hergrandson David Peri, Coast Miwok tribalscholar and anthropology professor atSonoma State University. More than onethousand Native people can trace their

ancestry to Tsupu, including David Peri;Bill Smith (former professor and directorof American Indian Studies at SonomaState University); Kathleen Smith (tribalscholar and artist); and Greg Sarris (pro-fessor of English, UCLA).

Suzanne J. Crawford

See also Basketry; Ceremony and Ritual,California; Datura; Dreamers and Prophets;Dreams and Visions; Ghost DanceMovement; Health and Wellness, TraditionalApproaches; McKay, Mabel; Menstruationand Menarche; Missionization, California;Parrish, Essie; Power, Barbareño Chumash;Reservations, Spiritual and CulturalImplications; Spiritual and CeremonialPractitioners, California; Termination andRelocation; Vision Quest Rites

References and Further ReadingAllen, Elise. 1972. Pomo Basketmaking: A

Supreme Art for the Weaver. NaturegraphPublishing.

Bataille, Gretchen, and Laurie Lisa, eds.2001. Native American Women: ABiographical Dictionary. New York:Routledge.

Cuero, Delfina. 1970. Autobiography ofDelfina Cuero: A Diegueno Woman.Banning, CA: Malki Museum Press.

———. 1991. Delfina Cuero: HerAutobiography: An Account of Her LastYears and Her EthnobotanicContributions. Menlo Park, CA: BallenaPress.

Dillon, Richard H. 1973. Burnt-out Fires:California’s Modoc Indian War.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Driver, Harold E. 1936. WappoEthnography. Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press.

Heizer, Robert F. 1978. Handbook of NorthAmerican Indians. Vol. 8. WashingtonDC: Smithsonian Institution.

Johnson, Troy. 2002. Distinguished NativeAmerican Spiritual Practitioners andHealers. Westport, CT: Oryx Press.

Modesto, Ruby. 1989. Not for Innocent Ears:Spiritual Traditions of a Desert Cahuilla

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Medicine Woman. Rev. ed. Cottonwood:CA: Sweetlight Books.

Sawyer, Jesse O. 1965. “English-WappoVocabulary.” University of CaliforniaPublications in Linguistics 43 (August):1–128.

Religious Leaders, GreatLakes

Collectively known as the “Three Fires,”the Odawa, Ojibway, and the Potawa-tomi have lived throughout the GreatLakes region since before the arrival ofEuropeans, and many of their communi-ties still located in the region cling to tra-ditional religious practices. At the sametime, others of the Three Fires’ commu-nities have either adopted one form oranother of Christianity or syncretizedChristian and traditional elements to-gether while maintaining their indige-nous identity. In some cases, as theycame into contact with new and differ-ent Native groups they merged spiritualelements from those other indigenousgroups with their own. The best exampleof that occurred when, as members ofthe Three Fires moved west, they beganto adopt religious traits from the Plainstribes. In general, the traditional reli-gions of the Odawa, Ojibway, and thePotawatomi were not organized to anygreat degree, and they centered uponshamanism in which individual spiritualleaders chose and trained their succes-sors based upon their individual areas ofexpertise and insights.

Odawa (Adawe, Odawe, Odawu,Ottawa, Outaouact)Pontiac (ca. 1720–1769). A traditionalOdawa military leader, Pontiac used theDelaware prophet Neolin’s revitalizationmessage to organize a military resistanceto the British presence in the Great Lakesand Ohio River Valley region, and Pon-tiac’s legacy continued to instill and in-spire Odawa religious and cultural iden-tification to the end of the twentiethcentury and beyond.

In the 1760s, Neolin, a Delawareprophet, began urging the Delaware toreturn to their traditional ways, whichincluded restoring the proper exchangerelationships within the Delaware com-munity, with other tribes, with the natu-ral world, and with their ancestors. Healso preached a rejection of Anglo-Amer-ican culture and urged Native people toresist Anglo-American settlement on an-cestral lands. Pontiac took Neolin’s mes-sage to heart and carried it back to hispeople. He used it to provide a spiritualfoundation for an elaborate plan to uniteall of the tribes in the Great Lakes andOhio River Valley region to attack and de-stroy the British garrisons there and thendrive Anglo-Americans back beyond theAppalachian Mountains. All but two ofGreat Britain’s fortifications, Detroit andPittsburgh, fell to Pontiac’s alliance.However, since those two installationsheld out, the Native military allianceeventually disintegrated, and British ex-peditions into the interior re-establishedcontrol in the region. A price was placedon Pontiac’s head, and in 1769 he was

Religious Leaders, Great Lakes _____________________________________________________________

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killed by a member of another tribe atCahokia, Illinois. Despite the lack of amilitary victory by Pontiac and his al-liance, his movement provided lastinginspiration to the Odawa people; alongwith the later revitalization movement ofThe Trout in the early nineteenth cen-tury, it created a culture and religiousfoundation for sustaining Odawa iden-tity throughout the nineteenth andtwentieth centuries.

The Trout (Mayagaway) (Early 1800s). Areligious figure that sought to return theOdawa to traditional beliefs and life pat-terns, Mayagaway (The Trout) first beganteaching the rejection of Anglo-Ameri-can culture in 1807. The Trout seems tohave been connected initially with theOdawa communities that lived in the

vicinity of Mackinac, and his home com-munity was probably in that area. Even-tually he came to have significant influ-ence among the L’Arbre Crochecommunity located on the northeastshore of Lake Michigan. Finally, after set-tling in Peoria, Mayagaway disappearedfrom the historical record.

Often associated with the Shawneeprophet Tenskawatawa, Mayagawaypreached a rejection of Anglo-Americanmaterialism and alcohol, and he urged anOdawa return to ritual relationships withthe natural world. Eventually this mes-sage embraced the complete, physical de-struction of the Anglo-American pres-ence in the western Great Lakes region.Along with Pontiac’s military and spiritualcrusade, Mayagaway’s prophetic move-ment became a cornerstone for a contin-ued, traditional Odawa identity and a re-vitalization effort that has lasted to thepresent day.

Ojibway (Chippewa, Mississauga,Saulteur, Saulteaux)Copway, George (Kahgegagahbowh)(1818–ca. 1869). George Copway workedas a Christian missionary to Native peo-ple but gained fame as a lecturer andwriter in the mid-eighteenth century. Hewas one of the earliest Native Americansto gain fame as an intellectual, speaker,and author.

Born at Rice Lake in Ontario, Copway’sfather served as chief and medicine manfor the Rice Lake band of Ojibway. Bothhis mother and father converted toMethodism from their traditional Ojib-

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____________________________________________________________ Religious Leaders, Great Lakes

Ottawa chief Pontiac holding a wampum belt,in council. Hand-colored woodcut. (North WindPicture Archives)

way beliefs on account of the missionaryefforts of Peter Jones, among others.Copwell received his initial education atthe mission school built for the Rice LakeNatives. Eventually, in 1830, George Cop-way also converted to Methodism, and atthe age of sixteen, in 1834, he began towork as an interpreter at the Lake Supe-rior Mission of the American MethodistChurch along with his uncle and hiscousin. A year later he assisted the Rev-erend Sherman Hall in the translation ofthe Gospel of St. Luke and the Acts of the

Apostles into the Ojibway language,while working at the La Pointe Missionon Madeline Island. After that, Copwayattended Ebenezer Manual Labor Schoolin Jacksonville, Illinois, from 1837 untilhis graduation in 1839. From there hewent back to Ontario, where he met andmarried Elizabeth Howell, an Englishwoman. Her family did not approve ofthe marriage, but that did not deter thecouple. Before and after the marriage,Copway worked at various missions forNative Americans in the United Statesand Canada. Several times during the1830s, he performed his missionary du-ties with his cousins, John and PeterMarksman.

In 1846 the Saugeen Mission on LakeHuron and his own tribe accused Cop-way of embezzling funds, for whichcrime he was tried, found guilty, andserved several weeks in prison. As a resultof this scandal, the Canadian Conferenceof the Wesleyan Methodist Church ex-pelled him. After his imprisonment, Cop-way published his life story, entitled TheLife, History, and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh (George Copway) in 1847. Be-cause of the success of his autobiogra-phy, Copway became a popular fixture onthe lecture circuit. One of his favoritesubjects for lectures was the need to useeducation and Christianity to improvethe plight of Native Americans in bothCanada and the United States.

In 1850, Copway published the Orga-nization of a New Indian Territory, East ofthe Missouri River, in which he argued fora self-controlled Indian territory gov-


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George Copway (Kahgegagahbowh), 1860.Dopway was one of the earliest NativeAmericans to gain fame as an intellectual,speaker, and author. (Marian S. CarsonCollection/Library of Congress)

erned by educated Native Americansthat would one day join the United Statesas a state. Later, after touring Europe, hepublished an account of his travelscalled Running Sketches of Men andPlaces (1851). In the early 1850s, Copwayremained a popular attraction on thelecture circuit, associated with the likesof James Fenimore Cooper, WashingtonIrving, and Henry Wadsworth Longfel-low. However, before the end of thedecade, he fell from celebrity becausethe novelty of his being an educated In-dian had worn off. Interestingly, Copwaywas alleged to have been the model forLongfellow’s poem The Song of Hi-awatha (1855). He spent the last years ofhis life moving among the Native tribesin the northern territories of the UnitedStates and in Canada, fulfilling the dutiesof an itinerant healer. Finally, Copwayworked as an interpreter for the RomanCatholic mission near Lake of TwoMountains in Canada. There he is said tohave converted to Catholicism and dieddays later, on January 17, 1869, althoughsome reports have him dying at Pontiac,Michigan, in 1863.

Sunday, John (Shahwundais) (ca. 1795–1875). John Sunday was a MississaugaOjibway chief and a Methodist mission-ary to his people.

Born in New York state but a memberof the Mississauga Ojibway in UpperCanada, Shahwundais became a leaderof his people and fought in the War of1812 before converting to Methodism in1824. From that point forward he worked

to promote the spread of Christianityand education among Native people inthe Great Lakes region of both Canadaand the United States. Sunday touredGreat Britain to raise funds for theMethodist missionary efforts in theGreat Lakes area and even had an audi-ence with Queen Victoria in 1836. He waseffective at preaching to his people be-cause he did so in their own language.Sunday was just as zealous in protectingNative rights as he was in converting hispeople to Christianity. He retired toAlderville, Ontario, in 1867 but remainedactive as a defender of Native rights andas missionary until he died, on Decem-ber 14, 1875.

Steinhauer, Henry Bird (Shawah-negezhik) (1816–1884). Henry Stein-hauer worked as an interpreter, mission-ary, and teacher among his people formore than fifty years.

Shawahnegezhik was born at LakeSimcoe in Ontario, and he converted toMethodism in 1828. For his initial educa-tion he went to the Methodist missionschool located on Grape Island in theBay of Quinte. While there he becameknown as Henry Steinhauer, after thePhiladelphian that paid his educationalexpenses. Beginning in 1832 he contin-ued his education for two years at NewYork’s Cazenovia Seminary and after thatattended the Upper Canada Academy atCobourg, which is now known as VictoriaCollege.

Steinhauer began work as a teacher in1836 and as a missionary in 1840. For the

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rest of his life he made his living as an in-terpreter, missionary, and teacher, shift-ing from one mission school to the nextevery year or so as he was assigned. Dur-ing this period, while working at NorwayHouse, he helped James Evans translatethe Bible into the Cree syllabary, and hehelped establish a new mission known asthe Oxford House at a Hudson’s BayCompany post in 1850. Steinhauer mar-ried a Cree named Jessie Mamanu-wartum in 1846. He toured Great Britainin 1854 to raise money and make presen-tations to various audiences. Finally,upon returning to Canada the next year,the Canadian Conference in London, On-tario, ordained Steinhauer. Although hecontinued his mission work and teachingin his later years, Steinhauer became animportant fund-raiser for the Canadianmission effort among Native Americans.He died on December 30, 1884.

Jacobs, Peter (Pahtahsega) (ca. 1807–1890). Peter Jacobs served as an indige-nous missionary to the Ojibway early inlife, before suffering from poverty and al-coholism later in life. His autobiographycontinues to be a valuable primarysource for the Mississauga Ojibway ofthe mid-eighteenth century.

Pahtahsega was orphaned as a youngchild, and as a result his early years weremarked by poverty and lack of direction.Sometime around 1825, Pahtahsegabegan his education at Belleville, close tothe Bay of Quinte, with the help of bene-factors that covered the cost of his edu-cation. Later he attended the Credit Mis-

sion school. At some point while receiv-ing his education, Pahtahsega took thename Peter Jacobs and converted toMethodism. Before he left the CreditMission school, he served as an inter-preter and led prayers. Jacobs continuedhis education under the guidance of theDorcas Missionary Society in 1829. Hebegan his own missionary work in 1836,and over the next two decades, Jacobsworked at and helped found several mis-sions, primarily in upper Canada; even-tually he was ordained in England in1842. He wrote and published his valu-able autobiography, Journal of the Rev-erend Peter Jacobs, Indian Wesleyan Mis-sionary, in 1853, and throughout hismissionary career, Jacobs assisted othermissionaries with translations into andout of the Ojibway language.

Jacobs’s first wife, Mary, was a mem-ber of the Credit Band of MississaugaOjibway, and he had a daughter by herbefore she died in 1828. He remarried in1831 to Elizabeth Anderson, and theyhad five children. Two of his sons by Eliz-abeth later became missionaries for theChurch of England. Unfortunately for Ja-cobs, in 1858 the Methodist Conferencedropped him for purportedly raisingfunds in the United States without thepermission of the conference. Althoughhe may have reconverted in 1867, this in-cident helped lead Jacobs down the pathtoward alcoholism and the poor house,which marred his last few years.

Marksman, Peter (Kahgoodahahqua orMadwaqwunayaush) (ca. 1815–1892).


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Peter Marksman was an interpreter andinfluential missionary to Native Ameri-cans for the Methodist Episcopal Churchin the Great Lakes area during the midand late eighteenth century.

Born Khagoodahaqua in the Fond duLac region in the western Great Lakes,Marksman’s father was an Ojibwayhereditary chief from Mackinac Island.His mother was also Ojibway. BecauseMarksman was a twin (his brother died atbirth) and twins were seen as spiritualbeings with special power, his parentsprepared him to became a shaman in theOjibway Midéwiwin religion. However,Marskman had different ideas after beingintroduced to Christianity as a child, andhe finally converted in 1833. Throughouthis life he worked as an interpreter, mis-sionary, and teacher in the Great Lakesregion, bringing the Methodist doctrineto the Ojibway and other Great Lakestribes. In 1844, Marksman married Han-nah Morien, who helped with his mis-sion. The Potawatomi of the UpperPeninsula of Michigan were so gratefulfor the couple’s work in their behalf thatthey named their town after Hannah,calling it Hannahville. After working al-most his entire adult life as a missionary,Marksman died on May 28, 1892.

Gagewin (ca. 1850–1919). A practitionerof the Ojibway Midéwiwin religion,Gagewin became an important inform-ant on the traditional Ojibway religionand culture for the ethnographerFrances Densmore in the early twentiethcentury.

Gagewin was a member of the WhiteEarth Reservation band of Ojibway inMinnesota. He introduced Densmore tothe Midéwiwin concept that living thecorrect way physically and spiritually ledto a long life. Gagewin also provided in-formation on how the young were in-structed in the ways of the Midéwiwin byuse of sacred scrolls. He died on October23, 1919.

Fiddler, Jack (ca. 1820–1907). Of Cree-Saulteaux heritage, Jack Fiddler was awell-known shaman and leader of hispeople during the last half of the nine-teenth and early twentieth centuries.

A member of the Red Sucker band,Jack Fiddler was the son of the shamanPorcupine Standing Sideways. The RedSucker band as a group generally re-mained aloof from contact with Euro-peans and maintained traditional life-ways. As a leader of this group, Fiddlerwas noted for being a traditionalist, andas a shaman he built a reputation for hisability to heal, communicate with ani-mals, and foretell the future. His familyreceived their surname for their ability toplay the fiddle. In 1907, Canadian au-thorities arrested Jack Fiddler and hisbrother, Joseph Fiddler, for the murder ofJoseph’s mentally ill daughter-in-law,Wahsakapeequay. The Fiddler brothersthought that she was a windigo. Windi-gos were feared spirits in the Algonquianbelief system that ate human flesh, andaccording to tradition, they had to beeliminated to protect the people. Thetwo brothers admitted to killing Wah-

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sakepeequay, and Jack Fiddler admittedto killing fourteen other windigos duringhis lifetime. Later that year Jack Fiddlercommitted suicide because he could notface life apart from his people. One of asmany as twelve children left behindwhen Jack Fiddler died was Adam Fid-dler, who also became a spiritual leaderof their people.

Fiddler, Joseph (Pesequan) (ca. 1856–1909). A mixed Cree-Saulteaux, JosephFiddler was a shaman and a leader of theRed Sucker band, located in northwest-ern Ontario.

Pesequan was the son of PorcupineStanding Sideways, and as a leader of theRed Sucker band he helped limit theircontact with Europeans and urged themto follow traditional religious beliefs.With his brother, Jack Fiddler, Josephwas jailed and sentenced to be executedfor the murder of his daughter-in-lawWahsakepeequay, whom the two be-lieved to be a windigo. Later his deathsentence was commuted to one of lifeimprisonment; Fiddler died in prison onSeptember 4, 1909.

Mink, John (Zhonii’a Giishig) (ca. 1850–1943). An adherent of the OjibwayMidéwiwin religion and the Drum reli-gion, John Mink was a local MedicineLodge leader for the Lac Courte OreillesReservation in Wisconsin throughoutmost of his adult life. He was also an im-portant informant for the ethnologistsJoseph B. Casagrande and RobertRittzenthaler in the early twentieth cen-tury. He did not begin seeking the ways

of a medicine man until two years afterthe death of his first wife in childbirth,when he had remarried. Through train-ing and later through the process of fast-ing, Zhonii’a Giishing (the name given tohim by his maternal grandmother)learned a multitude of medicines and sa-cred songs for healing the sick among hispeople. Mink became an important in-formant on Ojibway spiritual and heal-ing practices late in his life. Casagrandewrote a short biography of Mink called“John Mink Ojibway Informant,” whichappeared in the book In the Company ofMan: Twenty Portraits of AnthropologicalInformants (1960). After living more thanninety years, Mink passed away in 1943.

Gordon, Philip B. (Ti-Bish-Ko-Gi-Jik)(1885–1948). One of only a handful ofNative American Roman Catholic priestsin the country during the late nineteenthand early twentieth centuries, PhilipGordon used his position in the CatholicChurch to improve the condition of Na-tive Americans in the United States.

Born into a family with fourteen chil-dren in Gordon, Wisconsin, Philip Gordonwent to the St. Mary’s Mission School atthe Bad River Reservation in Odanah, Wis-consin. After attending seminary, Gordonwas ordained in 1913, and he later at-tended Catholic University in Washington,D.C. He then served at the Carlisle IndianSchool in Pennsylvania, worked for theBureau of Catholic Indian Missions tour-ing Indian schools and Indian agencies inthe Midwest, and finally served at theHaskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas.While in Lawrence, Gordon began to func-


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tion as an activist to better conditions atIndian schools, missions, and reserva-tions, because of what he had experiencedat Haskell. In 1918 he began to assist hisown people at the Lac Courte OreillesReservation in Wisconsin. Gordon workedwith Sister Larush (also a converted Ojib-way) to rebuild the Catholic church thathad burned down there. Finally, in 1923,Gordon began work with the Committeeof One Hundred, which was a reformgroup appointed by the secretary of theinterior to help revise the federal Indianpolicy. After spending a lifetime servingthe Catholic Church and half his life advo-cating reform of the federal Indian policy,Gordon died in 1948.

Fiddler, Adam (1865–1959). Continuingthe family tradition, Adam Fiddler fol-lowed his grandfather (Porcupine), hisfather (Jack Fiddler), and his uncle(Joseph Fiddler) by practicing as a tradi-tional medicine man or shaman for theRed Sucker band, but he also served as aMethodist lay minister in Ontario.

After experiencing a vision in 1901,Fiddler merged Christian elements withtraditional Cree-Saulteaux beliefs. Inas-much as he was the only person to intro-duce Christianity to his isolated peoplefor a long period of time, he successfullyled a syncretism of the two religions thatwas palatable to both Christians and tra-ditional followers. Fiddler served hispeople as a religious leader until 1952.He died in 1959.

Larush, Sister M. Sirilla (Wayjohniema-son) (1892–1976). Born on the Lac Courte

Reservation in Wisconsin, Wayjohniema-son converted to Roman Catholicism andserved various missions as a nun for al-most seventy years.

Given the name Fabiola at birth,Larush received her initial education at amission school near her home, and shefollowed this up by later attending theHayward Indian School. In 1908, Larushjoined a convent in Milwaukee and laterworked at a mission in Nebraska beforereturning to her reservation in 1925.Upon returning to her home, she re-stored the Catholic community andraised funds to rebuild the Church,which had burned down a few years ear-lier. In her later years, Larush served theCatholic community at missions inChicago and Mississippi before shepassed away in 1976.

Redsky, James, Sr. (Eshkwaykeezhik)(1890–?). James Redsky was a medicineman that practiced the Midéwiwin reli-gion among the Canadian Ojibway at theShoal Lake Reserve and eventuallyhelped interpret many sacred scrolls ofthe Ojibway into English. He also wrote abiography of the Ojibway leader Mis-quonaqueb.

Born at Rice Bay in the Lake of theWoods region of Canada, Redskystarted studying the Midéwiwin reli-gion under the tutelage of his uncle(Baldhead Redsky) when he turnedtwelve. He also attended the Presbyter-ian mission school near his home. Dur-ing World War I, Redsky served in theCanadian Infantry. After the war he fin-ished his Midéwiwin education and

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eventually was given all of his uncle’s sa-cred scrolls. Because the number of par-ticipants in the Midéwiwin religion wasdecreasing and he did not have an ap-prentice to whom he could pass on hisknowledge, Redsky helped interpret andpublish the scrolls in Sacred Scrolls of theSouthern Ojibway (1975) with SelwynDewdney. Later Redsky converted andwas ordained a Presbyterian elder in1960, and afterward he wrote the biogra-phy of Misquonaqueb in Great Leader ofthe Ojibway: Mis-quona-queb (1972).

Reflecting Man, John (?–1956). A medi-cine man that practiced the Midéwiwinreligion, John Reflecting Man carried onthe traditions of his people on the TurtleMountain Reservation in North Dakotauntil his death in 1956.

John-Paul (ca. 1900–?). The grandson ofthe legendary shaman Shawwanoswayand a resident of the Birch Island Reservein Canada, John-Paul became a shamanin his twenties and later in life turned tomysticism as his life’s calling.

Mustache, James (Opwagon) (1904–?).The grandson of John Mink, James Mus-tache served his people as a traditionalOjibway religious leader and culturalpreservationist.

Born on the Lac Courte Oreilles Reser-vation in Wisconsin, Opwagon was thegrandson of a midwife, Iikwezens, andMidéwiwin medicine man, Zhonii’a Gi-ishing (John Mink). Mustache wastrained at an early age to be a spiritualleader, but he also received an Anglo-

American education. He initially beganhis primary education at a Catholic mis-sion school, but after attempts to converthim his grandparent transferred him tothe Hayward Indian School in Wiscon-sin. Mustache went from Hayward to theTomah Indian School, where he finishedhis Western education. He then enlistedin the military for four years and after-ward served in the Indian Civilian Con-servation Corps at Lac du FlambeauReservation. At Lac du Flambeau he metand married the daughter of a spiritualleader, Rising Sun, which furtherstrengthened his ties to traditional Ojib-way culture. Eventually Mustache be-came civil and spiritual leader for theOjibway and other tribes in the region,and he was a delegate to the NationalCongress of American Indians. Later inlife he worked to use computer technol-ogy to record and teach Ojibway cultureand language.

Jackson, Jimmy (ca. 1910–?). A tradi-tional medicine man and religiousleader, Jimmy Jackson became an impor-tant ethnographic informant when hewas interviewed in the 1980s by LarryAitken and Edwin Haller. Jackson useddreams to garner information and medi-cine for healing the sick.

Fortunate Eagle, Adam (ca. 1930–). AnOjibway from the Red Lake Reservationin Minnesota, Adam Fortunate Eagleworked as an activist, sociologist, andspiritual leader.

Fortunate Eagle received his initial ed-ucation at the Indian boarding school in


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Pipestone, Minnesota, and while stillyoung he learned pipemaking and itsceremonial vestiges. After graduatingfrom the boarding school, he continuedhis studies at the Haskell Institute inLawrence, Kansas. After leaving Kansas,Fortunate Eagle moved to the Bay Area ofCalifornia. In California he taught sociol-ogy at the University of California,worked with prison inmates, and for adecade was chairman of the Council ofBay Area Indian Affairs. In 1969, Fortu-nate Eagle participated in the AmericanIndian occupation of Alcatraz to publi-cize the condition of Native Americansand how they were treated by the federalgovernment. Finally, he became apipeholder and ceremonial leader in1972. As a religious leader, FortunateEagle conducted only ceremonies thathe defined as intertribal. Later he movedto Fallon, Nevada, to run the Round-house Gallery.

Stillday, Thomas, Jr. (1934–). A leader ofthe Midéwiwin religion among the Ojib-way on the Red Lake Reservation inMinnesota, Thomas Stillday became thefirst indigenous and non–Judeo Chris-tian religious practitioner to becomethe official chaplain of the Minnesotalegislature.

