#n. a.

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S* B* and his nephew O* B*, 1884. Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

S* B* adopted O* B*, his sister’s son, after his first son died in 1857. Together with his favorite nephew he fought the whites, together they went into exile in Canada after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and together they were interned in Fort R* on their return to the United States. O* B* slept through the killing of his adoptive father: by the time he reached the log cabins, it was all over.

Gugel, L. S* B* and his nephew O* B*, 1884. The Cultures of Native North Americans, 232 & 233.

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Thomas Easterly, K*, Wife of M*, Iowa. Handcolored diaguerreotype, 1849. Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, MO.

By the mid 19th century, textiles had been introduced and had widely replaced leather as a material for clothes in the eastern border region of the Prairies, since imported fabrics were more valuable and thus expressed the wealth of the people who wore them The woman in their portrait is wearing a woolen blanket, in place of a traditional leather robe. As among the peoples of the neighboring Northeast, frilled blouses made of printed cotton were worn in combination with a wraparound skirt.

Gugel, L. Thomas Easterly, K*, Wife of M*, Iowa. The Cultures of Native North Americans, 201.

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George Catlin, B* H*, Prominent S* Chief, oil on canvas, 1832. National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC.

In the dispute within his tribe over the question of forced relocation to the West, the warrior B* H* (c. 1770-1838) headed the S*’s anti-American faction. His attempt to drive white settlers out of S* territory were foiled by the United States army in 1832. B* H* and his close associates, among them the W* prophet W* C*, were arrested and imprisoned in St. Louis and Fort Monroe in Virginia for several weeks. Afterward they were shown the great cities of the whites, where B* H* attracted much attention. His autobiography, which he dictated, is the first such work by a N. A. author. Although he finally accepted the land cessions to the Americans, he remained to the end unreconciled to K* (c. 1783-1848), the S*’s pro-American chief.

Kasprychki, S. S. (2000). Burial mounds and their builders. The Cultures of Native North Americans, 112.

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Bear-mother group, argillite, Haida, British Columbia, c. 1880. Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum für Völkerkunde, Cologne, Germany.

From about 1820 onward, small objects carved of argillite, a material found only on the Queen Charlotte Islands, became increasingly popular among European sailors. The Haida thus came to hold a monopoly on the production of an early form of souvenir art that continues to this day. The bear-mother motif refers to a myth that tells how a noble woman one insulted the bears. As a punishment, she was seduced by a bear, was forced to give birth to his cubs, and to live a life in a life in the wilderness, far from her fellow humans.

Kammler, H. Bear-mother group, argillite, Haida, British Columbia, c. 1880. The Cultures of Native North Americans, 310.

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Quotes from “Art and craftsmanship”

“The richly carved or painted boxes made in this region are technically impressive:the vertical panels consisted of a single board, three corners being made by grooving and folding the wood at right angles, and the fourth secured by wooden pegs” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 310).

“In addition to their skills as craftsmen, it was also necessary for artists to be familiar with the myths surrounding the family crests and with the secret knowledge of the societies in order to produce the masks used in winter ceremonials” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 311).

“Classic formline designs, based on the principle of symmetry, with flat areas of unbroken color (black, red, blue/green) flowing outlines, and a limited range of forms producing stylized representational images, were a feature of the style of the northern coast” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 311).

“The majesty they developed in production of monumental sculptures was also applied to miniature cravings in horn, ivory, and argillite” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 311).

“In this wet climate, wide-brimmed, watertight rain hats made of spruce-root fibers were indispensable” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 311).

Kammler, H. Art and craftsmanship. The Cultures of Native North Americans, 310-311.

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H* dancer, K*, British Columbia, 1902. American Museum of Natural History. New York, NY.

Novices of the H* societies were identifiable by their untamed behavior, the hemlock twigs with which they were adorned, their ecstatic demeanor, and their gaping mouths (reminiscent of the circular mouth of D* and B* was). In the course of their taming, they would wear shoulder rings of cedar bark and their facial features would begin to relax.

Kammler, H. H* dancer, K*, British Columbia, 1902. The Cultures of Native North Americans, 307.

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Quotes from “Wintertime - cannibal time”

“A T* required lengthy preparation: stocks of food and cedar bark were accumulated; all dance costumes, masks, and rattles that were part of hereditary privileges and of certain dances had either to be newly made or repaired” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 307).

“As they neared their destination, they would begin to chant songs of invitation, accompanied by the tapping rhythm produced by the paddlers (also noblemen) on the cross planks” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 307).

“Clothed in hemlock twigs (with even more twigs caught in his matted hair), an unmistakable symbol of his wild state, he crawled on all fours” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 309).

“Anyone who got in the way of this cannibal when he was in search of human flesh risked being severely bitten” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 309).

“The H* four assistants, wearing bird demon masks followed him when he left the house and fled to the shore, where he was captured at dawn” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 309).

“The dance of the cannibal was the climax of a whole series of dances in which all participants wore masks” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 309).

“Here he enacted a struggle in which he was freed from the clutches of the inhabitants of the underworld” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 309).

“The T* had a model of a killer whale that was operated by a team of men who, upon instruction by the host, preformed swimming and even diving motions in the waters off the shores of the village. When their contraption capsized, revealing the trick, the young men operating it, shamed by the accident, committed suicide” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 309).

Kammler, H. Wintertime - cannibal time. The Cultures of Native North Americans, 304-307.