Stillday spent his childhood learningthe traditional ways of his people beforeserving in the military for twelve years,which included a tour of duty in Korea.While in Korea he served as a “code-talker,” in which he and other NativeOjibway speakers used a coded form oftheir language to protect their radio

communications from the enemy. Afterleaving the military, Stillday studied ele-mentary education at the University ofMinnesota, Morris. As a traditional reli-gious practitioner, he gradually rose toprominence in his community, whicheventually led to his being appointed of-ficial chaplain of the Minnesota statelegislature in the mid-1990s. Stillday’sduties included providing the openingprayer for new sessions of the legislature.This was the first time that an indigenousreligion had received official recognitionin Minnesota.

Dowd, Donny (ca. 1940–). A spiritualleader among the Ojibway in the latetwentieth century, Donny Dowd spenthis early years seeking a direction for hislife, and this led him to enlist in the mili-tary and participate as an activist withthe American Indian Movement beforefinally finding his path within the Ojib-way Midéwiwin religion.

Dowd grew up on the L’Anse Reserva-tion in Michigan, although a portion ofhis childhood was spent in a Catholic or-phanage. In his late teens Dowddropped out of high school and enlistedin the U.S. Navy, where he pulled twotours of duty in Vietnam. Suffering fromposttraumatic disorder after being dis-charged, he could not keep a job and suf-fered a failed marriage that producedtwo children. In the late 1960s, Dowdjoined the American Indian Movementin Minneapolis. Eventually, after attend-ing a Midéwiwin ceremony, he found hiscalling and sought training in this tradi-tional religion. Finally, Dowd moved to a

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Michigan reservation with a new wifeand became a religious leader and cul-tural educator for the community.

Hascall, John (1941–). In the late twenti-eth century, John Hascall successfullysyncretized traditional Ojibway beliefswith the tenets of Roman Catholicism tobecame a successful practicing medicineman and Catholic priest. He conductedMass for Native Americans.

PotawatomiMain Poc (ca. 1765–1816). Born withoutfingers on his left hand, which markedhim as having special powers providedby the Creator, Main Poc used his gift tobecome a shaman and war leaderamong his people, and for a period oftime in the early nineteenth century, heused his influence to resist Anglo-Amer-ican encroachment.

Pokagon, Leopold (ca. 1775–1841). Acharismatic leader of the Potawatomiesduring the era of removal, Leopold Pok-agon worked to preserve a place for hisband of Potawatomie to remain inMichigan, to maintain peace with theirAnglo-American neighbors, and to con-vert his people to Roman Catholicism.

Shabona (ca. 1775–1859). Born of aSeneca mother and an Odawa father,Shabona became a leader among thePotawatomies through marriage. Prior tothe War of 1812, he advocated joiningTecumseh’s Native alliance against fur-ther Anglo-American encroachment andin rejection of Anglo-American culture,

but after the war, Shabona advised ac-commodation of Anglo-Americans andpeaceful coexistence.

Medicine Neck (early 1900s). A practic-ing Peyotist, Medicine Neck introducedpeyote to the Menominee Reservation inWisconsin during the early part of thetwentieth century.

In 1914, Medicine Neck was arrested forbringing peyote and peyotism to Wiscon-sin, on charges of breaking a federal lawthat forbade the introduction of intoxi-cants to Native reservations. The judgeeventually ruled that the law applied onlyto alcohol and set Medicine Neck free.

Negahnquet, Albert (1874–1944). Ne-gahnquet was one of the earliest full-blooded Native Americans to be or-dained by the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1874, Negahnquet was born inTopeka, Kansas, near St. Mary’s Mission.Eventually he joined the Citizen Band ofPotawatomi in Oklahoma and receivedhis early education at the Sacred HeartMission school located near the Pota-watomi Reservation. From there he wentto the College of Propaganda Fide inRome and was ordained in 1903. Uponbecoming a priest he returned to theUnited States to work with Native peoplein Minnesota and Oklahoma.

Dixie Ray Haggard

See also Ceremony and Ritual, Anishnabe;James, Peter; Manitous; Missionization, GreatLakes; Oral Traditions, Ojibwe; Women’sCultural and Religious Roles, Great Lakes

References and Further ReadingAitken, Larry P., and Edwin W. Haller. 1990.

Two Cultures Meet: Pathways for


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American Indians to Medicine. Duluth:University of Minnesota Press.

Casagrande, Joseph B. 1960. “John Mink,Ojibwe Informant,” Pp. 467–488 in In theCompany of Man. Edited by Joseph B.Casagrande. New York: Harper andBrothers.

Clifton, James A. 1998. The Prairie People:Continuity and Change in PotawatomiIndian Culture, 1665–1965. Enl. ed. IowaCity: University of Iowa Press.

Hirschfelder, Arlene, and Pauletter Molin.2000. Encyclopedia of Native AmericanReligions. Rev. ed. New York: Facts on File.

Lyons, William S. 1996. Encyclopedia ofNative American Healing. Denver, CO:ABC-CLIO.

Malinowski, Sharon, and Anna Sheets, eds.1998. Gale Encyclopedia of NativeAmerican Tribes. Vol. I: Northeast,Southeast, Caribbean. New York: GaleResearch.

Paper, Jordan. 1980. “From Shaman toMystic in Ojibway Religion.” SciencesReligieuses/Studies in Religion 9, no. 2:185–199.

Pflug, Melissa A. 1998. Ritual and Myth inOdawa Revitalization: Reclaiming aSovereign Place. Norman: University ofOklahoma Press.

Trigger, Bruce G., ed. 1978. Handbook ofNorth American Indians. Vol. 15:Northeast. Washington, DC: SmithsonianInstitution.

Religious Leaders, GreatLakes and Northeast

See Jones, Peter; Tekakwitha, Kateri

Religious Leaders,Northwest

The best known religious leaders in theNorthwest for the past two and a half

centuries have often blended their an-cient beliefs in ways acceptable to im-posed Christianity. Most have soughtsome kind of compromise or reforma-tion satisfying to old and new beliefs.

Ivan Pan’kov (1770s–1850s)On April 23, 1828 (the Feast of AlexanderNevsky), Ivan Pan’kov, Aleut leader(toion, toyon) in the Fox Islands of theAleutian chain, arranged a remarkablemeeting. For two years he had beenworking with Fr. Ioann Veniaminov (nowSt. Innokentii), a Russian Orthodoxpriest, on an Aleut (Unagan) translationof the catechism. At this meeting, Veni-aminov listened carefully as Pan’kovtranslated the words to a famous shamannamed Smirennikov. After serious reflec-tion, the priest wrote his bishop that thesixty-year-old man seemed to be doingthe work of God. Later, when he pub-lished the first ethnography of NativeNorth America in 1840, Veniaminov con-tinued to hold that there were both goodand bad shamans, a sensitive admissionfor a extraordinary missionary, who laterbecame supreme head of his church.

Even more significant is the contribu-tion of Pan’kov in establishing literacy andtrust in a new faith that has since becomeembraced by Aleutians in the succeedingcentury. Important in this process havebeen Creoles such as Iakov Netsvetov(1804–1864), mixed race clergy who usedNative fluency to further indigenize Or-thodoxy in Alaska.

Bini (?–1870s)During the 1830s, at the south end ofcoastal Alaska, a Carrier prophet named

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______________________________________________________________ Religious Leaders, Northwest

Bini (“mind”) caused a stir along theSkeena River and the coast, preaching ablend of Catholic, Orthodox, and Nativebeliefs. He had been a successfulhunter, shaman, and gambler until helost everything by betting his goods,nephews, parents, and family. He wentinto the deep woods, where he droppedfrom exhaustion. He had a vision of aman dressed all in white who came fromthe Sky, charged Bini to take up preach-ing for a better world, and taught Binisomething like the sign of the cross bytouching his forehead, shoulders, andheart.

A search party found Bini’s clothesand assumed he had frozen to death.Later they found him buried in snow,with barely a pulse. They carried himhome, placed him beside a fire, and ashaman worked on him for two days.When he revived, Bini spoke an un-known language and taught new songsand dances. His feet were together andhis arms outstretched, and he swayed hisbody as though crucified.

Bini’s nephew spoke for him, as wasappropriate for his heir. In this region,kinship was traced through mothers, souncle (mother’s brother) and nephew(sister’s son) were very close. Bini pre-dicted the advent of new things such asflour (dry snow) and horses, as well asspecial days like Sunday. People gath-ered and feasted at this house for sev-eral days. Some danced so strenuouslythat they ended by rolling on the floor.Then Bini preached five command-ments: be faithful to one’s home life,

avoid another’s hunting grounds, do notmurder, respect elders and chiefs, andstop war.

Bini left to visit far and wide. He con-tinued to use an unknown language, andhis nephew translated. Tsimshianslearned his message and spread it toother coastal tribes when they took can-dlefish together on the Nass River. In thisway, Bini’s preaching went much fartherthan he actually did.

Before Bini several upriver womenhad received visions, as did his olderbrother. But Bini became a chief of theBeaver crest and thus earned prestigeand respect for his message. He hosteda great potlatch and set up a carvedpole to confirm his rank. After preach-ing for fifteen years, he installed aidesand tried to introduce public confes-sion and whipping. Too many hard-ships and fights followed from thesedisclosures, however, so he endedthem. He died about 1870, perhapsfrom sipping poisoned water while try-ing to cure a woman.

His nephews and others, including atleast one woman, assumed the Bininame and continued to preach untilCatholic clergy arrived in the region andsupplanted their efforts with missionchurches.

Captain Campbell, Skagit, (c. 1850–c. 1880)Just across the border from southernBritish Columbia, Upper Skagit Nativevillages were politically and religiouslycentralized through the efforts of Cap-

Religious Leaders, Northwest _______________________________________________________________

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tain Campbell, the Skagit prophet whofounded the present Campbell or Camelfamily. His father came from easternWashington, supposedly fleeing a threatof sorcery directed against him. Hemoved across the Cascade Mountainsand married a woman from the town atthe mouth of the Snohomish River. Theprophet was born and raised there be-fore he married a woman from the vil-lage on Clear Lake on the Upper SkagitRiver. During one of his frequent visits tohis Interior Salish relatives, he met Fa-ther Eugene Casimir Chirouse, an earlyand important oblate missionary activeat the Catholic mission among theYakama just before the 1855 Treaty War.Fr. Chirouse moved to the Tulalip Reser-vation in 1863, then ended his careeramong the Canadian Okanagans.

The prophet worked closely withChirouse, particularly in translatingliturgy into Lushootseed Salish. Appar-ently, the priest and the prophet com-municated with each other using theOkanogan dialect of Interior Salish. Theprophet established his own longhousenear Marblemount, at the junction ofthe Cascade and Skagit rivers, where heled Catholic services in the summerand Native spirit dances in the winter.His links with Chirouse expanded hisbasis of authority into Euro-Americancontexts.

When the prophet’s first wife died, hemarried the daughter of Petius, whowidened his political base, although sheseems to have outranked him. Thiswoman had assumed the chiefly name of

a famous male relative and went every-where with an escort of body guards andattendants who acted in her behalf.

John and Mary Slocum and the Shaker Church, 1882Near Olympia, the capital of Washing-ton territory, John Slocum, a man ofchiefly family, died but soon revived tofound the Indian Shaker Church. Bril-liantly combining outward forms ofCatholicism, Protestant hymns and no-tions of personal salvation, and coreNative beliefs, several thousand inter-national Shakers still worship fromnorthern California to southern BritishColumbia.

John Slocum died and revived on Oc-tober 20, 1882. Later, Mary received thehealing trembling (“the shake”) that dis-tinguishes this faith—a manifestationakin to the trembling of the originalQuakers and other ecstatic cults. Presby-terians, particularly in Olympia, wereinitially supportive, but relations cooledafter Natives entered the state capitol ina Sunday-afternoon Christmas proces-sion led by a man on a horse with hishead bent and arms extended, followedby his wife, identified as either Mary orEve. Their behavior and “strong fishsmell” embarrassed the minister whohad invited them, and he lost all sympa-thy with their beliefs.

Together, the Slocums revealed theword of the Christian God for Natives,protected by being legally incorporatedin 1910 within Washington state. Itstenets strictly identify the church as an

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Indian religion inspired by the ChristianGod and Jesus Christ, as well as anothersupernatural figure they address as theSpirit, who is compatible both with theHoly Ghost and the aboriginal immortalswho acted as guardian spirits.

The Spirit enters members duringpublic ceremonies when they manifestthe “shake,” augmented by “gifts” and“helps.” At death, this same Spirit “takesthem home.” Gifts include candle hold-ing, bell ringing, curing, interpreting thecause of sickness, baptizing, divination,shaking, and ridding a home or a room ofevil spirits. Each varied “help” dependson the quality and amount of supernatu-ral ability that a member is able to ex-press, and, in this, most corresponds tothe aboriginal possession of distinctguardian spirits. Whenever Natives jointhe Shaker Church, their aboriginal spiritpowers convert with them, thus continu-ing that source of ancestral religious tra-dition into the new practice.

Its forms are a brilliant blend of reli-gions. Many of its overt public gesturesreflected Catholic worship—such as al-tars, albs, candles, and making the signof the cross by placing fingers to fore-head, shoulders, and chest. Some mirrorProtestantism—such as personal salva-tion, local language use, hymns, andplain steeple churches. Influences fromschoolrooms include the use of handbells to accompany such hymns duringcircular processions. Candles for lightand wood-burning stoves for heatingand cooking have kept Shakers self-re-liant, avoiding costly electric bills.

Overall, Shakerism is devoted to cur-ing, temperance, and the conversion ofNative people to their avowedly Chris-tian belief. Shaker curing specifically ad-dresses ghosting, sorcery threats, de-pression (feeling sorry), soul loss, andunwanted spirits. In the modern Nativecommunity its specialty is curing, espe-cially of addictions, but unlike the an-cient shamanic tradition that also con-tinues, Shaker curing is much moreuniversal and democratic in the sensethat it is performed by all believers andis free of charge, whether in a patient’sown home or a Shaker church. A basictenet grants the truth of individual in-spiration, though a continual tensionexists between this autonomy andhopes for unanimity as institutionalizedin the authority of the Shaker bishopand council.

Old Pierre (1860s–1946)Old Pierre, a Katzie (Sta:lo, Fraser River)spiritual leader, most fully articulatedSalishan genesis to Diamond Jenness ofthe National Museum of Canada in 1936.A few significant details were providedby Simon Pierre (a son born in the 1880s)to Wayne Suttles in 1952.

His mother, a spiritual practitionerherself, sent Pierre out questing fromthe age of three and paid three of theiroldest and best informed relatives toteach him sacred epics from the age ofeight. As a result, among his powerfulhelpers was the Father Of All Trees, theonly arboreal being who could grantpower. Another time, he tripped over a


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rock that turned out to be the pillow ofthe Leader of the Earth, gaining power inhis hands and wrists to draw out sick-ness, power in his mouth to swallow it,and power to see all over the world to re-cover “minds” that had strayed fromtheir bodily homes.

Pierre learned to diagnose sicknessdepending on its causes, either from (1)lost vitality or mind, (2) impurity or of-fense to a spirit or ghost, or (3) a probeshot into a victim by a hostile shaman.More important, Pierre grasped a sys-tematic account of the Sta:lo Universe,from a Katzie perspective.

Humans were instructed to pray todeities in sequence, beginning with theLord Above, then moving to the Sun,Khaals, Moon, and personal spirit pow-ers. Humans owed their existence to theLord Above, who created each of themendowed with a soul, vitality-thought, acertain talent-power, and a shadow-re-flection. At death, the breath and specialtalent perished with the body, the soulreturned to the Lord Above, and the vi-tality and shadow merged to producethe shade or ghost that roamed as abarely visible form in the neighborhoodof its old home, feared by the survivingrelatives.

Vitality, which was inseparable fromthought, pervaded the entire body. Anyloss of the body was accompanied by aproportional loss of vitality. The loss of alimb or the cutting of the hair, therefore,decreased its manifestation as warmth,closely linked with the sun. While it wasdiffused throughout the body, it was es-

pecially concentrated at the heart. TheLord Above created evergreen trees at thebeginning of the world so humans wouldhave a strong source of vitality, mani-fested by the constant green of the fo-liage. During the winter, when the worldis cold, ceremonials were held becausethey also provided warmth.

Because they were transformed fromthe first people, the original members ofthe various species were sacred and ableto share their talent-power with particu-lar humans. The more remote the homeof the being was from humans, the morepowerful it was. Humans needed thesepowers to cope with the unseen hazardsand dangers that filled every life. Ahuman without power was like a corkfloating helplessly in the water, subjectto all kinds of pulls, crosswinds, and un-dercurrents.

The Fraser River valley became a hugedish filled with food through the work ofthe Lord Above, who decided to sendspecific groups of people under a namedleader to particular locales along theriver. Instead of one pair, like Adam andEve, there were many couples, each en-trusted to form a set community at spe-cific places.

Initially, the Katzie world was grimand silent, with only shellfish to feedthese first people. There were no birds,animals, or winds. The Lord Above madethe sun to give warmth, the moon tomeasure time, and the rainbow to indi-cate weather conditions.

In time, a leader called Swanesetemerged to “fix” the earth, marrying

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wives from the earth such as SockeyeSalmon and the sky such as a Star. Thenthe Lord Above prepared the way for hu-mans by sending Khaals to further makethings right. Through the power ofthought, Khaals changed beings. Bluejayprophesied his arrival, assembling mostof the beings so that Khaals, who was al-ways just, could sort the good from thebad and make the world a better place,allowing those people who showed re-spect to remain human. The humanshave overpopulated their world severaltimes, suffering starvation, disease, andextermination before they were able toreform into respectful communities.

Through his work and teaching, OldPierre provided the most detailed andsystematic account of Coast Salish be-liefs on record.

Native ClergySeveral Protestant churches in Canadahave had Native clergy, particularly PeterKelly (Haida), George Edgar (Tsimshian),William Henry Pierce (Tsimshian), andEdward Marsden (Tsimshian). The ca-reer of the Reverend John Kilbuck, aDelaware who helped found the success-ful Moravian Church among the Yup’ikEskimo, has more human interest be-cause he fell away for part of his career.Equally fascinating is the thwarted life ofthe Puyallup Reverend Peter Stanup,who lived near Tacoma, Washington.

Peter Stanup (1857–1893)Peter Stanup was the son of Jonah, a vig-orous leader who died at the age of

ninety-four in 1897, and the daughter of aPuyallup chief. His parents were RomanCatholics, but he became a Presbyterian.In 1875 he started as a printer’s devil forthe Olympia Daily Echo but was the buttof many practical jokes because of hisdeep faith. When this press moved toTacoma to become the Herald, he servedas a printer. Seeking further education,he joined other Puyallups at the start of aregional federal boarding school. Laterhe became a reporter, describing aSkokomish Potlatch of October 22–28,1878. During the costly Seattle/Tacomarivalry over the name of the tall mountainoften called Rainier, Stanup added thatthe Puyallup word Ta-ko-ba means “themountain,” but earlier Rainier had beencalled Tu-wak-hu, or Twa-hwauk. HisNative terms and perspective, however,only further confused city boosters.

After he returned from school, Peterserved as interpreter for the Presbyterianmissionary to the Puyallups and himselfstudied for that ministry. Peter served intwo state Republican conventions andwas considered as a candidate for gover-nor at the 1890 state Republican caucus.He married, but four of his six childrendied. He became involved in the sell-offof his reservation and made a financedtrip to Congress in 1893. He becamewealthy from these land sales, but alsotook to alcohol. He was preparing to takethe bar and add law to his credentialswhen his body was found in the PuyallupRiver on May 23, 1893. Although no mur-der charge was ever made, many sus-pected foul play.


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Petius (1904–1989)Until 1989, the most honored shaman inthe American Northwest carried the fa-mous name of Petius, once father-in-lawto the Skagit prophet and the recognizedleader of the Native Samish town whereBayview now stands. Living at Lummibut with kinship ties among theLushoosteeds, Petius and his large familyserved as Bible Shakers, a Pentecostalchoir on radio, and lay preachers untiltheir father led them back to WinterDancing when he took up an expectedfamily career as a Native doctor. Drawingon family privileges, he rapidly becamesuccessful through his use of paintedpower boards and an inherited ability asa medium who was able to deal withtroubling ghosts.

Helped by his large family of daugh-ters, he founded his own smokehouseand began initiating new dancers. Whenhis older son married the daughter of an-other Native doctor, both their familiesenhanced their careers. As other chil-dren married into other reservations thisnetwork expanded, and it continues todo so.

Late in his career, Petius was givenmedical privileges at hospitals in Van-couver, Canada, and in several cities inWashington state. Native patients inthese impersonal surroundings immedi-ately began to improve. At his death, theeldest son assumed the mantle of his fa-ther, but has yet to enjoy the same widefame.

Finally, the impact of other “minor”prophets should be mentioned. During

the late 1800s, from the Plateau cameword of the teachings of a Kootenaiwoman who dressed and acted like aman, of Smohallah along the ColumbiaRiver, of Jake Hunt and the Featherdance, and of the Ghost Dances of 1870and 1890. Coquelle Thompson (1849–1946) preached an 1870 version knownas the Warm House along coastal Oregonfor a year after April 1877. Natives of theOregon coast had been particularly dev-astated and sought succor in new faiths,including the Indian Shaker Church.

Jay Miller

See also Ceremony and Ritual, Northwest;Christianity, Indianization of; Dance,Northwest Winter Spirit Dances; GuardianSpirit Complex; Healing Traditions,Northwest; Indian Shaker Church;Missionization, Alaska; Missionization,Northwest; Religious Leaders, Alaska;Sbatatdaq (Sqadaq)

References and Further ReadingAmoss, Pamela. 1982. “Resurrection,

Healing, and ‘the Shake’: The Story ofJohn and Mary Slocum.” Pp. 87–109 inCharisma and Sacred Biography. Editedby Michael Williams. Journal of theAmerican Academy of Religion, ThematicStudies XLVIII (3/4): 87–109.

Barnett, Homer. 1957. Indian Shakers, AMessianic Cult of the Pacific Northwest.Carbondale: Southern Illinois UniversityPress.

Collins, June. 1974. Valley of the Spirits.Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Jenness, Diamond. 1955. The Faith of aCoast Salish Indian. Anthropology inBritish Columbia Memoir 3. Victoria:British Columbia Provincial Museum.

Jilek, Wolfgang. 1982. Indian Healing:Shamanic Ceremonialism in the PacificNorthwest Today. Surrey, BritishColumbia: Hancock House Publishers.

Miller, Jay. 1999. Lushootseed Culture andthe Shamanic Odyssey: An Anchored

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Radiance. Lincoln: University ofNebraska Press.

Ruby, Robert, and John Brown. 1996. JohnSlocum and the Indian Shaker Church.Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

Suttles, Wayne. 1987. Coast Salish Essays.Seattle: University of Washington Press.

———, ed. 1990. Handbook of NorthAmerican Indians: Northwest Coast, vol.7. Washington, DC: SmithsonianInstitution Press.

Waterman, Thomas. 1924. “The ShakeReligion of Puget Sound.” SmithsonianReport for 1922: 499–507.

Religious Leaders, Plains

Bull LodgeA spiritual leader and warrior said topossess the ability to heal and prophesy,Bull Lodge kept two of the central sacredsymbols within Gros Ventre religiosity:the Feathered Pipe, or Chief MedicinePipe, and the Flat Pipe. Such pipes arekept in sacred bundles, which arewrapped in outer wrappings along withother sacred objects.

Bull Lodge was born in 1802 and diedin 1886. He distinguished himself in hisearly life as a powerful warrior, and hesought spiritual empowerment as well,undergoing seven different fasts in sevendifferent sacred spaces of the Gros Ventrelandscape. As a result he received power-ful visions that aided the Gros Ventrepeople through difficult eras of changeand colonization. Because of his role askeeper of the sacred Flat Pipe and Feath-ered Pipe, Bull Lodge was able to influ-ence the weather, cure illnesses, andprotect the community from danger. His

position as a healer was establishedwhen he healed his uncle, Yellow Man,when he was extremely ill. After havingcured nineteen people he was presentedwith the Feathered Pipe, and he held theoffice of Pipe Chief medicine man, a veryimportant honor. He died at eighty-fiveyears of age, having foretold his owndeath. His daughter, Garter Snake, dic-tated his life story to Frederick Gone, aGros Ventre tribal member. The volume,edited by George Horse Capture, waspublished as The Seven Visions of BullLodge in 1980.

James Blue Bird (c. 1887–?)One of the first peyote roadmen amongthe Lakota, James Blue Bird was first ex-posed to the peyote faith in 1902, at theage of fifteen. Quanah Parker, a Co-manche peyote roadman, led this cere-monial meeting. His father, who was anEpiscopal minister, did not protest hisson’s newfound faith, seeing in it thesymbols of Christianity: the cross, thefire, and prayer to a Great Spirit. He spentyears learning about the tradition fromJohn Rave and Albert Hensley in Ne-braska. When James Blue Bird returnedto his community in 1916, he was quicklyacknowledged as a peyote roadman. In1918 the Native American Church wasofficially incorporated, so as to protectits followers under the constitutional as-surance of freedom of religion. Subse-quently, Blue Bird organized and di-rected the Native American Church ofSouth Dakota, a position that he held forfifty years. His church ultimately com-

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prised sixteen local chapters. The year ofhis death is unknown.

Davéko (1818–1897 or 1898)Davéko, an Oklahoma Kiowa-Apachewho lived from about 1818 until 1897 or1898, was a powerful healer and spiritualleader. As an adolescent, Davéko under-took the four-day vision quest, receivingthe spirit-powers of turtle, owl, andsnake. Davéko used a black handkerchiefin his healing ceremonies; it helped himto locate the disease-causing object. Hehealed patients through the use of herbs,roots, songs, prayers, and through the lit-eral sucking out of the object that wascausing the disease. His success at heal-ing, as well as his ability to find lost indi-viduals or objects, enabled him to be-come a powerful spiritual leader duringa tumultuous century.

Philip Deloria (Tipi Sapa)(1853–1931)Born in 1853, Philip Deloria (YanktonSioux) was raised in the traditional way,and he was apprenticed to his father tobecome a traditional spiritual leader andhealer. His mother, Siha Sapewin, wasLakota of the Rosebud band. When hewas three years old, while his father wasaway, Philip became very ill and died.When his father returned, he carriedPhilip to a high hill, where he prayed forhis son’s life. Philip was restored to life,and the next day he and his father re-turned to the community. When he wasseventeen, Philip converted to Christian-ity, adopting the dress and many of the

customs of Euro-Americans. In 1892, withhis father’s approval, he became an Epis-copal priest. In 1873 he founded WojoOkolakiciye, The Planting Society, whichwas later known as the Brotherhood ofChristian Unity. He was elected chief ofthe Eight Band of the Yankton Sioux, andin 1888 he was placed in charge of theEpiscopal missions of South Dakota. Heserved as a missionary and priest for fortyyears on the Standing Rock Reservation,before dying in 1931. He married MarySully Bordeau and had five daughters andone son, Vine Victor Deloria, Sr.

Vine Victor Deloria, Sr. (1901–1990)Vine Victor Deloria, Sr., was born in 1901,and, following in his father’s footsteps,he became an Episcopal priest. In 1926,Deloria played a key role in the govern-ment hearings at Lake Andes and Pipe-stone Quarry, the quarry where manyPlains tribes secure the pipestoneneeded to carve the bowls of sacredpipes. With his assistance as a translator,the tribes were able to secure access tothe quarries. Following his ordination asa priest, Deloria served for seventeenyears at the All Saints Mission, and thenfor an additional three years at the Sisse-ton Mission in South Dakota. He was ap-pointed to the Episcopal National Coun-cil in 1954 and oversaw all EpiscopalIndian mission work in his position asassistant secretary for Indian Missions ofthe Episcopal Church of America. Laterhe was also appointed archdeacon of theAmerican Indian parishes in SouthDakota.

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___________________________________________________________________ Religious Leaders, Plains

Vine Deloria, Jr. (1933–)Vine Deloria, Jr., has been described asone of the most influential voices amongcontemporary American Indian authors.He has acted as an advocate for Ameri-can Indian religious rights, the preserva-tion of sacred land, and tribal sover-eignty, and against the culturalassimilation of Native people. Born in1933, he received his bachelor’s degreefrom Iowa State University before earn-ing a master’s degree in theology fromLutheran School of Theology, Rock Is-land, Illinois. He decided against becom-ing ordained, arguing that following thewhite man’s religion had failed to grantIndian people social or political equality,nor had Christianity succeeded in liftingthe United States out of a spiritual,moral, and ecological crisis. He urged in-stead a return to traditional Native reli-giosity, and, for non-Natives, a completechange in social and theological outlook.Non-Natives as well, he argues, shouldreturn to a tribal-communal approach tolife that seeks an ecologically balancedrelationship with the environment.

Deloria is a founding member of theNational Congress of American Indians(NCAI); he served as a professor of lawand political science at the University ofArizona; and he is currently a professorof American Indian Studies, History,Law, Political Science, and ReligiousStudies at the University of Colorado,Boulder. His first book, Custer Died forYour Sins: An Indian Manifesto, pub-lished in 1969, served as an inspirationfor the newly emerging American Indian

Movement, and for other Indian activistsof the era. Other important publicationsinclude God Is Red: A Native View of Reli-gion (1973); Behind the Trail of BrokenTreaties (1974); American Indian Policyin the 20th Century (1985); Red Earth,White Lies: Native Americans and theMyth of Scientific Fact (1997); and ForThis Land: Writings on Religion in Amer-ica (1999).

Frank Fools Crow (1891–1989)Born around 1891, Frank Fools Crow wasan important spiritual leader among theLakota. He led Sun Dances, yuwipi cere-monies, and was a healer (wapiye) formore than sixty years. In addition tomaintaining his traditional faith, in 1917he became a Catholic, and he saw no dif-ficulty in practicing both faiths. He wasfaithful to both traditions until his deathin 1989. A nephew of the famous Lakotaspiritual leader Black Elk, Fools Crowwas taught the traditional Lakota spiri-tual path. He was trained by his fatherand grandfathers, as well as by IronCloud, a Lakota leader, and Stirrup, a fa-mous Lakota medicine man of the earlytwentieth century. During his visionquest in 1905 he received a powerful vi-sion that would empower him in his spir-itual practice. And in 1913 he receivedanother vision while riding in the midstof a thunderstorm. His second visionquest in 1914 likewise empowered himwith another powerful spirit. These vi-sions and spiritual relationships wouldenable him to be a powerful leader andintercessor for the Lakota people.


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Fools Crow played an important rolein the American Indian Movement of the1970s, particularly in the occupation ofWounded Knee in 1973. He blessed theefforts of the occupiers, and offered en-couragement to them as a spiritualleader. He, along with other Lakota eld-ers, also sought to achieve a peaceful rec-onciliation by negotiating with federalrepresentatives. He delivered the pro-posed settlement to those occupying theKnee, and facilitated a peaceful conclu-sion. However, he himself was disap-pointed with the terms of the negotia-tion, because it failed to achieve theirgoals: the reinstatement of the agreed-upon treaty relationship, as establishedin the 1868 treaty with the federal gov-ernment. Fools Crow, following instruc-tions he received in a vision, dictated hislife story to Thomas E. Mails, with the as-sistance of Dallas Chief Eagle. The book,Fools Crow, was published in 1979.

Albert Hensley (1875–?)Born in 1875, Albert Hensley (Win-nebago) was a peyote roadman and mis-sionary. As a roadman, he helped to es-tablish his particular mode of ceremony,the Cross-Fire or Big Moon ritual,throughout the northern Plains, amongthe Ojibwa, Chippewa, and Lakota. Healso introduced the use of the ChristianBible into the ceremony, and he crafted amore Christianized expression of thepeyote meeting. He was involved bothspiritually and politically, writing lettersto the federal government and Bureau ofIndian Affairs defending the peyote reli-

gion. He was a founding member of thepeyote church when the Winnebago in-corporated the church, the first tribeoutside of Oklahoma to do so. It was laterrenamed the Native American Church ofWinnebago, Nebraska. The church in-cludes both Half-Moon and Cross-Fireceremonial traditions.

Emily Hill (1911–?)Born in 1911, Emily Hill was a remark-able woman who worked as a spiritualleader, healer, and preserver of culturalknowledge. Hill spent nearly all her life inthe Little Wind River area in Wyoming,

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American writer Mary Crow Dog in Paris.(Sophie Bassouls/Corbis Sygma)

though she briefly attended boardingschool on the Wind River Reservation.Hill was the granddaughter of aShoshone warrior woman who was wellknown for her bravery in battle and herfierce advocacy for mistreated women inher community. Hill herself married andhad three children. After her husband’sdeath, she lived with her half-sister,Dorothy. The two of them lived togetherfor the remainder of their lives, support-ing and caring for each other. Togetherthey drove teams of horses, cut andstacked hay, irrigated fields, and draggedand cut large logs for firewood. AfterDorothy was injured in the 1950s, Emilytook care of her until her death, thirtyyears later.

Hill was a powerful medicine womanand healer. While at boarding school as achild, she witnessed a measles epidemic.She helped to care for the other childrenand gained a respect for certain aspectsof Western medicine. As an adult shepracticed traditional Shoshone medi-cine, curing people through powerfulsongs that she acquired within dreamsand visions. She was trained by aShoshone woman elder, who taught hertraditional modes of healing and the useof herbs, as well as the procedure forprocuring spirit power. Inspired by whatshe had seen at boarding school, Hillcombined aspects of Western medicinewith that of traditional Shoshone medi-cine, creating a unique mode of healing.

Hill and her sister were also believersin the Ghost Dance religion, and shecontinued to sing the sacred songs long

after the dances had ceased to be held.Along with other women, she also sangat Sun Dances, supporting the efforts ofyoung Shoshone men as they prayed andsuffered for their communities.Throughout her life she continued topray and heal using the sacred songsfrom the Ghost Dance, the Sun Dance,the Women’s Dance, and the Wolf Dance.By singing these songs she was able tocultivate healing power and renew rela-tionships with the powerful spirits pres-ent in the natural world. Along with fourother Shoshone women, Hill collabo-rated with Judith Vander to produce abook, Songprints, which was publishedin 1988.

Kee’Kah’Wah’Un’Ga (Reuben A.Snake, Jr.) (1937–1993)Born in 1937, Kee’Kah’Wah’Un’Ga (Win-nebago) was an important religious andpolitical leader. He fought throughouthis adult life for religious and politicalfreedom for American Indian people. Hewas a national chairman of the AmericanIndian Movement in 1972 and nationalpresident of the National Congress ofAmerican Indians from 1985 to 1987.Kee’Kah’Wah’Un’Ga was a prayer chiefand roadman of the Native AmericanChurch, as well as the elected tribalchairman of the Winnebago nation. Asroadman and spiritual leader, he fre-quently led all-night prayer services toseek peace and justice for American In-dian people. He served as a foundingtrustee and spiritual adviser within theAmerican Indian Ritual Object Repatria-


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tion Foundation. He traveled throughoutthe country lobbying for legislation thatwould ensure American Indian peoplethe right to religious freedom. It was inpart due to his efforts and advocacy thatthe American Indian Religious FreedomAct (1978), the National Museum of theAmerican Indian Act (1989), the NativeAmerican Graves Protection and Repa-triation Act (1990), the Native LanguageAct (1990), and the Native American FreeExercise of Religion Act (1993) were suc-cessfully passed.

Kicking Bear (1846–1904)Born about 1846, Kicking Bear (Lakota)was an important medicine man andwarrior. He was an advocate of the GhostDance among the Lakota, and in 1889,along with several others, he visited thePaiute spiritual leader Wovoka. He be-came convinced of the truth of Wovoka’sclaims and returned to the Rosebud andStanding Rock reservations to teach thenew religion. The Ghost Dance taughtthat all Native people, the living and thedead, would soon be reunited. The worldwould soon be remade and all white peo-ple removed from the land. The buffalowould return, and the earth would be re-stored. Followers were to dance in a tra-ditional circle-dance and sing. Periodi-cally dancers would fall to the groundand be given visions in which they weretransported to the spirit world. Therethey were taught new songs, dances, andrituals that they were to teach to the peo-ple. The movement also called for the re-turn to a traditional mode of life, and a

rejection of white culture and its vices,such as drinking.

Kicking Bear and his brother-in-lawShort Bull received a vision instructingthem to make a Ghost-Shirt. The shirts,they believed, would protect them frombullets. They brought these shirts withthem to the Lakota when they taughtthem the Ghost Dance. The militaristicovertones that Kicking Bear inspired inthe dance aroused fear in governmentofficials, and they sought to curtail thereligious practice. They attempted toarrest Kicking Bear, but he eludedthem, which added to his fame and hisfollowers’ belief in the new religion. In1890 he and his followers fled to theBadlands in South Dakota, hoping toavoid persecution.

Fearing that Kicking Bear’s uncle, Sit-ting Bull (Tatanka Iyotake), would jointhem, the Standing Rock Indian agent at-tempted to have him arrested. In the en-suing struggle, Sitting Bull was murdered.Following that, the Minneconjou leaderBig Foot (Si Tanka) decided to move hispeople to the Pine Ridge Reservation, toseek protection. The army however, mis-takenly believed that Big Foot was on hisway to join Kicking Bear and interceptedthem. The next day, on December 29,1890, the U.S. Seventh Cavalry massacredmore than two hundred children,women, and men of Big Foot’s band, in-cluding Big Foot himself. Afraid for theirsafety, Kicking Bear and his people sur-rendered to the army. In 1891 he was in-carcerated. However, his sentence wascommuted on the condition that he join

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Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show for twoyears. He did so, returning to WoundedKnee Creek in 1892, where he lived withhis family until his death in 1904.

Susan La Flesche Picotte (1863–1915)Born in 1865 on the Omaha Reservation,Susan La Flesche Picotte was the daugh-ter of the Omaha chief Joseph La Flesche.As a child she studied with both Presby-terian and Quaker missionaries, who fa-cilitated her entrance into school. Shegraduated from the Elizabeth Institute forYoung Ladies in New Jersey, the HamptonInstitute in Virginia, and in 1889 from theWomen’s Medical College of Pennsylva-nia. She was the first American Indianwoman to become a medical doctortrained in the European-American tradi-tion. She worked as a reservation doctoron the Omaha Reservation and as a med-ical missionary to her tribe. She was anadvocate for Indian rights, speaking toCongress and to many religious congre-gations. She lobbied for resources to endtuberculosis among Native communities,for increased access to education, and forthe prohibition of alcohol on reserva-tions. She also advocated for local, Indiancontrol of their own lands and for theright of individual Indian people to leaseor sell their land without government su-pervision. In 1913 she founded a hospitalon the Omaha Reservation that, followingher death in 1915, was named after her.While she was deeply entrenched in andable to navigate the white world ofschools, congressional halls, andchurches, she also remained committed

to her tribal community. Her sense ofcommunal obligation and responsibilityguided her in all her actions, and shesought to improve the welfare and well-being of the Omaha people.

John Fire Lame DeerJohn Fire Lame Deer was born on theRosebud Lakota Reservation in the latenineteenth century. He was a powerfulLakota spiritual leader who received hisspiritual power from the thunder beings,or wakinyan. At sixteen he underwent hisfirst vision quest; he was told in a vision ofhis great-grandfather that he would be-come an important spiritual leader andinstruct many more medicine men whowould follow him. Throughout his adultlife he was a healer, using traditionalherbs as well as traditional ceremoniessuch as the yuwipi to heal his patients. Hewas the father of Archie Fire Lame Deer,who also went on to become an impor-tant spiritual leader in his community.Lame Deer remained a practitioner of tra-ditional Lakota religion, preferring not tofollow any Christian traditions or the Na-tive American Church. Remaining true tothe Lakota traditions, and practicingthem in a faithful way as they should bedone, was, he said, more than enough forhim. His commitment to his communityand to their traditional way of life hashelped to ensure its survival through a tu-multuous century.

Low Horn (Atsitsi) (1822–1846/1899)Born around 1822, Low Horn (Blackfoot)was one of the most important spiritual


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leaders of his generation, along withsuch individuals as Black Eagle and themedicine woman Kitsin’iki. He was apowerful healer who doctored throughthe spirit-powers of sparrow hawk, rab-bit, thunder, and mouse. He undertook asuccessful vision quest at thirteen, whenhe acquired his first spirit-power, thun-der. In a dream he was given the spiritsongs of sparrow hawk, and in other vi-sions that of jackrabbit and mouse. Hewas a powerful medicine man and suc-cessful warrior. In 1846 he was killed in abattle with the Cree. Fearing his greatpower, the Cree dismembered his bodyand attempted to burn the remains. Aburning ember from his body flew fromthe fire, and where it landed a bearemerged from the ground. The bearkilled five of the Cree.

Low Horn was so powerful that hewas able to reincarnate himself into ayoung Blackfoot, named Only PersonWho Had a Different Gun. When he wassix, Different Gun met Low Horn’swidow, and he told those around himthat she had once been his sweetheart.The next day, he and his family crossedthe site where Low Horn had beenkilled. The boy began to cry, and told hisfamily that this was where he had beenkilled. To prove his identity he in-structed elders in his community to findcertain objects that Low Horn had hid-den before his death. Eventually thecommunity accepted Different Gun asthe reborn healer and began to call himLow Horn. From that time, Low Hornwas apprenticed to the spiritual leaders

and healers in his community and be-came a powerful healer. He had the abil-ity to cure gunshot wounds, even thosethat white physicians could not heal. Hedied in 1899.

Mon’Hin Thin GeMon’Hin Thin Ge (Omaha) was born inthe early 1800s, and was an importantspiritual leader and keeper of the SacredTent of War. Three sacred tents withinOmaha tradition encompasses the mostimportant elements of Omaha spiritual-ity: the tent for the Sacred Pole, the Sa-cred Tent of War, and the Sacred Tent ofthe White Buffalo. Mon’Hin Thin Ge waschosen to keep the Tent of War. As anadolescent, Mon’Hin Thin Ge underwentthe traditional Omaha vision quest, orNo’zhi zho, which literally means “tostand sleeping.” The vision that he re-ceived empowered him in his office asspiritual leader. During and just prior tohis life, the Omaha experienced a num-ber of devastating blows: in 1802 whitetraders brought smallpox to the Omaha,and the resulting epidemic decimatedthe community. The population droppedfrom 3,500 to fewer than 300. The na-tion’s cultural continuity was furtherthreatened by the U.S. government’s re-location policies, by which the Omahawere forced west of their original home-land. They were resettled on the OmahaReservation in Nebraska in 1854. Thefederal government forced them to cedethe northern half of the reservation in1865, for the resettlement of the Win-nebago Nation.

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These devastating events broughtenormous cultural changes. In 1884,Mon’Hin Thin Ge feared that the knowl-edge of Omaha ceremonialism would belost with him, and with it the proper careand respect for the Sacred Tent of War.Afraid that the objects would be neg-lected or abused, he gave them toOmaha physician Francis La Flesche andethnologist Alice Fletcher. The sacredobjects held within the Sacred Tent ofWar were placed in the Peabody Mu-seum at Harvard University. The con-tents of the Sacred Tent of the SacredPole were likewise bequeathed toPeabody Museum by their keeper, Shu’-Denaci, in 1888. Happily, since 1989 thesacred pole, which is the most sacred ob-ject of Omaha ceremonialism, as well asthe objects of the Sacred Tent of War,have been repatriated to the Omaha bythe Peabody Museum.

Mountain Wolf Woman (Xeháchwinga)(1884–1960)Si’ga’xunuga (Winnebago) was born in1884 and was a traditional healer and pey-ote leader. When she was three years old,she became very ill and nearly died. An In-dian medicine woman, named WolfWoman, healed her. The woman thengave Si’ga’xunuga her healing powers anda new name, Xeháchwinga, which roughlytranslates as Mountain Wolf Woman. Shespent eight years in a Lutheran missionschool and was baptized there. She left theschool to enter into a marriage arrangedby her brothers, and did so against herwill. The experience was unpleasant, and

she determined that her own childrenwould choose their own spouses. She lefther first husband and married Bad Soldier,with whom she had eleven children. Xe-háchwinga had an active faith that inte-grated three traditions: traditional Win-nebago spirituality, the peyote religion,and Christianity.

Her father, who taught his daughtersto observe certain ritual practices andprayers, introduced her to traditionalWinnebago spirituality. Her grandfather,Náqiwankwa’xo’piniga, who was a medi-cine man and who passed on his spiri-tual power to her, also instructed her intraditional Winnebago healing practices.In 1908 she was first introduced to pey-ote, which she used during the birth ofher third child. The experience was sopositive that she became an adherent ofthe peyote faith. While attending a pey-ote ceremony, she had a powerful visionof Jesus. The experience was profoundlymoving, and following the experienceshe was convinced of the sacrality of thepeyote way. After that she became a pey-ote leader. Her reputation as a peyoteleader spread widely, and people camefrom far away to join the meetings. Sheintegrated Christianity within her faithin peyote and continued to believe thatpeyote was a holy faith, blessed by Jesus,that would help Indian people to over-come alcoholism and other destructivebehavior. Throughout her adult life shecontinued to practice both as a tradi-tional Winnebago medicine woman andas a peyote leader with a faith in JesusChrist. She died in 1960, just before her


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life story was put to press. Mountain WolfWoman: Sister of Crashing Thunder, wasedited by her adopted niece, NancyOestreich Lurie.

Porcupine (Hishkowitz) (1847–?)Born around 1847, Porcupine (Chey-enne) was an important healer, spiritualleader, and spokesperson for theCheyenne nation for more than fortyyears. Following a visit to Wovoka atWalker Lake, Nevada, he became a be-liever in the Ghost Dance, and he re-turned to his people as an advocate forthe faith. His father was Arikara and hismother Lakota, but he joined theCheyenne nation when he married aCheyenne woman. He is well known forhis bravery as a warrior, as well as for hisleadership in the Ghost Dance. He leddances until the turn of the century,when he was arrested and sentenced tohard labor for practicing a faith that thefederal government had outlawed. Hewas a successful healer within his com-munities until the end of his life, and wellknown for his ability to cure. He healedhis patients with the use of spirit-powersongs, sweet grass, a sacred rattle, a sa-cred pipe, and medicinal teas and roots.

Pretty Shield (1857–?)Pretty Shield (Crow) was born around1857, and was a powerful medicinewoman among her people. She was oneof three sisters, all of whom married aman named Goes-Ahead. When she wassixteen, she was struck with smallpoxand nearly died. A Crow medicine

woman, Sharp-Skin, healed her, and theexperience left her with a sensitivity forhealing the illnesses of others. As ayoung wife, she experienced the death ofa baby girl. During her mourning period,she fasted and slept very little. Sheprayed for a vision that would give hercomfort and also be a blessing to hercommunity.

While in a medicine dream state, shehad a vision of a spirit woman. Thewoman instructed her in a number of rit-uals that she was to perform. Once shehad done them, Pretty Shield was in-structed to enter a beautiful lodge thathad a war eagle at its head. Followingthat, Pretty Shield was given the spirit-power of war eagle. Later she was alsogiven the spirit-power of ants, a powerfulspirit that enabled her to do great things.She became a wise elder and respectedmedicine woman. When Pretty Shieldwas seventy-four, she told her life story,describing the ways of the Crow peopleas well as traditional passages of life,such as childhood, courtship, marriage,and childbirth, to Frank Linderman. Theresulting book, Red Mother, was pub-lished in 1932. It was reprinted in 1972and retitled Pretty Shield: MedicineWoman of the Crows.

Quanah Parker (1850–1911)Quanah Parker was born around 1850,the son of Peta Nocona, a chief of theQuahada band of Comanche, and awhite woman, Cynthia Ann Parker. Cyn-thia Ann Parker was captured in 1836along with her brother when she was

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nine years old and later married Peta No-cona. She was recaptured by a white manin 1860. She repeatedly begged to be al-lowed to return to the Comanche andher husband and children but was neverallowed to do so. She died in 1864. Parkerwas known for his success as a warrior, aswell as for his role in promoting the pey-ote religion throughout the Plains.Parker fiercely resisted white encroach-ment on Comanche lands, surrenderingonly after years of resistance. Followinghis surrender, however, Parker quicklyadapted to the white world. He encour-aged the Comanche to be educated inwhite schools and to learn to navigatethe white world. By 1867 he was chief ofthe Kwahadi band of the Comanche.

The peyote faith would have been apart of Comanche culture throughouthis life, as the Comanche had beenusing peyote since the early 1800s. But itwas not until 1884, when Parker becameseriously ill and was cured with the aidof peyote, that it became an importantpart of his life. From that time on, he de-fended the use of peyote against gov-ernment and Christian opposition. Hesaw it as a means by which Native peo-ple could not merely talk about Jesus,but speak directly to Jesus. Parker wenton to be a judge in the Courts of IndianOffences, which was established by In-dian agents on Indian reservations. Hewas a chief representative for the Co-manche people during the Dawes Act of1887, and he later became a successfulbusinessman and friend of PresidentTheodore Roosevelt, while never aban-

doning his faith in the peyote religion orhis belief in the value of the traditionalComanche way of life.

Sanapia (1895–1968)Sanapia (Comanche) was born in 1895and was a powerful medicine woman.She attended the Cache Creek MissionSchool, before undertaking four years ofintensive study to become an Eagle Doc-tor. She trained with her mother, a Co-manche-Arapaho, and her mother’solder brother, both of whom were EagleDoctors. During her training she wasclosely observed by her mother, uncle,maternal grandmother, and paternalgrandfather. When they all approved, shewas accorded a blessing ceremony andgranted the status of Eagle Doctor.

In her training she studied the diagno-sis of illness, the use of medicinal plants,and important ritual actions and restric-tions. She doctored with the use ofherbal medicines; sacred songs; thespirit power of the eagle, which wascalled forth through her medicine songs;and by sucking the object that hadcaused the illness out of the patient’sbody. She was particularly skilled at cur-ing Ghost Sickness, a dangerous ailment.In her religious life, she was exposed tothe traditional Comanche faith by hermother and uncle, the peyote religion byher uncle and grandfather, and Chris-tianity by her father. She incorporated el-ements of all these traditions within herworldview and approach to healing. Al-though she completed her training to bean Eagle Doctor when she was seven-


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teen, she was not able to begin her workas a healer until after menopause. Herfirst healing took place in the late 1930s,when she healed her sister’s child. Shedied in 1968.

Sitting Bull (Haná cha-thí ak)(1854–1932)Sitting Bull (Arapaho) was born around1854; he was an important Ghost Danceleader and prophet. One should not con-fuse him with the Hunkpapa Sioux prin-cipal chief Sitting Bull. Haná cha-thí akaccompanied several other men, includ-ing Kicking Bear, to visit the prophet Wo-voka, who had founded the new GhostDance religion. He returned to the Ara-paho and began teaching the songs,dance, and message of the Ghost Dance.

The Ghost Dance taught that a messiahwas coming, that soon the world wouldbe remade, that the white people wouldbe removed from the land, and that thedead would return to life, joining their liv-ing relatives. The buffalo would returnand the world would be reborn. Wovokataught that Indians should live peacefullywith whites but maintain their traditionalway of life. They should abstain from al-cohol, gambling, and violence. SittingBull received a vision that when this greatevent came, the whites would be removedfrom the land by a great wall of fire. Nativepeople would be protected from the fireby sacred eagle feathers, and a great rainwould then put the fire out.

Sitting Bull held large Ghost Dances atwhich thousands of people attended, in-cluding Arapaho, Cheyenne, Caddo, Wi-

chita, and Kiowa. Participants receivedvisions of the spirit world and communi-cated with departed relatives. In 1890,Sitting Bull advised the Arapaho to selltheir reservation lands to the U.S. gov-ernment for needed money. He firmlybelieved that the land would soon be re-stored to them with the coming of themessiah and the re-creation of the world.When the lands were not soon returned,and when the Ghost Dance movemententered into a rapid decline following themassacre at Wounded Knee, Sitting Bulllost influence and his position as spiri-tual leader. He died in 1932.

Tenskwatawa (c. 1775–1836) andTecumseh (c. 1768–1813)Born in 1775, Tenskwatawa was an im-portant Shawnee spiritual leader whoworked alongside his brother Tecumsehtoward a revitalization of Shawnee cul-ture and a political alliance with otherNative people. In 1806, Tenskwatawabecame ill and died. He revived sud-denly, telling his people that he had hada vision from the Master of Life thatshowed him a beautiful country re-served for those who lived honorablelives, and a world of fiery torture forthose who led wicked lives. He taughtthat the Shawnee should turn fromdrinking, intertribal violence, poly-gamy, intermarriage with whites, andpromiscuity, and return to traditionalShawnee ways of life. He demonstratedhis spiritual power by accurately pre-dicting the total eclipse of the sun thattook place on June 16, 1806.

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Tenskwatawa’s religious movementserved as a spiritual guide and inspirationfor his brother Tecumseh’s political goal offorming a pantribal confederacy. Thebrothers hoped to form an alliance thatwould prevent further expansion of whitesettlers. He and his brother traveledwidely, from present-day Wisconsin topresent-day Florida, advocating their reli-gious and political visions. Tenskwatawalost influence after a failed military en-gagement with U.S. troops. In 1813 hefled to Canada, and his religious move-ment came to an end.

Suzanne J. Crawford and Karen D. Lone Hill

See also American Indian Movement (RedPower Movement); Bundles, Sacred BundleTraditions; Ecology and Environmentalism;Ghost Dance Movement; Health and

Wellness, Traditional Approaches;Missionization, Northern Plains; NativeAmerican Church, Peyote Movement;Power, Plains; Retraditionalism andRevitalization Movements; Sacred Pipe;Sweatlodge; Tobacco, Sacred Use of; VisionQuest Rites; Yuwipi Ceremony

References and Further ReadingAxelrod, Alan. 1993. Chronicle of the Indian

Wars: From Colonial Times to WoundedKnee. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Deloria, Vine. 1969. Custer Died for YourSins: An Indian Manifesto. New York:Macmillan.

———. 1973. God Is Red: A Native View ofReligion. New York: Grosset and Dunlap.

———. 1974. Behind the Trail of BrokenTreaties: An Indian Declaration ofIndependence. New York: Delacorte Press.

———. 1999. For This Land: Writings onReligion in America. New York:Routledge.

Fikes, J. C., ed. 1998. Reuben Snake: YourHumble Serpent. Santa Fe: Clear LightPublications.

Fletcher, Alice C., and Francis La Flesche.1911. The Omaha Tribe. Washington, DC:Smithsonian Institution.

Grinnell, George Bird. 1962. The CheyenneIndians: Their History and Ways of Life.New York: Cooper Square Publishers.

Hittman, Michael. 1990. Wovoka and theGhost Dance. Carson City, NV: GraceDangberg Foundation.

Horse Capture, George. 1980. The SevenVisions of Bull Lodge. Lincoln: Universityof Nebraska Press.

Johnson, Troy. 2002. Distinguished NativeAmerican Spiritual Practitioners andHealers. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press.

Jones, David E. 1972. Sanapia: ComancheMedicine Woman. Prospect Heights, IL:Waveland Press.

Lame Deer, Archie Fire, and Richard Erdoes.1994. Gift of Power: The Life andTeachings of a Lakota Medicine Man.Santa Fe: Bear and Company.

Lame Deer, John Fire, and Richard Erdoes.1972/1994. Lame Deer: Seeker of Visions.Reprint, New York: Washington SquarePress.


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Shawnee mystic Tenskwatawa served as aspiritual guide and inspiration for his brotherTecumseh. Early 1800s. (North Wind PictureArchives)

Linderman, Frank B. 1972. Pretty Shield:Medicine Woman of the Crows. Lincoln:University of Nebraska Press.

Lurie, Nancy Oestreich. 1961. MountainWolf Woman: Sister of Crashing Thunder.Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Mails, Thomas. 1990. Fools Crow. Lincoln:University of Nebraska Press.

McAllister, J. G. 1970. Davéko Kiowa ApacheMedicine Man. Austin: Texas MemorialMuseum.

Neeley, Bill. 1995. The Last Comanche Chief:The Life and Times of Quanah Parker.New York: Wiley.

Paper, Jordan. 1989. Offering Smoke: TheSacred Pipe and Native American Religion.Moscow: University of Idaho Press.

Steinmetz, Paul B. 1990. Pipe, Bible, andPeyote among the Oglala Lakota: A Studyin Religious Identity. Knoxville:University of Tennessee Press.

Stewart, Omar. 1990. Peyote Religion: AHistory. Norman: University ofOklahoma Press.

Sugden, John. 1998. Tecumseh: A Life. NewYork: Henry Holt and Company.

Tong, Benson. 2000. Susan La FleschePicotte, M.D.: Omaha Indian Leader andReformer. Norman: University ofOklahoma Press.

Vander, Judith. 1988. Songprints: The MusicalExperience of Five Shoshone Women.Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Religious Leaders, Plateau

Jake Hunt, Klickitat (c. 1860–1910or 1914)Jake Hunt founded the Waptashi, orFeather Religion. Born on the WhiteSalmon River near Husum, Washington,in the 1860s, Hunt was raised in theWashani or Longhouse religion. He was afollower of Smohalla, the WanapumDreamer prophet. Following the death ofhis wife and son, Hunt received a vision

that inspired the new religion. In Hunt’svision he saw Lishwailait, a Klickitatprophet. Lishwailait was standing in thecenter of a circular disk of light that sym-bolized an expanse of land, the earth.Lishwailait was dressed in traditionalclothing, wore two eagle feathers in hishair, and carried a small drum anddrumstick. Following the vision, Huntstopped grieving for his wife and son,both of whom had died within months ofeach other, and built a longhouse.

The Waptashi, or Feather Religion,drew on elements of Waashat traditionsand the Indian Shaker Church. Likeother Dreamer Prophets of the time,Hunt advised his followers to reject whiteacculturation and return to Native tradi-tions. Like the Shaker Church, the Wap-tashi advocate abstaining from alcohol;healing is a central part of worship, andservices are held in a longhouse. Like theWaashat, Waptashi adherents continueto honor first foods ceremonies, cele-brating the first salmon, berries, roots,and game of the year.

The Waptashi can be distinguishedfrom the Waashat, or Seven Drums reli-gion practiced throughout the Plateau,by its use of feathers and spinning (wask-liki) in rituals. These elements are in-tended both to purify individuals and tohelp them attain spiritual assistance.Eagle feathers are held during services,and hand mirrors, which were also pres-ent in Hunt’s vision, are used as well.

Hunt traveled widely throughout thePlateau, teaching about his new religion.When he was unable to cure a man on

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the Umatilla Reservation, the reservationagent banished him from the reservationand destroyed Hunt’s sacred objects. Hedied sometime between 1910 and 1914.

Chief Joseph, Nez Perce (1840–1904)Chief Joseph was born in the WallowaValley in 1840 and was named Hin mahtooyah lat kekt, or Thunder Rolling Downthe Mountain. Chief Joseph led the NezPerce during an era of rapid change andwhite encroachment on Native lands.While not an official religious leader,Chief Joseph was a central cultural andspiritual leader to his people during atime of violence, oppression, and forcedrelocation. His resistance to white en-croachment on Native lands, and his in-sistence on fighting for his people’s rightto their Native homeland, continues tobe a powerful symbol of Native strength,endurance, and commitment to theirtraditional spiritual values.

Throughout their history with whitesettlers, the Nez Perce had been cooper-ative and peaceful, remaining neutral oreven assisting the government in theirIndian wars. In 1855, Joseph’s father co-operated with the territorial governor ofWashington to establish a reservation forthe Nez Perce, one that stretched fromOregon to Idaho, covering 5,000 squaremiles and including their Wallowa Valleyhomeland. In 1863, following the discov-ery of gold in the Wallowa Valley and asudden rush of white settlers, the federalgovernment produced another treaty.This treaty reduced the reservation to atenth of its former size and did not in-

clude their homeland in the Wallowa Val-ley. Furious over the betrayal, Joseph’s fa-ther destroyed his U.S. flag and Bible andrefused to leave the valley.

Threatened with military force, ChiefJoseph regretfully agreed to move to thenew reservation. But on the way, a groupof frustrated Nez Perce men attacked andkilled several white settlers. This beganthe war between the Nez Perce and theU.S. Army that lasted a year and covered1,400 miles. By the end many Nez Percehad been killed, in battle or by cold and

Religious Leaders, Plateau __________________________________________________________________

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Chief Joseph (Hin mah tooyah lat kekt, orThunder Rolling Down the Mountain), NezPerce. Chief Joseph was a central cultural andspiritual leader who sought to preserve NezPerce lands and traditions. 1900. (Gill, DeLancey/Library of Congress)

lack of food. Joseph bitterly surrenderedat the Bear Paw Mountains in 1877. In hisoften quoted speech, he said: “I am tiredof fighting. . . . Hear me, my chiefs, myheart is sick and sad. From where the sunnow stands I will fight no more againstthe white man” (Joseph 1995).

Despite promises that they would bereturned to their reservation, Joseph andhis followers were incarcerated and sentto Oklahoma, where many died ofmalaria and starvation. In 1879, Josephpleaded his case in Washington, D.C., be-fore President Rutherford Hayes. But itwas not until 1885 that Joseph and the268 remaining nontreaty Nez Perce wereallowed to return to the Northwest. Eventhen, only half of them were allowed togo to the Nez Perce reservation. Josephand half of his followers were sent to theColville reservation in northern Wash-ington, where he died in 1904.

Chief Joseph remains a pivotal char-acter in the history and cultural identityof Native people of the Plateau. His 1879speech before federal officials in Wash-ington, D.C., remains a powerful state-ment of the ethical and spiritual positionupon which he based his actions and hisleadership:

I have heard talk and talk but nothingis done. Good words do not last longunless they amount to something.Words do not pay for my dead people.They do not pay for my country nowoverrun by white men. They do notprotect my father’s grave. They do notpay for my horses and cattle. Goodwords do not give me back mychildren. Good words will not give my

people a home where they can live inpeace and take care of themselves. Iam tired of talk that comes tonothing. It makes my heart sick whenI remember all the good words and allthe broken promises. If the white manwants to live in peace with the Indianhe can live in peace. There need be notrouble. Treat all men alike. . . . Allmen were made by the same GreatSpirit Chief. They are all brothers. Theearth is the mother of all people, andall people should have equal rightsupon it. You might as well expect allrivers to run backward as that anyman who was born a free man shouldbe contented penned up and deniedliberty to go where he pleases. If youtie a horse to a stake, do you expecthe will grow fat? If you pen an Indianup on a small spot of earth andcompel him to stay there, he will notbe contented nor will he grow andprosper. . . . I only ask of theGovernment to be treated as all othermen are treated. . . . We only ask aneven chance to live as other menlive. . . . Let me be a free man, free totravel, free to stop, free to work, freeto trade where I choose, free tochoose my own teachers, free tofollow the religion of my fathers, freeto talk, think and act for myself—andI will obey every law or submit to thepenalty. . . . Then the Great SpiritChief who rules above will smile uponthis land and send rain to wash outthe bloody spots made by brothers’hands upon the face of the earth. Forthis time the Indian race is waitingand praying. I hope no more groansof wounded men and women willever go to the ear of the Great SpiritChief above, and that all people maybe one people. Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekht has spoken for his people.(ibid.)

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Kau’xuma’nupika (Kokomenepeca),Kutenai (c.1780–?)As a prophet and religious leader, Kau’x-uma’nupika sought to encourage Nativeresistance to white settlement and thesurvival of Native culture on the Colum-bia River. She predicted the arrival of epi-demics brought by white immigrants,the imminent devastation of Indianlands, the destruction of the world, andthe subsequent arrival of a golden age inwhich Indian peoples would be restoredto their former strength and the deadwould return to life. Several early writtenrecords from the early nineteenth cen-tury mention Kau’xuma’nupika. RossCox was one Euro-American who metKau-xuma-nupika in person. As he re-called: “Among the visitors who everynow and then presented themselveswere two strange Indians, in the char-acter of man and wife. . . . The husband,named Kocomenepeca was a veryshrewd and intelligent Indian, who ad-dressed us in the Algonquin language,and gave us much information respect-ing the interior of the country.” Rossnoted shortly thereafter that “they wereboth females” (Cox 1831, 92).

Kau’xuma’nupika was a Kutenaiwoman who had been briefly married toa white trader. She soon left her hus-band, declaring that she was at heart aman and would live the life of a prophet.She joined, and led, a number of warparties among the Kutenai, gaining sta-tus as a spiritual leader and warrior.Leslie Spier argued that “at length shebecame the principal leader of her tribe,

under the designation of ‘ManlikeWoman.’ Being young, and of delicateframe, her followers attributed her ex-ploits to the possession of supernaturalpower, and therefore received whatevershe said with implicit faith” (Spier 1935,26–27). In 1811 she arrived in the Co-lumbia River Valley with “a young wife,of whom she pretended to be very jeal-ous” (Tyrell 1916, 512–513, 920). Kau’xu-ma’nupika was a powerful prophet whomobilized early resistance to white cul-tural encroachment and encouragedNative resistance to Christian mission-ization during a time of epidemic dis-ease and the arrival of large numbers ofwhite settlers.

Lillian Pitt, Warm Springs andYakima (1943–)Born in 1943 on the Warm Springs Reser-vation in Oregon, Lillian Pitt spent muchof her life on the Columbia River Plateau.A nationally recognized artist, she nowlives and runs her gallery, Kindred SpiritsGallery, in Portland, Oregon. Her work isinspired by and reflective of the livingspiritual and cultural tradition of thePlateau. Her masks and sculpture are in-spired by the stories, symbols, and spiri-tual traditions she learned growing uponthe Warm Springs Reservation. She is arecipient of the Governor’s Award of theOregon Arts Commission.

Her ceramic masks and “ShadowSpirit” totem images are based on thesymbolic and spiritual traditions of herColumbia River heritage. Her mixed-media installations make use of natural


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materials in order to memorialize her an-cestors. As she describes her approach:

The focus of my current sculpturalwork is to combine diverse materialsto create a rich visual context for thestoneware forms I hand build and fire.I combine beads, feathers, shells,strands of copper wire, stones, thread,and peeled or weathered wood—materials which allow for startlingjuxtapositions of texture and color thatmove the eye. With these materials,sometimes I adorn the work; at othertimes I mend or reassemble thingsthat have been torn asunder. My aim isto heal the things of this woundedplanet by creating a consciousness ofthe need for healing and a sense of thetransformative magic in ordinarythings and beings. I orient my work inrelation to the four winds, the sevendirections, and at times celebrate theancient stories of my Warm Springs,Wascho, and Wishxam ancestors in theimagery I create. There are also timeswhen new characters are born inresponse to the contradictions causedby remembering traditions that revealthe madness of current culture whichdestroys so much that has sustainedlife in our world. These characters telltheir own stories, and new myths areborn as I reflect on their meaning. Inthis work, I aim to create a visuallanguage that will translate the stresson things in the natural world into avoice that will make everyone aware ofthe responsibility we all have to workinside the circle of things that supportslife on earth. (http://www.stonington-gallery.com/artists/pitt.htm)

Perhaps her most famous piece, “SheWho Watches,” is inspired by the well-known Columbia River petroglyph. As she

describes the piece: “She Who Watches isa pictograph found along the ColumbiaRiver. She overlooked the village wheremy great-grandmother lived. Because shewanted to watch over my people forever,Coyote changed her into a rock. Underher watchful gaze, my people rememberher as the last woman chief of the Colum-bia River People” (www.lillianpitt.com).

Her work, which translates traditionalPlateau symbolic and spiritual traditionsinto artistic form, is in several major col-lections throughout the world, includingthe Burke Museum at the University ofWashington, the Heard Museum inPhoenix, Arizona, and the Sapporo CityHall, in Sapporo, Japan.

Skolaskin (also Kolaskin), Sanpoil(1839–1922)Skolaskin, a Sanpoil, was born around1839 in the village of Sinakialt on the Co-lumbia River. Like Smohalla, Skolaskinreceived a vision and messages for hispeople from the Creator during a near-death experience. His message called foran adherence to traditional lifeways, arepudiation of private land ownership,and a return to traditional subsistencepatterns such as salmon fishing, rootgathering, and hunting. His messagealso provided a strict moral code and ad-vocated peaceful resistance against theencroachment of white settlers and theU.S. government. Incarcerated on Alca-traz Island from 1889 to 1892, Skolaskinwas accused by the government of incit-ing reservation unrest and resistance towhite control. After his release, Skolaskin

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returned to the Colville Reservation andcontinued to demand that the people re-turn to traditional modes of spiritualityand subsistence.

Like Smohalla and other PlateauDreamer prophets, Skolaskin played apivotal role in the survival of traditionalindigenous beliefs and practices into thecolonial era. These prophets adopted cer-tain elements of Christianity, such as Sun-day meetings in a permanent structure(the longhouse) and the occasional incor-poration of Christian symbols like thebell, the cross, or the Bible. These outwardsymbols made the evolving tradition a vi-able alternative to Christianity for manyNative people. These prophets also facili-tated the survival of traditional lifeways,by demanding that their followers con-tinue traditional modes of dress, subsis-tence food gathering, family and kinshipnetworks, marriage, and other rites ofpassage. Their message of sobriety,health, and healing also came at a pivotaltime, when many Native people’s well-being was threatened by the importationof alcohol and disease by white settlers.

As a young man, Skolaskin suffered aninjury that permanently disabled him,making it difficult for him to stand up-right or walk without the assistance of astaff. It was during his recovery from thisillness that he nearly died. He visited theCreator Spirit (or Quilentsuten), who ad-vised him to return to his people andpreach this message: the people shouldreject the imposition of white culture inall its forms. His authority among his peo-

ple was ensured when an earthquake,which he had predicted, occurred in 1872.

On November 21, 1889, frightened byhis influence over his followers and hiscontinued resistance to non-Native en-croachment on Native lands, the federalgovernment arrested Skolaskin and im-prisoned him without trial on AlcatrazIsland.

In his later life, Skolaskin himself con-verted to Catholicism. However, the faiththat he inspired and helped to set in mo-tion, now called the Longhouse, or SevenDrums, religion, is still widely practicedon the Colville Reservation and through-out the Plateau.

Smohalla (Smowhalla), Wanapum(1815–1895)Smohalla, a Dreamer prophet on the Co-lumbia Plateau in the mid-nineteenthcentury, is often credited with havingoriginated the Waashat religion, alsoknown as the Seven Drums or Long-house religion. He was born between1815 and 1820 in Wallula on the Colum-bia River in Washington state and gainedpower through the traditional mode of avision quest, or wot, when he was stillyoung. He was given the spirit-powers ofshah (crow), and speelyi (coyote). He wasknown by many names, includingWak’wei or Kuk’kia when he was young.When he took up his role as a prophet, hebecame known as Smohalla, whichtranslates as “dreamer” or “preacher.” Hewas also known by his people as Yuyu-nipitqana, or Shouting Mountain.


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On two occasions, Smohalla died andtraveled to the spirit world, where he wasgiven a vision and message to take backto his people. He called for a return totraditional Native ways of life and a re-jection of efforts to forcefully assimilateNative people into white society. Hetaught his followers that the world wouldsoon be made new. All faithful Nativepeople would return to life, Europeansettlers would be removed from the land,and the earth would be restored to itsprevious strength and beauty. He called

for the institution of Sunday services,seasonal holidays to celebrate the firstfoods (salmon, berries, roots, game), andthe return to a traditionalist way of life(Hunn 1990, 253). He condemned the re-striction of Native people to reservationsand the loss of traditional modes of sub-sistence. Smohalla’s message of an apoc-alyptic cataclysm with the return of thedead and a righteous life and strict ad-herence to tradition was particularlypowerful because it came at a time whenNative communities of the Plateau werethreatened by encroaching white set-tlers, the U.S. military, and vast epi-demics that swept through the region.

Smohalla based his community of fol-lowers at the village of P’na, at PriestRapids on the Columbia River. WhenEuro-American settlers and military at-tempted to coerce Smohalla and his fol-lowers into a life of agriculture on reser-vations, he responded with a clearreligious and ethical doctrine which de-manded that the earth be treated withrespect. “You ask me to plough theground? Shall I take a knife and tear mymother’s bosom? Then when I die shewill not take me to her bosom to rest. Youask me to dig for a stone? Shall I digunder her skin for her bones? Then whenI die I cannot enter her body to be bornagain. You ask me to cut the grass andmake hay and sell it, and be rich likewhite men, but how dare I cut off mymother’s hair?” (MacMurray 1887, 248).

During his life Smohalla interactedwith and inspired many prophets

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A portrait of Mourning Dove from MourningDove, a Salishan Autobiography. (Courtesy ofJay Miller/University of Nebraska Press)

throughout the Plateau, who carriedsimilar messages of spiritual revival totheir own people. These included Koti-akan, who worked closely alongsideSmohalla. This Yakima Dreamer prophettaught his followers at Pa’kiut village onthe Yakima River. Following a death andrebirth experience similar to that of Smo-halla, he heard a voice telling him that hewas to worship the Great Spirit with songand dance, and to do so on Sundays. ATyigh Dreamer prophet named Queah-pahmah was also active at this time, ad-vising his more than 200 followers to re-fuse the allotment of farms and annuitygoods from the government and to returnto traditional hunting, fishing, and gath-ering. A Umatilla prophetess Luls (alsoLals) advised her own people to maintaintheir traditional ceremonies, celebratingthe first roots, berries, fish, and game ofthe year. Like these other prophets, Smo-halla’s central message remained a callfor the preservation and veneration ofthe land and its eventual return to Nativepeople; his authority came from visionsreceived while in a ceremonial setting ornear-death experience.

Smohalla and other Dreamer pro-phets were central in revitalizating in-digenous religious and cultural prac-tices during a time of intense stress.Illness brought by white settlers ranrampant among Native communities.The U.S. military and growing numbersof white settlers and missionariesplaced an enormous amount of pres-sure on Native communities to assimi-late into white culture, or become wards

of the state on reservations. Dreamerprophets provided an ethical code, atraditionalist way of life, and a mode ofworship that enabled indigenous cul-ture and spirituality to survive throughthis devastating era.

Smohalla died in 1895 and was suc-ceeded by his son, Yoyonan (alsoYu’yunne), who carried on the move-ment until he died in 1917. Yoyonan wassucceeded by his cousin, Puck HyahToot, who continued as a central Washatleader well into the twentieth century. In1989, Smohalla was selected for the stateof Washington’s Hall of Honor, as one of100 people whose life had significantlyinfluenced the state and the nation.

Suzanne J. Crawford

See also Ceremony and Ritual, CoeurD’Alene; Ceremony and Ritual, Nez Perce;Gender and Sexuality, Two Spirits; GhostDance Movement; Guardian SpiritComplex; Indian Shaker Church; Masks andMasking; Mourning Dove; Oral Traditions,Plateau; Retraditionalism and RevitalizationMovements, Columbia Plateau.

References and Further ReadingAxtell, Horace, and Margo Aragon. 1997. A

Little Bit of Wisdom: Conversations witha Nez Perce Elder. Lewiston, ID:Confluence Press.

Beal, Merrill. 1998. I Will Fight No MoreForever: Chief Joseph and the Nez PerceWar. Seattle: University of WashingtonPress.

Cox, Ross. 1831. Adventures on theColumbia River, Including the Narrativeof a Residence of Six Years on the WesternSide of the Rocky Mountains, amongVarious Tribes of Indians HithertoUnknown; Together With a Journey Acrossthe American Continent. Two Vols.London: Henry Colburn and RichardBentley.


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DuBois, Cora. 1938. The Feather Cult of theMiddle Columbia. General Series inAnthropology 7. Menasha, WI: GeorgeBanta.

Hunn, Eugene S., with James Selam andFamily. 1990. N’ch’i-Wana, “The BigRiver”: Mid-Columbia Indians andTheir Land. Seattle: University ofWashington.

(Chief) Joseph. 1995. That All People May BeOne People, Send Rain to Wash the Faceof the Earth. Sitka, AK: MountainMeadow Press.

Lillian Pitt Art Gallery. “About the Artist.”http://www.lillianpitt.com. (AccessedSeptember 15, 2002.)

MacMurray, Major Junius Wilson. 1887.“Dreamers of the Columbia River Valleyin Washington Territory.” Transactions ofthe Albany Institute 11: 248.

Mooney, James. 1965. The Ghost DanceReligion. Vol. 2: Fourteenth AnnualReport of the Bureau of Ethnology to theSecretary of the Smithsonian Institution,1892–93. Chicago: University of ChicagoPress.

Relander, Click. 1956. Drummers andDreamers. Northwest InterpretiveAssociation. Caldwell, Idaho, CaxtonPrinters.

Ruby, Robert, and John Brown. 1989.Dreamer Prophets of the ColumbiaPlateau: Smohalla and Skolaskin.Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

Spier, Leslie. 1935. The Prophet Dance of theNorthwest and Its Derivatives: The Sourceof the Ghost Dance. AmericanAnthropological Association. GeneralSeries in Anthropology, 1.

Stonington Gallery. “Lillian Pitt Biography.”http://www.stoningtongallery.com/artists/pitt.htm. (Accessed September15, 2002.)

Tyrell, J. B., ed. 1916. David Thompson’sNarrative of His Explorations in WesternAmerica, 1784–1812. Toronto: TheChamplain Society.

Vibert, Elizabeth. 1995. “‘The NativePeoples Were Strong to Live’:Reinterpreting Early Nineteenth CenturyProphetic Movements in the Columbia

Plateau.” Ethnohistory 42, no. 4:197–229.

Religious Leaders, Pueblo

Thomas Banyacya (Hopi) (1909–1999)Thomas Banyacya was born June 2, 1909,in the Hopi village of Moencopi, Arizona,and was part of the Fox, Coyote, and Wolfclan from his mother’s side. The nameBanyacya refers to his father’s clans, theCorn and Water clans (the name evokesthe image of corn plants in a field ofstanding water). As a child, Banyacya at-tended the Sherman Indian school inRiverside, California, and in 1930 he at-tended Bacone College in Oklahoma. Re-sponding to the lack of classes and re-sources on Native culture, language, andreligion, Banyacya and his fellow stu-dents joined together to build a medi-cine lodge on campus and began per-forming ceremonies and songs.

During the 1940s, because tradi-tional Hopi beliefs do not condone par-ticipation in war, Banyacya refused toregister for the draft in World War II. Asa result he spent seven years in prison.When he was released, Banyacya suc-cessfully petitioned the federal govern-ment to allow Hopi people conscien-tious objector status, excusing futureHopi men from registering.

In 1948 traditional Hopi leaders, theKikmongwis, gathered to discuss thestate of the world. Deeply disturbed bythe events of the previous years and inparticular the dropping of the atomicbomb on Japan, Hopi elders noted that

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their own oral traditions, prophecies,and religious traditions spoke directly tothe ominous developments of the day.From this meeting, four spokespersonswere appointed, of whom Thomas Bany-acya was the last survivor.

Banyacya spent half a century travel-ing throughout the United States and theworld, discussing the protection of in-digenous cultures, the need to protectMother Earth, and the dangers of con-temporary consumerism and militarism.Throughout his travels in other coun-tries, Banyacya refused to use a U.S.passport. Rather, he used a Hopi pass-port that he had helped to design.

Beginning in the summer of 1952,Banyacya helped to organized a series ofsix caravans that traveled across theUnited States. These caravans traveledwith the intent of provoking interest andpride among Native communities intheir religious and cultural heritages.These convoys traveled from reservationto reservation, and city to city, having anenormous effect on the development ofAmerican Indian retraditionalism andcultural identity in the latter half of thetwentieth century. The caravans gath-ered together some of the most impor-tant cultural, spiritual, and political lead-ers in Indian Country at that time, andhelped to revive Native languages, cul-tures, and religious practice. The cara-vans served as the foundations for whatwas in the 1960s and 1970s to becomethe American Indian Movement.

On December 10, 1992, Thomas Bany-acya spoke to the UN General Assembly,

calling upon world leaders to heal theravages of environmental destruction, toput an end to warfare, and to feed andcare for the poor and hungry. Excerptsfrom his speech to the General Assemblyfollow (See Hopi Prophecy):

The traditional Hopi follows thespiritual path that was given to us byMassau’u the Great Spirit. We made asacred covenant to follow his life planat all times, which includes theresponsibility of taking care of thisland and life for his divine purpose. . . .We still have our ancient sacred stonetablets and spiritual religious societieswhich are the foundations of the Hopiway of life. . . . What have you asindividuals, as nations, and as theworld body been doing to take care ofthis Earth? In the Earth today, humanspoison their own food, water and airwith pollution. Many of us includingchildren are left to starve. Many warsare still being fought. . . . Nature itselfdoes not speak with a voice that wecan easily understand. . . . Who in thisworld can speak for nature and thespiritual energy that creates and flowsthrough all life? . . .The native peoplesof the world have seen and spoken toyou about the destruction of their livesand homelands, the ruination ofnature and the desecration of theirsacred sites. It is time the UnitedNations used its rules to investigatethese occurrences and stop them now.(Banyacya 1992)

Juan de Jesus Romero, Deer Bird(Taos Pueblo) (1874–1978)Born in 1874, Romero belonged to ahereditary family of caciques. As cacique,or spiritual leader, Romero was responsi-

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ble for carrying out the complex cere-monies and rituals of the Taos Pueblo.The ceremonial cycles, oral traditions,and rituals have existed since the Taosemerged from the underworld. Thisemergence, they believe, occurred atBlue Lake (Maxolo), the sacred center forthe Taos people. It was there that theworld was created. Because of this, it isthe location of annual ceremonies cele-brating the creation of the world and theTaos people.

Despite their long-lasting tie to BlueLake, the lake was made part of the Car-son National Forest in 1906. The Taos peo-

ple were allowed to occupy and use theland only with a permit, while huntersand tourists had unrestricted access. AsTaos elder member Paul Bernal testifiedat a 1969 congressional hearing, “We areprobably the only citizens of the UnitedStates who are required to practice our re-ligion under a permit from the Govern-ment. This is not religious freedom as it isguaranteed by the Constitution” (http://www.sacredland.org/taos_blue_lake.html). Such access, the Taos people felt,violated the sacred nature of the place.

Beginning in 1906, Juan de JesusRomero led an effort by the Taos people

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Juan de Jesus Romero (center), religious leader of the Pueblo, and interpreter Paul Bernal witness asPresident Richard Nixon signs a bill on December 15, 1970, that gives the Taos Pueblo Indians title totheir sacred Blue Lake and 48,000 acres of land surrounding it in New Mexico. Washington, D.C.(Bettmann/Corbis)

to regain ownership of this traditionalsacred site. As he himself argued, “[If ]our land is not returned to us, if it isturned over to the government for itsuse, then it is the end of Indian life. Ourpeople will scatter as the people of othernations have scattered. It is our religionthat holds us together” (http://www.sacredland.org/taos_blue_lake.html).He argued that in taking Blue Lake,which is inherently tied to his people’scultural traditions, the governmentthreatened to erode Pueblo unity andtheir very identity. For many years hemet with little success, rejecting offersfrom the federal government to buy theland. In 1970, at the age of ninety-six, hewent to Washington, D.C., and pleadedhis case before Richard Nixon. In July1970, President Nixon endorsed legisla-tion to return the lake to Taos ownership.Following Senate approval, Blue Lakeand 48,000 acres of surrounding wilder-ness were returned to the Taos people in1971, in very large part because ofRomero’s unceasing efforts. Romero diedin 1978. He was 104 years old.

Popé, Po’pay (Tewa, San JuanPueblo) (c. 1630–c. 1690)Born around 1630 in San Juan Pueblo,Popé (Po’pay, or Ripe Squash) was raisedwithin the traditional Tewa culture, spiri-tually honoring the cycles of seasons, theplanting of crops, and praying with cornpollen. As a young man he was made as-sistant to the tribal War Captain, learningthe ceremonial war dances and how tosupervise them. He was soon appointed

War Captain by the village leaders, andhe carried out a great many social andspiritual obligations within that role. Hesoon became aware of the increasingthreat that Spanish colonization posedto the traditional Pueblo way of life, theSpanish having first entered the area inthe 1590s. Spanish settlers and the mili-tary that accompanied them coerced In-dian people into forced labor. ThePueblo people were compelled to con-tribute their labor to building Spanishchurches and were required to give foodand labor to Spanish settlers. The en-comienda system required Pueblo peo-ple to provide Spanish settlers with aportion of the pueblo’s crops, as theSpanish were not able to grow enoughfood to support themselves. Spanishcolonial authorities also exerted a sys-tem of repartimiento, whereby PuebloIndians were forced to work for Spanishsettlers, tending their homes, animals,and gardens without payment. Spanishmissions likewise exerted enormouspressure on Pueblo people to abandontheir traditional religious practice.Pueblo people were coerced into attend-ing services, and traditional worshipcenters were vandalized or destroyed bySpanish militias. Priests boasted of hav-ing destroyed traditional Pueblo reli-gious regalia and ritual equipment.

In 1675, frustrated by their lack of suc-cess in converting the Pueblo people,Spanish officials arrested forty-sevenPueblo religious leaders, charging themwith sorcery. Four men were condemnedto death, and the remaining forty-three,

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including Popé, were publicly lashed.The Pueblo people were forced to witnessthese punishments being carried out.

After his release, Popé began organiz-ing the Pueblo people to resist and over-throw the Spanish colonial presence. Athis direction, two messengers were sentout to all the Pueblo villages to gathersupport for the resistance. When colonialgovernor Antonio de Otermin learned ofthe resistance, he arrested the two mes-sengers. In fear and anger, the villagersresponded by killing a Spaniard and theirpadre, Juan Baptisto Pio. That day, Au-gust 10, 1680, the revolt began. PuebloIndian warriors laid siege to Santa Fe,trapping the Spaniards inside, andblocking their water supply. After severaldays the city fell, and the Spanish left thearea. The Pueblo once again ruled overtheir own land. The Spanish would notattempt to regain control over the regionagain until 1692.

Suzanne J. Crawford

See also Hopi Prophecy; Kachina and ClownSocieties; Missionization, Southwest; OralTraditions, Pueblo; Sacred Sites and SacredMountains; Spiritual and CeremonialPractitioners, Southwest

References and Further ReadingBanyacya, Thomas. 1992. “The Hopi

Message to the United Nations GeneralAssembly” delivered December 10(available at http://www.alphacdc.com/banyacya).

Ellis, Florence Hawley. N.d. AnthropologicalData Pertaining to the Taos Land Claim.New York: Garland Publishers.

Geertz, Armin. 1994. The Invention ofProphecy: Continuity and Meaning inHopi Indian Religion. Berkeley:University of California Press.

Mails, Thomas. 1997. The Hopi Survival Kit.New York: Penguin Press.

Parsons, Elsie Clews. 1996. Taos Tales. DoverPublications.

Sando, Joe S. 1995. Pueblo Profiles: CulturalIdentity through Centuries of Change.Santa Fe, NM: Clear Light Publishers.

Spicer, Edward Hollard. 1982. Cycles ofConquest: The Impact of Spain, Mexicoand the U.S. on the Indians of the U.S.,1533–1960. Tucson: University of ArizonaPress.

Waters, Frank. 1942. The Man Who Killedthe Deer. Athens: Ohio University Press.

———. 1977. The Book of the Hopi. NewYork: Viking Press.

Waters, Frank, and R. C. Gordon-McCuthan.1991. The Taos Indians and the Battle forBlue Lake. Santa Fe: Red Crane Books.

Religious Leaders,Southeast

The tribes of the Southeast region of theUnited States had lived in the area forcenturies before the arrival of Euro-peans, and some of those communitiesstill exist within the region to this veryday. Many others were forcibly removedfrom the Southeast by the U.S. govern-ment during the 1830s and 1840s andsent to the Indian Territory, which laterbecame the state of Oklahoma. ManyAmerican Indian communities still clingto traditional religious practices, whileothers have either adopted one form oranother of Christianity or syncretizedChristian and traditional elements whilemaintaining their indigenous identity.In general, the traditional religions ofthe Southeast tribes were highly orga-nized, and their religious practices and

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ceremonies were conducted by a selectpriesthood that perpetuated itself bytraining each succeeding generation,usually recruits from their own clans.The desire to guarantee the continua-tion of traditional practices led many re-ligious leaders in the late nineteenthand twentieth centuries to record theirknowledge in manuscript form, and alsoto work with ethnographers that wantedto study traditional, indigenous culturein the Southeast.

Catawbas Religious LeadersHagler (Arataswa, Oroloswa) (ca. 1690–1763). An important leader among theCatawba during the eighteenth century,Hagler remained a staunch British ally tohis death, but he insisted that his peopleresist adopting Christianity and con-tinue to practice traditional, Catawba re-ligious beliefs.

CherokeesArch, John (Atsi) (?–1825). In 1820, JohnArch helped found the Creek Path Mis-sion for the Chickamauga Cherokees inAlabama after briefly working at theBrainerd Mission from 1818 to 1820. Heserved as an interpreter and an assistantto the missionaries and helped translatepassages of the Bible into the Cherokeelanguage. Arch died of tuberculosis onJune 18, 1825.

Nancy Ward (Nan’yehi) (ca. 1738–1824).The Ghigau (Beloved Woman) of Chota,Nan’yehi, called Nancy Ward by Anglo-Americans, constantly strove to main-

tain peace between her people and theUnited States, because she believed thatwas the only way that the Cherokeescould survive as a nation.

Born into an important clan and thematernal niece of the influential leaderAttakullakulla, Ward became the Ghigau,which also means War Woman, of Chotaat an early age because she picked up themusket of her husband after he waskilled and helped lead the Cherokees tovictory over the Muskogees at the battleof Taliwa in 1755. As Ghigau, Ward’s re-sponsibilities included deciding the fateof prisoners of war, preparing the BlackDrink (a ritual, purifying tea) for cere-monies, voting in the general council ofher town, leadership of her town’swomen’s council, and a position of im-portance on delegations to outsiders,which included other tribes, the colonialpowers in the Southeast, and eventuallythe United States. As the ultimate deci-sion-maker on the fate of prisoners,Ward spared the life of a Mrs. Bean in the1760s, and after befriending her, Wardlearned many of the skills that Anglo-American women performed, includingweaving and husbandry. Over time, Wardbecame convinced that the Cherokeesneeded to adopt some of the ways ofAnglo-Americans to survive, and thatwar with the United States needed to beavoided. As the Ghigau, she used her in-fluence to bring about some change inthe Cherokee Nation. Later she married aScots-Irish trader named Bryant Ward,and with him she began keeping an innnear Chota. After the death of her hus-

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band, Ward returned to live in Chotauntil she died around 1824.

Kaneeda (John Wickliffe) (ca. early 1800s).Originally a priest in the traditionalCherokee religion, Kaneeda converted toChristianity, became a Baptist mission-ary, and participated in the Cherokee at-tempt to resist removal in the 1830s.

It is not known when Kaneeda wasborn, but upon reaching adulthood hebecame a priest in the traditional Chero-kee religion. He later converted to Chris-tianity, was baptized in 1829, and wasgiven the name John Wickliffe. Eventu-ally Wickliffe was ordained in 1833. Alsoduring the 1830s he became a member ofthe Cherokee Council and participatedin the Cherokee Nation’s efforts to avoidremoval from their homeland in andaround the southern AppalachianMountains to Indian Territory (modernOklahoma) by the U.S. government.After removal Wickliffe headed the con-gregation of the Delaware Town Churchin the Cherokee Nation as its ministerfrom 1847 to 1857.

Yonagusta (ca. 1760–1839). A prophetand peace chief among the Cherokees ofNorth Carolina, Yonagusta successfullykept his followers from being removedto Oklahoma in the 1830s by the U.S.government.

At approximately the age of sixty,Yonagusta fell into a coma after beingseriously sick, and many of his followersthought he had died. He recovered,however, and stated that he had re-

ceived a vision from the spirit world. Asa result of that vision, he preached a re-turn to traditional ways and renouncedthe use of alcohol. In 1829, based on theprovisions of an earlier treaty, Yona-gusta and his followers abandoned theCherokee Nation and became U.S. citi-zens on a reservation in HaywoodCounty, North Carolina. That act alongwith help from his adopted son (WillThomas), a lawyer, kept Yonagusta’sband from being removed. They laterbecame known as the Eastern band ofCherokees.

Boudinot, Elias (Galagina, Buck Watie,Stag Watie) (ca. 1802–1839). A Christianmissionary to his people, Elias Boudinotis best known as the editor of the Chero-kee Phoenix and as a leader of the TreatyParty that advocated removal to IndianTerritory as an effort to preserve theCherokee Nation.

A full-blood and born near Rome,Georgia, Galagina attended the ForeignMission School in Cornwall, Connecti-cut, between 1818 and 1820. While therehe took the name Elias Boudinot, after asupporter of the school. Later, from 1822to 1823, Boudinot went to the AndoverSeminary to continue his education.Upon returning home to the CherokeeNation, he worked with Samuel Worces-ter in translating the Bible into the syl-labary of the Cherokee language.Boudinot edited the Cherokee Phoenixbetween 1828 and 1832. Along with sev-eral other people, Boudinot signed theremoval treaty of 1835. They (the treaty

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party) believed that eventually theUnited States would remove the Chero-kee people to the Indian Territory any-way, and therefore they needed to get thebest deal they could for the CherokeeNation. After Boudinot moved to IndianTerritory, he, along with other membersof the treaty party, was assassinated onJune 22, 1839, for violating the Cherokeelaw against giving away land.

Bushyhead, Jesse (Unaduti) (?–1844). Apolitical and Christian missionaryamong the Cherokees, Jesse Bushyheadwas the first ordained Baptist ministerfrom the Cherokee Nation.

Born in the Cherokee town of Amoheeat the turn of the nineteenth century,Bushyhead attended school in Ten-nessee, where he converted to Christian-ity. Beginning in 1832, he served as an as-sistant missionary with the Baptist Boardof Foreign Missions for eleven years.Bushyhead was ordained by the BaptistChurch in 1833, and over the course ofhis life he translated many passages ofthe Bible into Cherokee. On several occa-sions he served as a representative forthe Cherokee Nation to the U.S. govern-ment in Washington, D.C. Furthermore,Bushyhead held several positions in theCherokee national government, includ-ing a position as a justice of the CherokeeSupreme Court. After the Cherokee re-moval to Oklahoma, Bushyhead helpedre-establish the Baptist missionary effortthere and also founded the NationalTemperance Society within the Chero-kee Nation in the West. He died on July17, 1844.

Gahuni (?–ca. 1857). Gahuni practicedthe traditional Cherokee religion as amedicine man, and he also practicedMethodism. Furthermore, he was an im-portant informant for the ethnologistJames Mooney. Gahuni recorded manysacred formulas and biblical verses inthe syllabary of the Cherokee language,and after his death his family gave mostof his writings to the Bureau of AmericanEthnology.

Tanenolee (mid-1800s). An abolitionist,Baptist missionary, and Cherokee politi-


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Elias Boudinot, a Christian missionary to hispeople and editor of the Cherokee Phoenix.Steel engraving by J. W. Paradise after paintingby Waldo and Jewett. (Library of Congress)

cian, Tanenolee lived in the mid-nine-teenth century, in a period of great tur-moil for the Cherokee Nation during re-moval and the Civil War.

Tanenolee converted to the Baptist re-ligion and most often assisted EvanJones in his missionary work. He helpedresist the removal process, and when allother options failed, Tanenolee andJones led one of the traveling parties dur-ing the removal. After removal he was or-dained as a Baptist minister and servedas pastor at Taquohee, Dsiyohee, andLong Prairie. At one point he also servedin the Cherokee national legislature. Be-cause of his abolitionist views, Tanenoleemay have been killed in 1862 by Chero-kees that supported the Confederacy.

Downing, Lewis (Lewie-za-wau-na-skie)(1823–1872). A Baptist minister and oneof the founders of the Ketoowah Society,Lewis Downing served as principal chiefof the Cherokee Nation in the turbulentyears following the Civil War from 1867to 1872, and he eventually reunified thenation under one government.

Downing was born in eastern Ten-nessee. Like most of the Cherokee Na-tion, Downing and his parents, Samueland Susan Daugherty Downing, were re-moved to the Indian Territory. After at-tending Baptist mission schools he wasordained as a minister, and in 1844 hebecame the minister at Flint Church inthe Indian Territory. Downing spoke andwrote in the Cherokee language, and heeventually helped create the CherokeeKetoowah Society, which was dedicated

to preserving Cherokee culture and tra-ditions. During the Civil War, Downingserved as a chaplain with the rank oflieutenant colonel in the Union army. Helater served as acting principal chief be-fore being elected to the position in 1867.His primary achievement during histime as the principal leader of the Chero-kees was to reunify the nation by encour-aging former Confederate and Unionsoldiers and sympathizers to serve to-gether in the Cherokee government.

Forman, Stephen (1807–1881). An or-dained Presbyterian minister, educator,missionary, and translator, StephenForeman was one of the most influentialleaders of the Cherokee Nation beforeand after the removal to the Indian Terri-tory in present-day Oklahoma.

Foreman’s mother was Cherokee andhis father was a Scottish trader. Foremanwas born near Rome, Georgia, before thefamily moved to Cleveland, Tennessee.He attended a mission school near hishome in Tennessee that was run by theCongregationalist Church. Upon thedeath of his father, Foreman studiedunder the Congregational missionarySamuel Worcester in New Echota, Geor-gia. Later he attended the College ofRichmond in Virginia and the PrincetonTheological Seminary, and finally he wasordained in 1835 as a Presbyterian min-ister. When he returned to the CherokeeNation, Foreman began his efforts to as-sist his people in their opposition toforced removal; as a result, the govern-ment of Georgia imprisoned him for his

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efforts. During the Trail of Tears, heheaded one of the parties that set out forthe Indian Territory in present-day Okla-homa.

Once there he developed a publicschool system for Cherokee children,and Foreman also helped Worcestertranslate the Bible into the Cherokee syl-labary. Foreman served on the CherokeeSupreme Court beginning in 1844, andhe acted as executive councilor for thetribe from 1847 to 1855. He chose to livein Texas during the Civil War, where heacted as a missionary. At the conclusionof the war, Foreman purchased EliasBoudinot’s old home and converted it toa church. He preached there until hisdeath in 1881.

Black Fox (?–1895). A conjurer, Methodistpreacher, soldier, and keeper of publicrecords, Black Fox, as well as being one ofthe ethnologist James Mooney’s inform-ants, created numerous records ofCherokee history, culture, and religion.

A full-blood Cherokee, Black Fox wasordained by the Methodist EpiscopalChurch around the year 1849, but henever abandoned traditional Cherokeeceremonial life. He kept the letters, min-utes, and reports for the EchotaMethodist Mission on the Qualla Bound-ary. During the Civil War he joined theNorth Carolina Infantry, in which he re-ceived the rank of sergeant. At the time ofhis death in 1895, Black Fox still prac-ticed the traditional Cherokee religion.After his death, Black Fox’s granddaugh-ter gave his records and documents to

James Mooney for preservation by theBureau of American Ethnology.

Swimmer (Ayunini) (ca. 1835–1899). AnEastern Cherokee, Swimmer was a priestand healer in the traditional religion ofthe Cherokees, and he was an importantinformant for the ethnologist JamesMooney.

Ayunini, known to Anglo-Americansas Swimmer, trained at an early age tobecome a Cherokee holy man, and bythe end of his life he had become theleading authority on sacred Cherokeeceremonies and religious beliefs. He kepta record of Cherokee traditions, includ-ing folk stories, formulas, prayers, andsongs written in the syllabary of theCherokee language. Late in life, Swim-mer met James Mooney, the ethnologistfrom the Smithsonian Institution’s Bu-reau of American Ethnology. He wasMooney’s primary informant on Chero-kee tradition and ceremonies. ThroughMooney, the Smithsonian purchasedSwimmer’s manuscripts, which continueto be valuable sources of information onCherokee culture. Swimmer died inMarch of 1899.

Smith, Redbird (1850–1918). A spiritualand political leader of the Cherokees,Redbird Smith struggled his entire life tomaintain the political independence andcultural persistence of his people.

The son of Cherokee parents, Smithcontinued their tradition of supportingthe Keetoowah Society. The Keetoowahswere a resistance organization that


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sought to maintain Cherokee culturaland religious traditions and political in-dependence. His father, Pig Smith, choseCreek Sam, a Natchez medicine man, totrain Redbird Smith. Redbird Smitheventually became a member of the Kee-toowah Society and rose in its ranks ofleadership; later he helped lead Chero-kee resistance to the Curtis Act and theDawes Act, which eventually endedtribal sovereignty and gave tribal land toindividuals of the tribe and to Anglo-Americans. Smith was briefly impris-oned for his resistance to the implemen-tation of these acts. Finally theKeetoowahs withdrew from politicalmatters, and Redbird Smith establisheda ceremonial grounds in 1902. In 1908,Smith became the principal chief of theCherokee Nation, and later he estab-lished the Four Mothers Society to aidand promote communication betweentraditional members of the Cherokees,Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Muskogees.Redbird Smith died in 1918.

Long, Will West (Willi Westi) (ca. 1870–1947). A spiritual leader and culturalpreservationist among the EasternCherokees, Will West Long also becamean important informant for severalethnographers.

Born into a Cherokee family, Long wastrained by his mother and his maternaluncle in the traditional ways of theCherokee people. He briefly attendedOld Trinity College in Randolph County,North Carolina. While he was there, aclassmate taught him the Cherokee syl-

labary. Later Long attended the Hamp-ton Institute in Virginia from 1895 until1900, and afterward he lived in New En-gland until 1904.

In 1887, Long began a relationshipwith James Mooney as an informant onCherokee culture; the relationship lasteduntil Mooney’s death. After 1904, Longbegan learning as much as he couldabout Cherokee culture from friends andrelatives. His cousin, Charley Lawson,taught him how to sing traditional songsand how to make the Booger Masks usedin spiritual ceremonies. Long passed thisinformation on to Mooney and otherethnographers such as Leonard Bloom,William H. Gilbert, Mark R. Harrington,Frank G. Speck, and John Witthoft. Hedied on March 14, 1947.

ChoctawsOakchiah (ca. 1810–1849). Born a full-blood Choctaw and converting to Chris-tianity at an early age, Oakchiah servedhis people as a minister and ordaineddeacon in the Mississippi Conference ofthe Methodist Episcopal Church in Mis-sissippi before the removal of his people.Afterward he served in Indian Territory.He died at Fort Smith, Arkansas, on No-vember 2, 1849.

Dukes, Joseph (1811–ca. 1861). JosephDukes served as an interpreter for sev-eral missions to the Choctaws after at-tending the Presbyterian mission schoolat Mayhew as a youth. He also played animportant role in creating a Choctawgrammar book and dictionary and trans-

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lating parts of the Old and New Testa-ments into Choctaw.

Wright, Allen (Kiliahote) (1825–1885).Allen Wright served the Choctaws in Ok-lahoma as a Presbyterian minister formost of his adult life and as principalchief from 1866 to 1870.

Orphaned as a child, Wright wasraised by a Presbyterian minister namedCyrus Kingsbury. Kingsbury named himAllen Wright after an early missionary tothe Choctaws. Initially educated at localmission schools, Wright continued hiseducation first at a school in Delawareand later at Union College in Schenec-tady, New York. He graduated fromUnion College in 1852. Wright then at-tended Union Theological Seminary inNew York City and graduated in 1855.Upon being ordained by the Presbyter-ian Church in 1856, Wright returned toIndian Territory.

After returning to the Choctaws,Wright at different periods served in theChoctaw House of Representatives, inthe Senate, and as treasurer. In 1866 herepresented the Choctaw Nation intreaty negotiations with the UnitedStates. Later Wright suggested the nameoklahoma for the Indian Territory as itprepared for statehood. The word means“red people.” He served as principal chiefof the Choctaw from 1866 to 1870. Hepublished a Choctaw dictionary in 1880and translated the Choctaw and Chicka-saw constitutions, legal codes, severalhymnals, and portions of the Bible. Hedied on December 2, 1885.

Wright, Frank Hall (1860–1922). A Pres-byterian minister, Frank Wright foundedmissions first among his own people, theChoctaws, and then to several differentIndian nations in the United States andCanada during the late nineteenth andearly twentieth centuries.

Wright received his initial educationfrom local missionaries near his home atBoggy Depot in the Indian Territory (Ok-lahoma) and later attended SpencerAcademy in the Choctaw Nation. After-ward, Wright went to Union College inSchenectady, New York, and he then at-tended and graduated from Union Theo-logical Seminary in New York City (1885).He spent the rest of his life establishingmissions and spreading the Christianmessage among various Native groups inthe United States and Canada for theWomen’s Executive Committee of the Re-formed Church. Finally, Wright wasawarded his doctorate of divinity degreefrom Westminister College in Fulton, Mis-souri, in 1917. He died on July 16, 1922, inMuskoka Lakes in Ontario, Canada.

Belvin, B. Frank (b. 1914). A Choctaw bybirth, B. Frank Belvin served as a mis-sionary for the Baptist Church to theMuskogee (Creek) and Seminole na-tions in Oklahoma. He published TheStatus of the American Indian Ministry,War Horse along the Jesus Road, and TheTribes Go Up.

Muskogees (Creeks)Francis, Josiah (Hildis Hadjo) (ca.1770s–1818). A prophet and a leader of


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the nativist Red Stick movement duringthe War of 1812, Josiah Francis sup-ported Tecumseh’s effort to unite all ofthe Eastern tribes. After the Red Sticks’defeat in 1814, he eventually moved intoSpanish Florida, where he continued toresist U.S. expansion.

Although he was a mixed-blood (hismother was Muskogee and his father waswhite), Francis chose to follow the pathof his Muskogee ancestors; throughouthis life he resisted the advance of the U.S.frontier and culture into Muskogee terri-tory. He preached a return to traditionalMuskogee ways as well as armed struggleagainst whites. Francis’s spiritual powerswere reported to include his ability todisappear underwater for long periods oftime and the ability to fly. He received vi-sions from a spirit who helped him de-feat his enemies.

In 1811, when Tecumseh visited theMuskogee Confederacy, Francis encour-aged his people to join Tecumseh’s In-dian alliance against the United States,but he failed to motivate a majority of hispeople. Afterward he helped lead the RedStick movement, which culminated inthe Red Stick War of 1813–1814 againstaccommodationists within the Musko-gee Confederacy and eventually againstthe United States. During the war, Fran-cis founded the sacred towns of Ecun-chattee (Holy Ground) as havens pro-tected by the Great Spirit for traditionalCreeks. These towns were burned duringthe war.

After the war Francis went to GreatBritain to secure a treaty that promised

the Muskogee Confederacy an indepen-dent state, but the British governmentchose to solidify relations with theUnited States instead. Upon returning toNorth America, Francis took up resi-dence near St. Marks in Spanish Florida.Pursuing Natives that had been raidingthe U.S. frontier in 1818, Andrew Jacksoninvaded Spanish Florida and burned St.Marks. He then hanged Francis on April18 for supporting and inciting the raidson the U.S. frontier.

Winslett, David (ca. 1830–1862). Bornjust after his parents arrived in IndianTerritory after removal, David Winsletteventually became a Presbyterian minis-ter and an interpreter for missionariesamong his people.

Winslett went to school at the Cowetaand Tallahassee missions in Oklahoma,and by 1851 he had been appointed theruling elder at the Tallahassee school. Fi-nally he was ordained as a Presbyterianminister on September 6, 1858, and wasplaced in control of the Coweta Mission.Winslett served in the Confederate armyduring the Civil War; he became ill anddied while on furlough in 1862.

Perryman, James (Pahos Harjo) (?–ca.1882). The son of a prominent leaderamong the Muskogees, James Perrymanwas a Baptist minister and an interpreterfor the missions among his people.

Perryman was educated in missionschools near his home in Oklahoma. Per-ryman worked as an interpreter for Pres-byterian missionaries to his people, and

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he helped translate the first books intothe Muskogee language, as well as por-tions of the Bible. Later Perrymanswitched to the Baptist faith and servedhis people as a minister for threedecades.

Checote, Samuel (ca. 1819–1884).Samuel Checote served the Muskogeepeople as a Methodist minister and prin-cipal chief during the mid- and late-nineteenth century.

Born in Alabama but removed to In-dian Territory with his family while hewas still a child, Checote received his ed-ucation in the local mission schools inthe Indian Territory. In 1852 theMethodist Church licensed him topreach. After fighting on the side of theConfederates during the Civil War,Checote worked to bring togetherMuskogees that had fought on differentsides during the war. On and off, Checoteheld the position of principal chief be-tween 1867 and 1884. He died in 1884.

Perryman, Joseph Moses (1883–?). Theson of Moses Perryman and the grand-son of the Muskogee chief Benjamin Per-ryman, Joseph Perryman worked amonghis people as a minister in both the Pres-byterian and Baptist faiths.

Perryman was educated at the CowetaMission in the Indian Territory. Afterstudying for a number of years, he wasordained by the Presbyterian Church. Hecreated the North Fork PresbyterianChurch and ran the local mission school

for the South Presbyterian Synod. Forunknown reasons, Perryman abandonedthe Presbyterian faith for the Baptist de-nomination in 1878 and was eventuallyordained in his new faith.

Perryman, Thomas Ward (1839–1903).Thomas Ward Perryman was a Presbyter-ian minister, political leader, and transla-tor in the Indian Territory during the lasthalf of the nineteenth century.

Perryman gained his early educationat the Tallahassee Mission school nearhis home. After fighting for a time for theConfederacy during the Civil War, heswitched sides and joined the Unionarmy on December 7, 1862. He studiedwith the Reverend William SchenckRobertson and became a licensed minis-ter in 1875; he was ordained the next yearby the Kansas Presbytery. In addition tohis religious duties, Perryman served theMuskogee people for several terms in theCreek House of Warriors, beginning in1868; he was also a district attorney, and,in 1891 and 1896, presiding officer of theHouse of Kings. He later moved toKansas City, where he died on February11, 1903.

Smith, Stanley (ca. 1940s). From theMuskogee town of Arbika in Oklahoma,Stanley Smith traveled to Florida in 1943at the behest of the Muskogee, Wichita,and Seminole Baptist Association tospread the gospel to Seminoles there. Hedelivered his sermons in the Muskogeelanguage, and as a result of his elo-


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quence, he began to gain converts im-mediately. Smith shifted his denomina-tional affiliation to the Southern Baptistin 1945, and during that time his con-verts numbered almost two hundredFlorida Seminoles.

Deere, Phillip (?–1985). A traditionalMuskogee medicine man and triballeader, Phillip Deere actively cam-paigned to improve conditions for allNative Americans throughout his life.

A descendant of participants in theRed Stick War (1813–1814) that fought tostop the infiltration of Anglo-Americanculture and Anglo-American seizure ofMuskogee land, Deere participated inChitto Harjo’s opposition to U.S. controlof Muskogee affairs in Oklahoma duringthe early years of the twentieth century.Deere saw himself as continuing the tra-ditionalist movement and the resistanceefforts of his ancestors into the twentiethcentury. He traveled extensively in theUnited States and Europe to lecture onthe conditions confronting Native Amer-icans in the United States. Deere acted asa spiritual advisor for the American In-dian Movement in the late 1960s andearly 1970s, and in 1979 he began bring-ing the Youths and Elders Conference tohis Muskogee roundhouse to promoteNative traditionalism among the genera-tions. He was also associated with the In-ternational Indian Treaty Council, whichwas affiliated with the United Nations,and Deere was involved with the Circleof Traditional Indian Elders, a group con-

sisting of elders from numerous tribalnations in the United States. Deere con-tinued to practice the traditional Musko-gee religion until his death on August 16,1985.

SeminoleBemo, John (1800s). A nephew of Osce-ola, John Bemo served the Baptist andPresbyterian churches in the mid-nine-teenth century as a missionary to hispeople.

Captured as a youth during the Sec-ond Seminole War, Bemo was adopted bya French ship’s captain. After travelingthroughout his youth, he gained an edu-cation in Philadelphia. Bemo then wentto Indian Territory to establish a Presby-terian mission among his people, theSeminoles. Some years later Bemoswitched to the Baptist faith and contin-ued his mission to the Seminoles as ateacher and minister.

Arpeika (Sam Jones) (ca. 1765–1860). ASeminole medicine man and war leaderin the Second Seminole War, Arpeika,along with Billy Bowlegs, successfully re-sisted the U.S. attempt to remove himand his followers. As a young man,Arpeika was a revered hillis hay, or med-icine man, before the three SeminoleWars. At an advanced age he became awar leader for his people because of hisreligious knowledge and strong spiritualpower. After resettling his people in theEverglades and successfully resisting at-tempts to remove them to the Indian

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Territory, Arpeika died of natural causesin 1860.

Jumper, John (ca. 1822–1896). JohnJumper served the Seminoles as princi-pal chief and a Baptist minister.

Descended from a long line of impor-tant leaders, Jumper was one of the firstSeminoles to be removed to Indian Terri-tory. Because he saw the value of educa-tion, he later asked the PresbyterianChurch to build schools among theSeminoles. Jumper converted and be-came a Presbyterian in 1857. Later heswitched to the Baptist Church. He aidedthe Confederacy during the Civil War andserved in the First Seminole MountedVolunteers as a major, eventually achiev-ing the rank of acting colonel. After thewar Jumper was ordained as a Baptistminister. Jumper died on September21,1896.

Billie, Josie (ca. 1887–?). Josie Billie was amedicine man and an assistant pastoramong the Muskogee and MiccosukeeSeminoles in Florida.

A member of the Tiger clan, Billiebegan his training as a medicine man atthe age of fifteen when he began fastingto prepare to learn sacred information; afew years later he began an apprentice-ship with Tommy Doctor. For many yearsBillie studied with several medicine mak-ers, learning everything that he couldfrom each. After some trouble in which arelative was accidentally killed, Billiemoved away from his home communityalong the Tamiami Trail to the Big Cy-

press Reservation in 1943 and 1944. Atthe same time, he was forced to give uphis medicine bundle to his brother.

Billie converted to the Baptist faith in1943. He was heavily influenced by Stan-ley Smith, a Muskogee missionary fromOklahoma. Eventually the Southern Bap-tists licensed him as a preacher, and in1948 he was appointed the assistant pas-tor at a church near the Big CypressReservation. Because of his extensiveknowledge of Seminole culture and reli-gion, Billie became an important in-formant for the ethnologist William C.Sturtevant.

Dixie Ray Haggard

See also American Indian Movement (RedPower Movement); Ceremony and Ritual,Southeast; Christianity, Indianization of;Health and Wellness, TraditionalApproaches; Missionization, Southeast;Native American Church, PeyoteMovement; Power, Southeast; Spiritual andCeremonial Practitioners, Southeast

References and Further ReadingBataille, Gretchen M., and Laurie Lisa, eds.

2001. Native American Women: ABiographical Dictionary. 2d ed. NewYork: Routledge.

Corkran, David H. 1962. The CherokeeFrontier: Conflict and Survival, 1740–62.Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

———. 1967. The Creek Frontier: 1685–1815.Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

Cotterill, R. S. 1954. The Southern Indians:The Story of the Civilized Tribes beforeRemoval. Norman: University ofOklahoma Press.

Covington, James W. 1993. The Seminoles ofFlorida. Gainesville: University of FloridaPress.

Debo, Angie. 1961. The Rise and Fall of theChoctaw Republic. 2d ed. Norman:University of Oklahoma Press.


854

Dockstader, Frederick. 1977. Great NorthAmerican Indians. New York: VanNostrand Reinhold.

Evans, E. Raymond. 1977. “Notable Personsin Cherokee History: Stephen Foreman.”Journal of Cherokee Studies 2, no. 2:230–239.

Fenton, Harold W. 1975. Nancy Ward:Cherokee. New York: Dodd, Mead.

Foreman, Grant. The Five Civilized Tribes.1934. Norman: University of OklahomaPress.

Hendrix, Janey B. 1983a. “Redbird Smithand the Nighthawk Keetoowahs.” Journalof Cherokee Studies 8, no. 1: 22–39.

———. 1983b. “Redbird Smith and theNighthawk Keetoowahs.” Journal ofCherokee Studies 8, no. 2: 73–86.

Hirschfelder, Arlene, and Paulette Molin.2000. Encyclopedia of Native AmericanReligions. Rev. ed. New York: Facts onFile.

Hudson, Charles. The Southeastern Indians.1976. Knoxville: University of TennesseePress.

Irwin, Lee. 1997. “Different Voices Together:Preservation and Acculturation in Early19th Century Cherokee Religion.” Journalof Cherokee Studies 18: 2–26.

Johansen, Bruce E., and Donald A. Grinde,Jr. 1997. The Encyclopedia of NativeAmerican Biography: Six Hundred Storiesof Important People from Powhatan toWilma Mankiller. New York: Henry Holtand Co.

Kidwell, Clara Sue, and Charles Roberts.1980. The Choctaws: A CriticalBibliography. Bloomington: IndianaUniversity Press for the NewberryLibrary.

Mails, Thomas E. 1992. The CherokeePeople: The Story of the Cherokees fromEarliest Origins to Contemporary Times.Tulsa: Council Oak Books.

Malinowski, Sharon, ed. 1995. NotableNative Americans. Detroit: GaleResearch.

Malinowski, Sharon, and Anna Sheets, eds.,with Jeffrey Lehmant and Melissa WalshDoig. 1978. The Gale Encyclopedia ofNative American Tribes, vol. 1: Northeast,

Southeast, Caribbean. New York: GaleResearch.

Martin, Joel W. 1991. Sacred Revolt: TheMuskogees’ Struggle for a New World.Boston: Beacon Press.

May, Katja. 1990. “Nativistic Movementsamong the Cherokees in the Nineteenthand Twentieth Centuries.” Journal ofCherokee Studies 15: 27–40.

McClary, Ben Harris. 1962. “The LastBeloved Woman of the Cherokees.”Tennessee Historical Society 21: 352–364.

Perdue, Theda. 1998. Cherokee Women.Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Reeves, Carolyn Keller, ed. 1985. TheChoctaw before Removal. Jackson:University Press of Mississippi.

Tucker, Norma. 1969. “Nancy Ward,Ghighau of the Cherokees.” GeorgiaHistorical Quarterly 53: 192–200.

Wells, Samuel J., and Roseanna Tubby, eds.1986. After Removal: The Choctaw inMississippi. Jackson: University Press ofMississippi.

Religious Leaders,Southwest

Hosteen Klah (1867–1937)Hosteen Klah, also known as Azaethlin,was born on the “Long Walk Home” fromBosque Redondo at Fort Wingate. Hisgreat grandfather Narbona was also awell-known healer and leader of the Diné(Navajo). Hosteen Klah was recognizedearly as a traditional healer through hiswork with his Apache uncle, married toone of Hosteen Klah’s mother’s sisters. Itwas during this visit with the Apache unclethat it was discovered that Hosteen Klahalso possessed qualities that would permithim to attain knowledge usually taught tothe women of his family. Hosteen Klah’s

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interest in healing led him to study withall of the Diné healers he knew of orheard of. At the age of forty-nine in 1917,Klah performed his first completeYeibichai, a nine-day-long healing cere-mony. That is the most complex andlengthy Diné healing process, and it es-tablished him as the most knowledge-able and powerful of all known or re-membered Diné healers. In his last thirtyyears of life, Klah transferred his knowl-edge onto the visual format of rug weav-ing, a traditional Diné craft. Klah’s weav-ings are known far and wide and depictmany of the sacred portions of the Dinéhealing and religious rites.

Ruby Modesto (1913–1980)Ruby Modesto was a member of theDesert Cahuilla tribe of indigenous peo-ples and known among her people as ahealer. As a young child, around the ageof ten, she experienced what she de-scribed as dreams, a precursor to theworld of a Desert Cahuilla healer. As amember of the Dog clan, Ruby camefrom a long line of Desert Cahuilla heal-ers, or puls. These individuals—men andwomen—were highly respected clanleaders capable of performing their spe-cialties in the areas of hunting, singingfor specific needs, and ceremonies. A pulis chosen by Umna’ah, Creator, and has ahelper; in Ruby’s case her helper Ahswit,Eagle, is a very powerful helper. Puls canheal a variety of ailments from menstru-ation problems to epilepsy, known astookisyl, with excellent results. In DesertCahuilla oral history, passed on by Rubyto her family, Frog is the center of nega-

tive power, or evil in Ruby’s words. Forthe Desert Cahuilla, healers come intotheir source of healing power and re-sponsibilities at approximately fortyyears of age and continue gatheringstature throughout their lifetime.

Geronimo, Goyatholay (One WhoYawns) (1829–1909)Chiricahua Apache of the Nednhi bandand a Bedonkohe Apache (grandson ofMahko), Geronimo was an influentialleader of a band of Apache who consis-tently refused to be bound to a specificpiece of real estate known in moderntimes as a reservation. Because of aspeech impediment, Geronimo oftenspoke for his brother, Juh, who was re-ported as being a hereditary leader.Geronimo was quoted on one occasion assaying, “I was born on the prairies wherethe wind blew free and there was nothingto break the light of the sun. I was bornwhere there were no enclosures.” Many ofthe Indian leaders of the late 1800s madestatements of this nature when they andtheir people were rounded up and con-fined to reservations where they could nolonger practice their sociocultural and re-ligious way of life. Geronimo epitomizedthe reluctant individual who stepped upto care for and lead his people during ex-tremely difficult times. Despite surren-dering to the U.S. Army three times andleading small groups of Chiracahua backto their homeland each time, Geronimowas captured and interred in Fort Marion,Florida, in 1886.

In 1894, Geronimo and the balance ofthe Chiracahua who had survived were

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moved to Mt. Vernon in Alabama, wheremany more were exposed to tuberculosisand died. As a revered leader, medicineperson, and spiritual and intellectualleader, Geronimo lived out the balance ofhis life as a prisoner of war (political pris-oner) because of his ability to escape,evade, and lead his people out of govern-ment control and into what little freedomthey could find in their ancestral lands.Geronimo, as a prisoner, was forced toappear in the 1904 Louisiana PurchaseExposition in St. Louis and actually rodein the 1905 inaugural parade for Presi-dent Theodore Roosevelt. Geronimo waslater transferred to Ft. Sill in Oklahoma,where he died near the Apache on theirreservation north of Ft. Sill. Geronimo

died a prisoner of the U.S. government atFt. Sill on February 17, 1909, and wasburied in the Apache cemetery there.

Barboncito (Hástiin Dághá [Man withthe Whiskers]Bislahalani [The Orator]; Hozhooji Naata[Blessing Speaker]; Ma’ii deeshgíízhiníí[Coyote Pass People, Jemez Clan]; andHashke yich’í Dahilwo [He Is Anxious toRun at Warriors]) (1820–1871)

Barboncito served his clan and theDiné in many capacities during his life-time. He appears to have begun his for-mal responsibilities in 1860, when hejoined Manuelito in a reprisal attackover the loss of a number of their horsesthat had been slaughtered by soldiersfrom Fort Defiance. In 1862, Barboncitoand his brother Delgadito informed thecommander of Fort Defiance, GeneralJames H. Carlton, of their intention tolive peacefully with the fort. That onlyled to their forced movement to BosqueRedondo, at which point Barboncito andDelgadito once again joined Manuelitoin rebellion. In 1864, Barboncito wascaptured by Colonel “Kit” Carson, a fa-mous Indian scout during the 1863–1866 Navajo War, as a war chief. In Juneof 1865, Barboncito left Bosque Re-dondo, leading a group of 500 Diné totheir ancestral lands. In November of1866, Barboncito once again surren-dered at Fort Wingate, with twenty-oneof his followers.

In 1868, Barboncito was appointed asthe lead signatory to the final peacetreaty between the Diné and the U.S.government. Barboncito lived out his

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Geronimo, Goyatholay (One Who Yawns) was arevered Chiricahua Apache medicine personand spiritual leader. 1907. (Library of Congress)

last few years after signing a peace treatythat placed the Diné back on their ances-tral lands.

Dr. Lori Arviso Alvord (1958–)Dr. Alvord, who considers herself a tradi-tional Diné, is also a board-certified andwell-respected physician. In her ownwords, the “words Navajo and surgeon”are rarely heard together, and never asso-ciated with each other. During the tenyears between 1981 and 1991, Dr. Alvordstudied and learned her surgical skills atStanford University and in the Stanfordarea. From 1991–1997, Dr. Alvord pliedher skills in Gallup, New Mexico, and inthe process gained a new understandingof her traditional Diné healing responsi-bilities, working in concert with knowntraditional healers. It was during thoseten years that Dr. Alvord was able to re-connect with her traditional early teach-ings and become involved with, amongothers, Thomas Hatathlii at the Tuba CityMedical Center. She relearned the powerof traditional healing, both sharing herknowledge with Hosteen Hatathlii andlearning from him the power of tradi-tional healing. Dr. Alvord credits HosteenHatathlii with reintroducing her to themany traditional Diné healing cere-monies, in particular Kodi’s Prayer. Dr.Alvord is currently a guest lecturer atDartmouth Medical School.

Tasiwoopa ápi

See also Ceremony and Ritual, Apache;Ceremony and Ritual, Diné; Health andWellness, Traditional Approaches;Missionization, Southwest; Mourning andthe Afterlife, Southwest; Sandpainting

References and Further ReadingAlvord, Dr. Lori Arviso, and Elizabeth Cohen

Van Pelt. 1999. The Scalpel and the SilverBear. New York: Bantam Books.

Barboncito. 1968. Treaty between the UnitedStates of American and the Navajo Tribeof Indians: With a Record of theDiscussions that Led to Its Signing. LasVegas: K. C. Publications.

Faulk, Odie. 1993. The GeronimoCompanion. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress.

Iverson, Peter. 2002. Diné: A History of theNavajo. Albuquerque: University of NewMexico Press.

Modesto, Ruby, and Guy Mount. 1980. Notfor Innocent Ears: Spiritual Traditions ofa Desert Cahuilla Medicine Woman.Arcata, CA: Sweetlight Books.

Newcomb, Franc Johnson. 1989. HosteenKlah: Navajo Medicine Man and SacredSand Painter. Norman: University ofOklahoma Press.

Religious Leaders,Southwest, Pueblo

See Religious Leaders, Pueblo

Religious Leadership,Alaska

See “Angalkuq”

Religious Leadership,Great Basin

Historical analyses of Great Basin Ameri-can Indian religious leaders have in-volved profiling powerful leaders whoachieved a place in Euro-American soci-ety through either fame or controversy.In this essay we depart from that model

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in order to examine the equally impor-tant foundations of Indian religiousleadership roles in Numic society, andhow those roles changed over time. Weexamine this issue by looking at how reli-gious leadership manifested during fourdistinct historical periods—(1) tradi-tional times, defined as being before Eu-ropeans arrived; (2) encroachmenttimes, which include the early occupa-tion of indigenous territories by Euro-Americans; (3) conversion times, whenEuropeans began to use religious con-version as a tool of conquest/salvation;and (4) multicultural times, when Indianpeople can choose among various reli-gious options without fear of retribution.

Our main thesis is that the role-rela-tionship expectations and possibilitiesconfronting Great Basin religious leaderswere seriously altered by forces beyondtheir control during four historical peri-ods. Within a context of change inducedby Euro-American encroachment, rela-tionships between religious leaders andmembers of Indian communities wereconstantly renegotiated. As Numic reli-gious leaders were exposed to other In-dian religions (for example, the revital-ization movement of Smoholla and theNative American Church), Western reli-gious tenets introduced by Christian mis-sionaries, and U.S. society at large,Numic religious leaders adapted them-selves to serving the needs of their peo-ple. Basin Indian religious leaders werenot victims of their times, but insteadwere recognized as leaders exactly be-cause they adjusted to the times and con-tinued to serve their people effectively.

Two concepts need to be narrowly de-fined in order to keep this essay withinbounds. First, when talking about Basinreligious leaders, this essay is restrictedto those who speak the Numic language.Thus some Great Basin tribes are notconsidered, while certain Numic tribesresiding far from the Basin are included.Numic people traditionally lived fromthe Sierra Nevada Mountains in Califor-nia to the front range of the Rocky Moun-tains in Colorado. Numic groups includethe Northern Paiutes in Bend, Oregon;Owens Valley, California, Paiutes andShoshones; Western Shoshones fromWyoming to Death Valley, California;their cousins the Goshutes in Utah;Southern Paiutes in Utah, Arizona,Nevada, and California; and the Utes ofUtah and Colorado. A second point isthat among Numic peoples the onceclear line between religious and politicalleadership shifted until they became in-distinguishable roles, and they haveonce again become distinct roles only inrecent times. Given the changes in roledefinition over time, this essay always at-tempts to specify what time frame isunder consideration.

In view of the paucity of relevant stud-ies of Numic religious practices, thisessay is necessarily speculative. Onestudy, however, needs to be highlightedbecause it informs this issue directly. Ittook the scholarly lifetime of Omer C.Stewart, but once he had published Pey-ote Religion: A History it became uniqueas a source for understanding how reli-gious leaders in the Peyote religion (Na-tive American Church) survived various

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U.S. national polities designed either tosuppress or to support that particular re-ligion. Stewart traced the lives and shift-ing religious roles of hundreds of Peyotereligious leaders, including many fromGreat Basin tribes. The book also clearlyillustrates a widely shared religion andan irreversible trend toward pan-Indiancultural patterns in North America.

Traditional Times: Before 1492Religious leadership is not usually seenin the archaeological record of the Basin,so one must guess at how Indian reli-gious leadership functioned based onwhat was first observed by Europeansand the basic beliefs of Numic religionand authority. Puha (which glosses inEnglish as “power” or “energy”) wasmade as the force that causes everythingto be alive and have agency. Puha cameat the time of Creation when it, the land,and the Numic people came into beingand relationship. Religion is basically anunderstanding of how puha works tokeep the world in balance as it was de-fined at Creation, and how ceremony canbe used to restore balance. Individuals,groups, plants, animals, and all else innature can become out of balance andthus need a curative ceremony; the mostcommon balancing ceremony is the cir-cle or round dance.

The concept of a religious leader,which in European culture usuallymeans a single person who is the head ofa church, does not directly translate intotraditional Numic culture. The closestdescription is a person who is primarilyresponsible for calling and leading bal-

ancing ceremonies that are needed bygroups and nature. Persons who special-ize in bringing balance back to individu-als are called shamans or medicine doc-tors, but the process of restoring balanceis fundamentally the same regardless ofthe problem’s scale.

The power of religious leaders is notprimarily their own, although they mayhave been especially selected as a per-son who will know how best to use thispower, and they do bring their ownpower to balancing ceremonies. Theterm Puhagantu, which is often used forreligious leaders and shamans, is re-vealing because it translates as “to havepuha” or even “where puha sits.” Reli-gious leaders, like shaman, are basicallywindows through which power passeson the way to balance an individual,group, or aspect of nature. This powertends to arrive as spirit helpers that canbe an animal, such as a mountainsheep, a mineral, such as crystal, or aspirit, such as a water baby. Places ofpower also add their puha to balancingceremonies.

Traditionally, when religious leadersaccepted the responsibility of being thewindow of power, they understood therisks involved. Failure to control puha, asevidenced by things getting worse ormore out of balance, indicated that theleader/shaman was losing control overthe sources of power being used to bringbalance. Repeated failure eventually re-sulted in their friends and relativeskilling them. This act has been inter-preted by Euro-Americans as retributionfor failure to cure or fix the world, but

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quite a different interpretation comesfrom Numic epistemology. First, whenpeople accept the responsibility of beinga religious leader or shaman, they knowwhat they must do as the “window ofpuha.” They also recognize that if theybegin to fail it is because they are a bro-ken window and they will be killed. Thissecond point is also misunderstood be-cause mater cannot be destroyed, itmerely transforms. With reincarnationthe killed leader becomes an animal, andwhen the animal dies it can come backas a person. In fact, there is evidence thata shaman becomes a hummingbird, andthis shaman’s helper can become ashaman at death.

Encroachment Times: 1776–1890During this period Indian religion andceremony was largely irrelevant to Euro-American society, despite the 1776 expe-dition of fathers Escalante andDominguez, during which they werepleased to find friendly Southern Paiuteslooking like Pueblos with rancherias andirrigated farming—and thus more easilyconverted than the more mobile andhostile Apaches. More important to mostoutsiders, however, was that Indian peo-ple not restrict the economic activities ofEuropeans who passed through theBasin looking for beaver furs and pre-cious minerals. When the former weretrapped out and the latter was found inCalifornia, Indian people were simplypushed back from major sources ofwater and away from the routes of travel-ers. The 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley (Har-ney 1995, 193) with the Western Sho-

shone illustrates the federal policy ofonly taking from—not giving to—the In-dian people.

As Indian people became increasinglymarginalized in the Basin, they re-sponded by working together throughbig balancing ceremonies. Indian reli-gious leaders combined efforts with po-litical leaders to organize the largest pan-Indian movement since the 1680All-Pueblo Revolt (Nabokov 1981). Un-like that armed conflict, this was to be areligious conflict fought with puha in-stead of guns. The first well-known suchceremony was the Ghost Dance move-ment of 1870. Twenty years later the 1890Ghost Dance (Dobyns 1967; Hittman1997) was to become the largest pan-In-dian joint balancing ceremony ever, be-cause it involved up to thirty-two ethnicgroups (Mooney 1991). Both ceremonieswere fundamentally traditional rounddances scaled up to address the greatestproblem that had ever confrontedNumic peoples and lands (Stoffle et al.2000).

The federal government responded tothese efforts with physical force, such asthe Wounded Knee massacre among theSioux. The safety of white society andcommerce was the priority, and Indiantravel and ceremony were suppressed. Inmany portions of the Basin, local Indiansstill outnumbered their non-Indianneighbors. Nevertheless, Euro-Americanhegemony prevailed. The famousprophet of the 1890 Ghost Dance move-ment, Wovoka, was put under house ar-rest, and a manned fence was builtaround Wovoka’s home at Yearington,

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Nevada, to restrict his travel and that ofhis community. Soon the federal govern-ment would add Christian missionariesto the efforts to civilize and pacify thetribes.

Conversion Times: 1890–1960The Ghost Dance of 1890 along with anincreasingly hostile boundary betweenwhites and Indians in the Basin causedthe Federal government to outlaw thepractice of Indian ceremonies of allkinds (Crum 1994, 51–52). Thus the roleof Indian religious leader had to be sub-sumed under that of a political leader oreven a labor leader. Religious leaderscould be jailed for public practice ofceremonies, so their activities becamelargely unknown to the dominant soci-ety. Indian people hid their religionwithin the context of social events thatwere legal. Ghost Dance songs contin-ued to be sung, but they had to beburied within nonthreatening publicactivities (Vander 1988). Some religiousleaders became the heads of Euro-American churches that permittingthem to continue to serve in a modifiedtraditional role. It is clear, however, thatsome of these new Indian converts toWestern religions truly rejected tradi-tional religions and ways of life. UnlikeEuropean religious practice, Indian reli-gions permitted adding alternative ap-proaches to understanding the world,so it is possible that an Indian religiousleader could in good faith participate inboth religious systems. Still, during thisperiod, traditional religious leaders

were all but invisible to the outsideworld.

Multicultural Times: 1960 to TodayAfter the Civil Rights movementachieved major successes for AfricanAmericans in the mid-1950s, many ac-tivists took heart and moved on to otherissues. Some moved to the environmentand became instrumental in arguingagainst and even stopping dams alongthe Colorado River, efforts that partiallyresulted in the passage of the NationalEnvironmental Policy Act of 1969. Otherslent their voices and energies to Ameri-can Indian movements of various kinds,including efforts to achieve religiousfreedom. After a decade of these efforts,Congress passed the American IndianReligious Freedom Act of 1979, which in-cluded both a national apology for pastefforts to eliminate Indian religions anda commitment not to stand in the way ofIndian religious practice in the future.

While it is impossible to characterizeall of the Indian leaders who emergedduring this time, it is clear that it becameincreasingly acceptable for Indian lead-ers to perform non-European religiousceremonies publicly. It is also clear thatmany religious leaders in the Great Basinbecame associated with religions thatdid not derive from Numic culture. Ex-amples include most leaders of the Pey-ote religion, including members of theDuncan family (Utes) who served bothas Sun Dance religious leaders and road-men in the Native American Church.Many of the non-Numic religions were

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led by Indian people who were notNumic. Nevertheless, Numic-based reli-gions flourished during this period asmore and more situations occurred inwhich their religious leaders could stepforward to present Numic religious prin-ciples and be positively received by boththeir own people and people from thegeneral society—and even the world. Anexample is Corbin Harney (WesternShoshone), who was called to be a leaderand eventually became a world icon; atone time he was visualized in a Sting(Gordon Sumner) concert held in honorof indigenous people.

Today Indian people still respect andfollow the tenets of their traditional reli-gions, but they are also likely to drawupon the insights of the Peyote religionand that of friends and family membersfrom other Indian religions. Many fami-lies and all local groups contain peoplewho share religious perspectives thatoriginate far from the Basin. Just as thepeople have become multicultural, somany religious leaders practice morethan one religion.

Richard W. Stoffle and Alex K. Carroll

See also Power Places, Great Basin; GhostDance Movement

References and Further ReadingCrum, Steven J. 1994. Po’I Pentun Tammen

Kimmappeh, The Path on which WeCame: A History of the Western Shoshone.Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

Dobyns, Henry F. 1967. The Ghost Dance of1889: Among the Pai Indians ofNorthwestern Arizona. Prescott, AZ:Prescott College Press.

Harney, Corbin. 1995. The Way It Is: OneWater . . . One Air . . . One Mother Earth.

Nevada City, CA: Blue DolphinPublishing.

Hittman, Michael. 1997. Wovoka and theGhost Dance. Edited by Don Lynch.Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Mooney, James. 1991. The Ghost-DanceReligion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890.Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Nabokov, Peter. 1981. Indian Running:Native American History & Tradition.Santa Fe, NM: Ancient City Press.

Stewart, Omer C. 1987. Peyote Religion: AHistory. Norman: University ofOklahoma Press.

Stoffle, Richard, et al. 2000. “Ghost Dancingthe Grand Canyon: Southern Paiute RockArt, Ceremony, and CulturalLandscapes.” Current Anthropology 41,no. 1: 11–38.

Vander, Judith. 1988. Songprints: TheMusical Experience of Five ShoshoneWomen. Urbana: University of IllinoisPress.

Religious Leadership,Northeast

Native American religious leaders fulfill amultiplicity of functions, yet non-Nativeobservers have tended to place all reli-gious leaders in the same category. Theearliest colonists and missionaries usu-ally described them as witches or ser-vants of the Devil. This category hastransformed over time and has becomeidentified with the term “shaman.” Thatword comes from the Tungus people ofSiberia, for whom the saman is a spiri-tual leader who can travel to the spiritworld and ascertain the desires and de-mands of the spirits. While some NativeAmerican religious leaders are clearlyengaged in similar practices, the blanket

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category of “shaman” for all medicinepeople is inappropriate. The myth of aunified, coherent religious tradition ofsoul travel by shamans that traveledwith Arctic people over the Bering landbridge and survived in the Americas isunsubstantiated.

Religious leadership in Native Ameri-can communities is almost always asso-ciated with the ability to heal. That abil-ity can be obtained in multiple ways; itcan be inherited, developed as a resultof dreams or visions sent by animals orgood spirits, or the person may be cho-sen by an actual event such as a near-fatal encounter with a dangerous or poi-sonous animal. In each case themedicine received cannot be usedproperly until the person has cultivateda familiarity with it. The spiritual medi-cine that a plant or animal offers tendsto be aligned with its actual behaviorand attributes.

The lifetime commitment to becom-ing a medicine person is not pursuedhalf-heartedly. In fact it is dangerous,and some have tried to escape it. Manytribes have stories of potential medicinepeople who became critically ill be-cause they refused to accept the respon-sibility. They describe the ultimatumgiven to them, of choosing to become ahealer or dying. These kinds of ordealsare interpreted as tests of the individ-ual’s strength and will by the Creator orby the relevant spirit. Many healers de-scribe a kind of death of their formerself followed by a rebirth in which theytake on the body and spirit of a healer.

Near-death experiences are also oftenthe points at which a prophet has a firstvision.

While the oral histories of tribes in theNortheast are no doubt full of the kind ofmedicine people described above, therecorded history of the Northeast is filledwith the characters of Christian Indians,those who sought to bring the good newsof the new, white religion to theirbrethren. Many Native people close tothe early New England colonies werequite open to the god of the English anddeveloped their own leadership by incor-porating Christian ideas into traditionalbelief systems. Of course, there were alsothose who struggled against the intru-sion of Christianity into their communi-ties and who led movements to revitalizeand reinstate the ancestral religiousfoundation that had sustained them forgenerations.

Religious leaders often fulfilled multi-ple roles. Aiowantha (Hiawatha) wasone such individual who acted as ahealer, prophet, tribal leader, diplomat,and orator for the Mohawk Nation in the1500s. Aiowantha was a captivatingspeaker who allied with a Huron leader,Deganawida, to establish an allianceamong their neighboring tribes. De-ganawida preached a message of peace,and he wanted to unite the tribes to stopthe cycle of revenge killing that plaguedthem. Aiowantha, with persuasive diplo-macy, and Deganawida gathered to-gether the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga,Cayuga, and Seneca nations into a con-federacy known as the League of the Iro-

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quois. When it was later joined by theTuscarora, it also became known as theSix Nations; it became the most powerfulforce in the Ohio River valley region untilit sided with the British during the Amer-ican Revolution. When peace was at-tained, Aiowantha put the principles ofDeganawida’s vision of peace into ac-tion, developing a representative systemof governance with laws and ceremoniesfor negotiating and settling disputes. Theframers of the U.S. Constitution admiredthe Iroquois League’s success in unitingits groups together and utilized several ofthe league’s principles in formulating thenew American government, includingpolitical equality, separation of govern-mental power, checks and balances, andpolitical freedom.

Molly Ockett was an Abenaki healerand herbalist who mingled in both theworld of her Native family and the whiteworld colonizing it. Born with anAbenaki name, Singing Bird, she grew upin Pigwacket Wabanaki country in pres-ent-day Maine. While her family soughtrefuge in Massachusetts because of warbetween the French and British, shelearned English and Christian religiousbeliefs. Because her people had sidedwith the French, she was taken hostageby the British and sent to live with an En-glish family in Boston. When she was re-united with her family at about the age often, she had become accustomed to thewhite way of living, but she went back toher Native ways, learning the healing artsfrom her mother and others. Althoughher family was killed during further con-

flicts between the French and British, in1762 she returned to her homeland andhelped maintain peace between the Pig-wacket band of Abenaki and the Englishcolonists that had settled there. Her flu-ency in English and her commitment toher own people enabled her to help themimmensely. She was a skilled healer whowas known for treating anyone, white orIndian, at any time. She was also an ex-cellent hunter and was remembered forbeing generous with her catch. Ockettcan be understood as a peacemaker whofacilitated a good relationship betweentwo colliding cultures.

A Native American who took a differ-ent route to sponsoring good relationsbetween whites and Indians was Sam-son Occum (1723–1792). Occum was aMohegan who became the first Indianformally trained and ordained as aChristian minister. He was ordained bythe Presbyterian Church in 1759 andbegan recruiting Native youths for mis-sionary Eleazor Wheelock’s educationalproject, Moor’s Indian Charity School,which later became Dartmouth College.Occum became disillusioned with theschool when it started focusing on train-ing missionaries instead of Indians. Hetraveled with his family, preachingChristianity among the Algonquian peo-ples of New York and New England,eventually establishing a religious com-munity called Brotherton. Occum be-lieved that Indians should minister toIndians, and his community focused ontraining Native people to lead their owncommunities. In 1772 he published a

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speech, “Sermon Preached at the Execu-tion of Moses Paul,” in which he criti-cized white traders for bringing alcoholinto Native communities. He continuedpreaching to the Indians at Brothertonuntil his death in 1792.

Another Christian Indian who foughtagainst the exploitation of whites wasWilliam Apess, a Pequot born in 1798 whobecame a Methodist missionary to theMashpee tribe, encouraging them to expelthe corrupt white missionaries. He alsofought to forbid whites to cut timber onMashpee land. His confrontational lead-ership earned him the respect of Indianpeople and thirty days in jail. His story be-came well known when he published anautobiography and several other books.

Widely known as the visionary wholed a successful revitalization movementamong Iroquois people in the early nine-teenth century, Seneca prophet Hand-some Lake acknowledged Christianideas but stressed a return to the tradi-tional Iroquois ceremonies and moralideals. Seneca land, population, and cul-ture were being devastated by white in-truders after the Revolutionary War.Without a powerful leader and a new vi-sion, the Iroquois way of life was threat-ened with extinction. Handsome Lakereceived a vision that articulated a newreligion and a new way of life for his peo-ple that combined elements of Chris-tianity with the traditional Seneca songs,dances, and ceremonial calendar. He be-lieved that by consciously acculturatingto some American ways, the Iroquoiswould be better able to survive this pe-

riod of white domination. HandsomeLake’s grandson became the leader of theLonghouse religion after HandsomeLake’s death, and it is still practiced onseveral reservations today.

Joseph Onasakenrat (White Feather)was a Mohawk chief and Methodist mis-sionary in the l860s and 1870s. He wasraised in the Catholic Church in Quebecand groomed for missionary work. Afterattending college for three years, he waselected principal chief of the Iroquois in1868, at the age of twenty-two. Theyoung leader accused the CatholicChurch of keeping the Natives in povertyand led a campaign to renounce them.As a result, most of his people convertedto the Methodist Church, of which he be-came a leader. He continued to fightagainst the Sulpician Catholic order thatcontrolled the Oka missionary settle-ment where he lived, challenging theirownership of the land in court, theirwood-cutting rights, and their settle-ment claims. He was accused of burningdown the Sulpician church in 1877, butthe case was later dismissed. He spenthis last years translating Scripture fromFrench into Iroquois and preaching toIroquois communities in Caughnawagaand St. Regis. He died in 1881.

There are few other reliable historicalaccounts of Native medicine peoplefrom the Northeast. Presumably, if theyavoided contact with whites their storieswere not recorded. Warfare destroyedmany Northeastern tribes before schol-ars were present to record cultural infor-mation. However, beginning in the late

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1960s, a religious/political factionknown as the American Indian Move-ment (AIM) gained national attentionand pan-Indian participation. Anna MaePictou Aquash was a Mi’kmaq womanfrom Nova Scotia who became an AIMleader in the 1970s. A tireless and pro-ductive worker for Indian rights and cul-tural sovereignty, Aquash helped orga-nize the Boston Indian Council, a serviceagency for Indian alcoholics. She was animportant “female warrior” during theFBI siege of Wounded Knee on the PineRidge Reservation in South Dakota in1973. She later taught at the Ojibwa’s RedSchool House project and was director ofAIM’s West Coast office in Los Angeles. InFebruary 1976, Aquash was found deadunder suspicious circumstances and be-came a martyr to the AIM cause.

Brian Clearwater

See also American Indian Movement (RedPower Movement); Missionization, GreatLakes; Revitalization Movements, Northeast

References and Further ReadingJohnson, Troy R. 2002. Distinguished Native

American Spiritual Practitioners andHealers. Westport, CT: Oryx Press.

Hirschfelder, Arlene, and Paulette Molin.2000. The Encyclopedia of NativeAmerican Religions. Rev. ed. New York:Facts on File.

Matthiessen, Peter. 1980. In the Spirit ofCrazy Horse. New York: Viking Press.

Religious Leadership,Northwest

Throughout the Northwest, certain peo-ple maintained constant contact with

sources of power and spirit beings thatenabled them to change conditions forthe better—and sometimes for theworse, if they had a selfish reason to doso. Although often called shamans or In-dian doctors, they once included a rangeof specialists much like those of themodern medico-religious profession.With massive die-offs as a result of Euro-pean diseases and dislocations, ordinaryspiritual practitioners who survivedbegan to assume more and more of thefunctions and practices of these special-ists. Formerly, those functions includedthat of curer of various types, mediumwho communed with the dead, songmaster who untangled tunes, pubertypreceptor, baby broker who understoodbabies’ needs, and that of priestly figureswho conducted rites such as the FirstSalmon and other return foods festivals.

TsimshiansAlong the North Pacific coast, for Tlingitand Haida, masks were worn byshamans while working. The neighbor-ing Tsimshians, however, used manymasks more generally as manifestationsof rank and power. Tsimshian culturewas imaged as a beam of light fromHeaven that refracted into severalbranches whose emblems were posi-tioned on the model of a head. Crestswere passed through mothers and wereembodied as hats; carvings of chieflyrank and power were worn on the fore-head; and masks covered the face. Spiri-tual practitioners themselves wereknown as “blowers,” using the mouth,

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but their power resided in their hair,which remained unkempt and uncut.

For Tsimshians, the primordial beingsare called naxnox, and the powerful re-fracted light is halaayt. During the 1800s,halaayt took six manifestations. It waspersonalized as a blower—a curer whocould be either a man or a woman whoserved year-round. The Tsimshian yearwas divided between summer activities

devoted to fishing and harvesting wildfoods, followed by winter religious andcommunal events. A chief, as head of acedar plank house, therefore had twoguises. During the summer he coordi-nated dispersed food gathering, but withthe onset of winter he became Smha-laayt (real halaayt) and took over a morepriestly role that included religious du-ties involved with feasting, displays of

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Mask used in the naxnox dance series, which involved the dramatization of a name. The eyes havethree positions: open, closed, and copper covered (shown here). The movable jaws reveal teeth or acopper band. Tsimshian culture. (Werner Forman / Art Resource, NY)

heirloom art, and intertribal entertain-ments. Members of high rank also be-longed to one of four secret ordersknown as Wutahalaayt (great halaayt),which crossed local allegiances to be in-ternational and privileged in scope.

These six roles do not exhaust therealm, however, since various groupsand guilds of artists who made the crests,emblems, and embellishments also hadreligious functions to perform, often inprivate. Indeed, the penalty for stum-bling upon a secluded workshop was im-mediate death unless the person was ofhigh enough rank to demand immediateinitiation.

The Northwest coast included this typ-ical distinction between summer chiefand winter priest for all its leaders. Mostdetailed information is a consequence ofthe length of time, personalities, and rap-port that characterized any fieldwork sit-uation. Outstanding for the coast is thatfor the Nuxalk (formerly Bella Coola), thenorthernmost member of the SalishanLanguage Family, which also includesLushootseed and Tillamook. These threewell illustrate the diversity once seeneven among related languages.

NuxalkAt birth, each Nuxalk person’s soul orspirit took up residence in a thin bone atthe back of the neck. Other spiritual as-pects were located above. In the begin-ning, the Creator at Nusmatta (a hugehouse in the upper world) set up a tallypost and a section in a water basin forevery named person who would live. As

named couples, these beings floateddown to tops in the human homeland,then set up villages along waterways andbegan families. At death, a Nuxalk sepa-rated into corpse, shadow, and ghost.Since names were inherited, the ghostwent back through an unbroken line thatled back up to Nusmatta.

When a Nuxalk took seriously ill, spe-cial healers had the ability to get to Nus-matta and inspect the patient’s pole andbasin. If the pole leaned, the acutenessof the angle indicated the outcome ofthe illness. If possible, the pole was setupright again, and the water in the basinwas renewed. Failing that, a doctorwould sacrifice grease, bark bowls, andtiny wooden figures to the dead, wholived under the earth. With their help, asucking cure would suddenly becomeeffective.

LushootseedsFor the Lushootseeds of Puget Sound,immortal beings provide career or cur-ing abilities. Leaders had spirits, them-selves leaders, that empowered them togive wise council and acquire wealth, aswell as to hunt the most dangerous ofanimals.

The Lushootseed term for both spiritsand their human allies derived from theLushootseed for “name” or “call”: in theNative system of medicine, to designate(“name”) the cause of an illness correctlywas to diagnose the cure. Healers andcuring spirits were always at the ready,unlike career powers whose closenessvaried with the seasons.

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Just as European noble families sentsons into the church, into business, intobanking, or into the military to widentheir power base, so too did Lushootseednobles try to have members in all posi-tions of authority; leadership was multi-plex, depending upon the task. More-over, modern Salish families extend thisstrategy to include many contemporaryoptions, particularly religious ones.Thus, while families continue to attendwinter ceremonials to welcome the re-turn of spirit partners, on Sunday theydevotedly attend Protestant, Catholic,Bahai, or other services.

Lushootseed had at least four overlap-ping systems of power and consequentspecialists concerned with guardianspirits, ghosts, dicta (word formulas,spells), and the High God. Each spirit hastwo aspects, as being and as song, with athird term used to personify the vision it-self. The song came from the east in thefall, moved slowly north, westward, andthen south during the winter; in lateApril or so, it headed east again.

Ghosts were the souls of the dead,who were tormented by hunger, loneli-ness, and nostalgia for their possessionsand relatives. Those ghosts who were stillin contact with the living roamed theearth between about 3:00 P.M. and 3:00A.M. Ghosts were particularly attractedby human gatherings, especially whenpeople were eating. A ghost was closestof all when its name was being inheritedby a descendant. Certain humans onceacted as mediums because they had aspecial relationship with a ghost, who

warned of calamity. This medium con-ducted rituals in which food and clotheswere burned in a fire to send them to thedead. While such burnings were onceheld separately, they have now becomemanaged by spiritual practitioners asthe first event at modern power displays,memorials, and potlatches.

Dicta were a set of enchantments (in-cantations and formulas) for influencingor directing the world and its inhabi-tants. They were passed down familylines to influence the minds and heartsof all living things.

In modern Salishan religion, the HighGod now features in the Indian ShakerChurch and various Christian funda-mental denominations. Belief in an ulti-mate power, however, was ancient andknown as xa’xa—which means anythingsacred and holy as well as forbidden—taboo in such a way as to provide a deifi-cation of power.

Puberty preceptors have faded outunder Christian influence, yet many fea-tures from traditional puberty seclusionhave been incorporated into the moderninitiation of Winter Dancers. While aboy’s coming of age was marked bychanges in his voice and body, girls onceobserved great restrictions. Placed in aspecial hut, a girl’s bed was made of freshfir boughs. Every night, she left her hut togo to a creek to bathe and scrub with rot-ten cedar to make herself clean. Duringthe day she kept very busy, weaving matsor blankets, making yarn, or coiling bas-kets. This effort made her industrious herwhole life, and desirable as a good wife.

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If it was ripe berry season, a first men-struant picked with a stick (called a “bri-dle”) between her teeth; the stick was in-spected by older women at the end ofeach day to see if she had stained it byeating any forbidden berries. Her strictdiet included food that was allowed tocool if it was cooked. She ate very little,mostly roots, but nothing fresh or warm,using special dishes that were destroyedafterward. Fresh and bloody foods wereparticularly avoided.

Toward the end of her month of seclu-sion, her grandmother invited other oldwomen to sing, dance, and feast to enter-tain the girl, who could not herself joinin. Because of her supercharged condi-tion, she was under strong taboos. Shecould not look at anyone or they wouldbecome sick. She never touched her ownhair. She used a stick of ironwood toscratch.

Every day the girl was instructed byolder women about how to conduct her-self calmly when she was married, aswell as techniques for drying fish, pick-ing berries, digging clams, weaving, bas-ketry, and keeping a household runningsmoothly and well. She was told to begood to her mother-in-law, other affines,and all elders, while showing kindnessand compassion to everyone.

After her first seclusion a girl was re-garded as dark or light for six weeks, ac-cording to the phases of the moon. Ondark days, when the moon waned, herface was painted red, and on light days,when the moon waxed, she was visitedby other women.

TillamooksAlong the Oregon coast, the Tillamookonce had five types of practitioner, eachconcerned with healing, poisons, spirits,love, and the baby (Seaburg and Miller1990, 565). The first three wore the in-signia of a braided human hair belt withits ends hanging behind like a tail. Al-though these specialists became wealthyby their efforts, they were generous atwinter ceremonials and so never amasseda hoard.

Healers were both men and women,who would blow while curing. Only menused their hands to extract illness, whilewomen would only suck, specializing inthe removal of blood, black ooze, or whiteooze, which was thrown into a fire ordrowned in a basket. In severe cases, itwas both drowned and burned. Thesewomen received their power from a beingcalled Wild Woman, whose emblem wastattooed on their breasts. Male healerscarved or painted their emblem on theirheadboard, which stood at the healer’sbed until brought into use during a cure.

Poison doctors were always men,with the ability to send their own “poi-sons” or to extract that sent by othershamans. Their medical kit includeddeer hoof rattles tied on a stick layeredwith eagle feathers, carved humanoidpoles with faces inset with abalone shelleyes, and a headdress made of fringedcedar bark or red male hummingbirdscalps. A poison itself was sometimesrepresented as a tiny bone humanoiddoll or as a fish. Their treatment went onfor five nights.

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Spirit doctors, always men, journeyedin human daytime to the afterworld toretrieve the souls of patients who were illbut not dead. This spirit could be re-turned only after human dark, when itwas safe from recapture. In difficultcases, he sometimes sucked out a pur-plish ooze sent from the dead.

Only women served as love doctors,able to manipulate affections and sexualabilities. A baby broker was a man whocould converse with babies and dream ofevents in Babyland, where fetuses liveduntil they went to be born from humanmothers.

Today, throughout the Northwest, theaboriginal variety of religious func-tionaries now appears in the diversity ofleaders of church denominations, be-liefs, and spiritual practices, as else-where in the modern world.

Jay Miller

See also Ceremony and Ritual, Northwest;Dances, Northwest Winter Spirit Dances;Masks and Masking; Oral Traditions,Northwest Coast; Power, Northwest Coast;Religious Leadership, Northwest; SacredSocieties, Northwest Coast; Sbatatdaq(Sqadaq)

References and Further ReadingMiller, Jay. 1988. Shamanic Odyssey: The

Lushootseed Salish Journey to the Land ofthe Dead, in Terms of Death, Potency, andCooperating Shamans in North America.Anthropological Papers 32. Menlo Park,CA: Ballena Press.

———. 1992. “Native Healing in PugetSound.” Caduceus (Winter) 8: 1–15.

———. 1997. Tsimshian Culture: A Lightthrough the Ages. Lincoln: University ofNebraska Press.

———. 1999. Lushootseed Culture and theShamanic Odyssey: An Anchored

Radiance. Lincoln: University ofNebraska Press.

Seaburg, William, and Jay Miller. 1990.“Tillamook.” Pp. 560–567 in Handbook ofNorth American Indians: NorthwestCoast, vol. 7. Edited by Wayne Suttles.Washington, DC: SmithsonianInstitution Press.

Suttles, Wayne. 1987. Coast Salish Essays.Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Religious Leadership,Plateau

Visions and spirit power have alwaysbeen essential for religious leadership inthe Plateau (Walker 1978, 1980, 1998).They are the most ancient and funda-mental forms of religious belief andpractice in the Plateau. The vision quest,winter spirit dances, and sweatlodge cer-emony form a foundation for all othertraditional belief and practice through-out the region. Before participation inany activity associated with the spiritworld, people cleansed themselves inthe sweatlodge, a structure used toachieve purity of body, mind, and spirit(Walker 1969).

Vision quest sites are also scatteredthroughout the Plateau and are espe-cially concentrated in mountains andalong rivers where stone cairns, pic-tographs, and petroglyphs often markplaces where tutelary spirits have beenencountered. Tutelary spirit power isoften accompanied by a spirit sickness,and trusted healers assist in dealing withit by instructing the neophyte in the

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proper ways to honor and employ thepower they have acquired in visionquests and dreams (Walker 1989).

Midwinter ceremonies provided op-portunities not only for neophytes butespecially for religious leaders to drama-tize and honor their spirit powerthrough symbolic costumes, songs, anddances. Although any person could at-tend, only those with spirit power wouldparticipate in these dances, while othersin attendance cooked, served, and lentsupport in various way. The curing of ill-nesses of various types customarily tookplace in these ceremonies; in addition,ceremonial leaders officiated duringboth life cycle and other calendrical cer-emonies associated with the changingseasons and subsistence activities—es-pecially fishing, hunting, and the gath-ering of roots and berries.

The spirit powers that made a reli-gious leader successful as a healer werealso a source of potential harm. If a pa-tient died and the healer was judged tobe evil or inept, he or she might be killed.In addition to curing, some religiousleaders were thought to be able tochange the weather, foresee the future,impart unusual powers to inanimate ob-jects, and possess other miraculous abil-ities. The primary tests for religious lead-ership in the traditional Plateau was theability to heal magically and to foretellthe future from visions and dreams.

Men and women occupied similarleadership roles in the Plateau religion.Each complemented the other, and theyhad similar spirits. Most men and

women in the Plateau sought guardianspirits as children. Both genders couldaspire to become healers, although insome groups there were not as many fe-male practitioners as there were male.Both could become prophets and exer-cise leadership in all spheres of religiousactivity. Some religious leaders also spe-cialized in ceremonies for a particular re-source, such as salmon or camas roots,and would lead the first fruits ritual cere-mony. This ceremony involved procur-ing a particular food when it first ap-peared, primarily during spring andsummer, worshipfully carrying it back tothe settlement, and conducting a publicritual over it. Each such ceremonialleader must have the proper guardian-spirit power to perform these rituals,whose principal purpose was to securecontinuation of the resource.

The Prophet Dance and ReligiousLeadershipMost historians have assumed that thevisits of early explorers such as Meri-wether Lewis and William Clark in1805–1806 marked the beginning ofPlateau contact with Euro-Americans,but that assumption is open to question(Spier 1935). An increasing body of evi-dence points to the protohistoric (that is,the time immediately before the histori-cal period begins: A.D. 1500–1800 in thePlateau) as a time when cultic innova-tions described as the “Prophet Dance”by Spier (ibid.) were already underway(Relander 1986; Walker 1969). This hy-pothesis is supported by the diversity of

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cults and prophetic figures already pres-ent in the Plateau during the early con-tact period, the archaeological evidencefrom altered burial practices, increasingnon-Indian trade goods in the region,the extinction or catastrophic reductionof various groups through epidemic dis-ease, and surviving records from oral tra-dition among historical and contempo-rary Plateau religious leaders.

The growing intensity of contacts inthe protohistorical period and later dur-ing the nineteenth century createdmajor cultural crises in Plateau religiouslife that brought changes in religiousleadership (Stern 1993). One example isa Cathlamet Chinookan text that de-scribes how the informant’s grandfatherhad died during a smallpox epidemic,visited the after-world, and then re-turned to life bringing messages, all ingood Prophet Dance fashion (Boas 1901,247–251). This dying and reviving of reli-gious leaders in times of cultural crisis iscommon in the Plateau, but it is nowheremore prevalent than among the Sahap-tians of the Southern Plateau, where ithas been explicitly related to populationdecimation and the consequent re-sponse of religious leaders such as thefollowing account indicates:

There was an epidemic of smallpoxamong the Yakima and people weredying and leaving the country. One oldman, a chief, took sick and was leftbehind. He died. In his dream hetravelled and came to a place wherepeople were gathered eating lots ofgood things. He was awfully hungry.

He came to a kind of gateway andasked for food. The people turned himaway and told him it wasn’t time forhim to come in yet. So they directedhim to another place a long way off.He travelled and finally he reachedthere. They told him when he asked forfood that they didn’t eat there. Theylooked thin and raw boned and didn’tsay much. They said, “We are peoplecalled angels.” They told him to goback where he came from. “We can’ttake you in,” they said. He felt bad andwent back. When he came to his placehe came to life again. But his peoplethought he was dead. He followedthem. He surprised them. The firstplace he went to was Hell. The secondplace was Heaven. (Spier 1935, 17)

Such newly inspired religious leaderstypically communicated a code of wor-ship that involved a distinctive dance,usually circular, and prophecies obtainedin deathlike visions; participation in cere-monies was by whole settlements, andgreat emphasis was placed on a creatorspirit or god who reigned above the otherspirits. In some cases confession of sinswas required, and prophecies of a comingworld transformation were regular fea-tures of these new developments. Cult ac-tivities were periodic, with an emotionalheat being generated; with a failure ofprophecy, however, there was a waning ofinterest, only later to be regenerated (ibid.;Du Bois 1938). Spier’s so-called ProphetDance is significant in this regard andmust be understood as a general term thatis inclusive of various local cultural mani-festations led by various “prophets” (fromboth the protohistorical period and the


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early historical period) who appearedamong at least the following groups: NezPerce, Umatilla, Spokane, Colville, Coeurd’Alene, Kootenai, Wanapam, Yakima,Klikitat, Wayampam, Palouse, Sanpoil-Nespelem, and probably certain Chi-nookan groups on the Lower Columbia.They included such well-known figures asShuwapsa, Dla-upac, Spokane Garry,Kootenai Pelly, Nez Perce Ellis, Colville Ko-laskin, Wiletsi, Hununwe, Jim Kanine,Shramaia, Lishwailait, Ashnithlai, theTenino Queahpahmah, Luls, Smohalla,Wiskaynatowatsanmay, Kotiahkan, Patio,Toohoohoolsote, Jake Hunt, MartinSpeedis, Yo-Yonau, and especially PuckHyat Toot. Puck Hyat Toot was the mostinfluential in the development of what hascome more recently to be called the SevenDrum religion, the Long House religion, orthe Washani/Washat religion, the domi-nant traditional religion now functioningwidely among southern Plateau tribes(Ruby and Brown 1989; Walker 1978, 1980,1985). It has preserved most of the earlierreligious beliefs and practices of the pre-historical period, with additions empha-sizing prophecy, nativism, revitalization,and some ceremonial features apparentlyborrowed from Christianity during theprotohistorical and early historical peri-ods. Recent leaders include AndrewGeorge, Palouse; Clarence Burke, WallaWalla; Amos Pond, Umatilla; Gail Ship-pentower, Cayuse and Walla Walla; Fer-more Craig, Cayuse; Armand Minthorn,Cayuse; Ron Pond, Umatilla; Steve So-happy, Wanapum; and Dallas Dick, Wana-pum, Palouse, and Nez Perce.

Indian Shaker Church leaders areclosely linked to the Northwest Coastalgroups first led by John Slocum and MudBay Louie. The Yakama and WarmSprings reservations have been centersof Shaker influence, which more recentlyhas been extended to the Colville andUmatilla reservations. Indian Shakerleaders are often prominent both in theShaker and the Seven Drum religion(Barnett 1957).

A more recent development in thePlateau has been the introduction of theNative American Church through suchreligious leaders as Leonard Crow Dogfrom Pine Ridge. Such leaders have beeninstrumental in establishing a regularpresence among the Colville, Coeur d’A-lene, and Yakama (Stewart 1988). TedStrong has been a major leader in the Na-tive American Church among theYakama, as has David Mathesen amongthe neighboring Coeur d’Alene. Otherleaders include Peter George, GeorgeNanamkin, and Vance Robert Campbellon the Colville Reservation. Members ofthese tribes regularly assemble on vari-ous reservations for Native AmericanChurch services. There is also some cere-monial interaction among these tribesand the tribes of southern Idaho, wherethe Native American Church has beenestablished much longer. Tommy Sopeand Don Dunbar are principal leaders atDuck Valley and Fort McDermitt IndianReservations, but there are many othersamong the Northern Paiute andShoshone on the Wind River Reservationand the Fort Hall Reservation who, from

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time to time, interact with leaders of thePlateau Native American Church.

Christian LeadershipAlthough little reported by anthropolo-gists, numerous Christian communitieswith well-known Indian leaders have de-veloped among many Plateau tribes anddate from the nineteenth century. TheCatholic and Protestant missionaries ofthe first half of the nineteenth centuryhave been the subject of much historicalwriting, but that writing rarely revealsmuch about Indian Christian leadershipamong Plateau tribes (Burns 1966;Raufer 1966; Drury 1936, 1937, 1940,1949). Christian missionaries’ programsof educating tribal pastors and priestsled to large-scale conversions of tribesand the formation of permanent Chris-tian ecclesiastical structures among suchgroups as the Nez Perce, Yakima,Umatilla, Coeur d’Alene, Spokane, Flat-head, Warm Springs, and Colville in theSouthern Plateau, as well as others in theCanadian (Northern) Plateau. Nez PerceChristian leaders include the followingpreachers who not only served the NezPerce Presbyterian churches but alsoserved as missionaries: The ReverendArchie Lawyer was pastor of the SecondKamiah Church at the time of his deathin the spring of 1893. The ReverendRobert Williams, the first ordained min-ister, ordained in 1879, was pastor of theFirst Church of Kamiah at the time of hisdeath in 1896. That was his only charge.The Nez Perce ministers were the Rev-erend James Hines, honorably retired be-

cause of old age; the Reverend MarkArthur, pastor of the Lapwai Church; theReverend Peter Lindsley, without charge;the Reverend James Hayes, pastor of theFirst Church of Kamiah; the ReverendMoses Monteith, pastor of the SecondChurch of Kamiah; the Reverend RobertParsons, pastor of the Meadow CreekChurch; the Reverend William Wheeler,stated supply of the Stites Church; theReverend Enoch Pond, stated supply ofthe North Fork Church at the time of hisdeath, March 20, 1907; and the ReverendSilas Whitman, died in June 1905 (Mc-Beth 1908). They served in most tribesthroughout the Plateau as well as amongthe Shoshone and Paiute of the NorthernGreat Basin.

Father Brown, a Blackfoot Catholicpriest, is an example of the much lesscommon Catholic tendency to train anIndian priesthood in the Plateau. There-fore, Catholic missionizing has histori-cally been, and continues to be, primarilyin the hands of non-Indian priests suchas Fathers Cataldo, De Smet, O’Malley,and Connolly (Burns 1966). In contrast,Nez Perce preachers Cecil Corbett, WalterMoffett, and Mose Thomas are more re-cent seminary-trained missionaries whocontinue to operate in various tribesthroughout the West and even Canada onbehalf of the Presbyterians.

Small Indian-dominated Pentecostalchurches have been formed and areclosely tied to the Indian Shakerchurches at Yakama, Warm Springs,Colville, and elsewhere. In some casesPentecostal leaders are found as leaders


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in both the Indian Shaker Church andPentecostal churches. The PentecostalBible and the Doctrine of the Holy Ghosthave also been introduced into some In-dian Shaker ceremonies. Unlike themajor tests for traditional religious lead-ership in the Plateau—magical healingand prophecy—the Christian Indian reli-gious leaders have depended on formalconfirmation by non-Indian church au-thorities for legitimation. In contrast, thegenerally less educated PentecostalChristian religious leaders more oftenestablish their legitimacy by healing andvisions.

Deward E.Walker, Jr.

See also Ceremony and Ritual, Coeurd’Alene; Ceremony and Ritual, Nez Perce; Oral Traditions, Plateau;Retraditionalism and RevitalizationMovements, Columbia Plateau; Spiritualand Ceremonial Practitioners, Plateau;Vision Quest Rites

References and Further ReadingBarnett, Homer G. 1957/1972. Indian

Shakers: A Messianic Cult of the PacificNorthwest. Reprint, Carbondale:Southern Illinois University Press.

Boas, Franz. 1901/1977. “Kathlamet Texts.”Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin26. Reprint, St. Clair Shores, MI:Scholarly Press.

Burns, Robert Ignatius, S. J. 1966. The Jesuitsand the Indian Wars of the Northwest.New Haven and London: Yale UniversityPress.

Drury, Clifford M. 1936. Henry HarmonSpalding, Pioneer of Old Oregon.Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers.

———. 1937. Marcus Whitman, Pioneerand Martyr. Caldwell, ID: CaxtonPrinters.

———. 1940. Elkanah and Mary Walker,Pioneers among the Spokane. Caldwell,ID: Caxton Printers.

———. 1949. A Tepee in His Front Yard: ABiography of H. T. Cowley, One of the FourFounders of the City of Spokane.Portland, OR: Binfords and Mort.

Du Bois, Cora. 1938. The Feather Cult of theMiddle Columbia. General Series inAnthropology 7. Menasha, WI: GeorgeBanta.

McBeth, Kate. 1908/1993. The Nez Percessince Lewis and Clark. Reprint, Moscow:University of Idaho Press.

Raufer, Maria Ilma, Sister, O. P. 1966. BlackRobes and Indians on the Last Frontier: AStory of Heroism. Milwaukee, WI: BrucePublishing Company.

Relander, Click. 1986. Drummers andDreamers. Seattle: Pacific NorthwestNational Parks and Forests Association.

Ruby, Robert H., and John A. Brown. 1989.Dreamer-Prophets of the ColumbiaPlateau. Norman: University ofOklahoma Press.

Spier, Leslie. 1935/1979. The Prophet Danceof the Northwest and Its Derivatives: TheSource of the Ghost Dance. General Seriesin Anthropology 1. Reprint, New York:AMS Press.

Stern, Theodore. 1993. Chiefs and ChiefTraders: Indian Relations at Fort NezPercés, 1818–1855. Corvalis: Oregon StateUniversity Press.

Stewart, Omer C. 1988. “Peyotism in Idaho.”Northwest Anthropological ResearchNotes 22, no. 1: 1–7.

Walker, Deward E., Jr. 1969. “New Light onthe Prophet Dance Controversy.”Ethnohistory 16, no. 3: 245–255.

———. 1978. Indians of Idaho. Moscow:University of Idaho Press.

———. 1980. Myths of Idaho Indians.Moscow: University of Idaho Press.

———. 1985. Conflict and Schism in NezPerce Acculturation: A Study of Religionand Politics, 2d ed. Moscow: Universityof Idaho Press.

———. 1989. Witchcraft and Sorcery of theAmerican Native Peoples. Moscow:University of Idaho Press.

———. 1998. “Plateau.” Handbook of NorthAmerican Indians, vol. 12. Washington,DC: Smithsonian Institution.

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Repatriation, Spiritual andCultural Implications

Today’s academic disciplines of archae-ology and physical anthropology share alegacy with museums rooted in desecra-tion, sacrilege, and violations of indige-nous human rights. American Indiansand Native Hawaiians have battled thecollective might of these imperialisticentities and won a number of importantreligious freedom and human rights vic-tories in the political arena. Federal andstate laws resulting from these struggleshave enabled Indian nations to repatri-ate ancestral human remains, funeraryobjects, and cultural items belonging tothem that were lost to the hands of oth-ers. Laws have also extended burial pro-tections to federal lands and to somestates. Museums and academics havebecome more receptive to Indian con-cerns, but this cultural war is far fromhaving been won. Many museums, uni-versities, and federal agencies continueto hold, and have the final say over, thedisposition of items belonging to Indiansand Native Hawaiians. Consequently,mistrust, fear, and doubt continue toplague this relationship. More impor-tant, the desecration of Indian gravescontinues in the name of progress.

Like people everywhere, indigenouspeoples of the U.S. and other places havespiritual beliefs associated with the deadand the places where they are buried.These views and mortuary traditions dif-fer in many respects from Indian nationto nation, but a common theme among

them is that the dead should not bebothered except for legitimate and com-pelling purposes. In 1850s, Chief Seattle,responding to the U.S. government’s de-mands that the Suquamish and Du-wamish peoples of Washington cedetheir lands, declared, “To us the ashes ofour ancestors are sacred and their rest-ing place is hallowed ground. . . . Ourdead never forget the beautiful worldthat gave them being. They still love itsverdant valleys, its murmuring rivers, itsmagnificent mountains, sequesteredvales and verdant lined lakes and bays,and ever yearn in tender, fond affectionover the lonely hearted living, and oftenreturn from the Happy Hunting Groundto visit, guide, console and comfortthem.” As Seattle noted, cemeteries aresacred places. A Shasta’s final words,recorded in 1877, explain the religioussignificance of a proper and lasting bur-ial for many California Indians. Aftertelling his companions not to bury himaway from his home village, the dyingman gave a passionate “adjuration tothem not to let his body molder and hisspirit wander homeless, friendless, andalone in a strange country.”

Indigenous groups shared many be-liefs regarding tampering with the dead.Many expect a lasting burial in whichtheir remains would deteriorate withinMother Earth. Some believe that disin-terment stops the spiritual journey of thedead, causing the affected spirits to wan-der aimlessly in limbo. Pawnees, Diné(Navajos), Apaches, and others assertthat anyone who disrupts a grave is an

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evil, profane, and demented person whoplans to use the dead as a means ofharming the living. Sickness, emotionaldistress, and death are the possible ef-fects of such activities. Many Indiansstress that disinterment may occur onlyfor a compelling reason. For example,Pawnees occasionally opened a grave ofone of their deceased relatives to reposi-tion an incorrectly placed holy object.

However, Europeans who enteredthe Americas had scant regard for thehost population’s rights. Their invasionoccurred under the color of a racializedmindset that relegated Indians to thelowly position of savages and pagans.The invaders, by virtue of the “doctrineof discovery,” claimed a God-givenright of preeminence to the land.Graves of Indians also became fairgame. English violations of Indian buri-als occurred shortly after the landing ofthe Mayflower at Plymouth Bay in 1620.The sacrilege escalated dramaticallyafter the founding of the United Statesin 1776. Throughout the colonial andearly republic periods, men of high so-cial standing such as Thomas Jeffersondisrupted Indian graves for the sake ofcuriosity and trophies for home display.

As the nineteenth century progressed,the looting of Indian graves became acottage industry, an honored profession,and an undertaking sanctioned by lawand public opinion. Beginning in the1830s, Samuel G. Morton paid soldiers,federal Indian agents, and settlers tosteal skulls from Indian graves. The fed-eral policy of moving Indians westward

left thousands of Indian graves unpro-tected from the shovels of looters. Mor-ton’s craniometrics research sought toprove the intellectual and cultural supe-riority of Anglo Saxons over other races.Others used the pseudoscientific find-ings of Morton and his followers to writeracial studies that denigrated Indians asintellectually or culturally inferior. Theseworks supported the self-serving claimof white America that it had a God-givenright to expand its borders and civiliza-tion across the hemisphere. In 1867, theArmy Medical Museum (AMM) began tocollect Indian remains for study. Prizingcrania, field surgeons often went to thescene of battles and decapitated thebodies of fallen Indians. By the early1890s, field surgeons and others hadshipped AMM curators Indian craniaand bodies representing approximately4,000 individuals.

During the late 1800s and 1900s, pro-fessional and amateur archaeologists,joined by museum curators, joined thesacrilege in larger and larger numbers.Individuals of this bent sought to en-dear the work of Morton by calling himthe father of American physical anthro-pology. University graduate programs inphysical anthropology and archaeologyproduced scholars trained in the craftsof exhuming and studying indigenousbodies and grave contents. Amateur ar-chaeologists scoured the countryside insearch of Indian burials. Digs oftendrew large crowds, and some exposedcemeteries became tourist attractionsand state parks. Museums acquired, dis-

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Líderes religiosos en A. Norte