#shawnee

[pawglifex]

Thick Pawgs Only

[unteriors]

N Patchin Avenue, Shawnee, Oklahoma.

[city-of-ladies]

A Shawnee chief, Nonhelema (c. 1718-1786) was both a warrior and a diplomat. Throughout her life, she worked to maintain peace and protect her people.

Keeper of the hearth

Little is known about Nonhelema’s youth. She grew up in Pennsylvania. Her father was a chief and her mother, Katee, was a woman of both white and Native ancestry. She had a brother, Hokoleskwa, also known as Cornstalk.

A striking woman, Nonhelema was six feet six inches tall (198 cm). In 1734, she married her first husband, who was also a chief. By 1750, she was widowed and had become a village chief in her own right.

As producers of crops, clothing, and domestic goods, women played an important role in Shawnee society. They could become war or peace chiefs and were welcomed in diplomatic negotiations.

In 1754, Nonhelema remarried the chief Moluntha and moved from Ohio to the Kentucky area. She oversaw her own village and was in charge of domestic and agricultural matters, as well as the preparation of feasts.

Warrior in her own right

Her village was located close to that of her brother, with whom she maintained close ties and whom she often advised. As war escalated between Native nations and settlers, and between the French and the British, Nonhelema encouraged her fellow chiefs to remain neutral.

However, she was also a warrior in her own right. Shawnee women sometimes fought in self defense and could serve as warriors, as Nonhelema did. In 1763, she fought against British troops during the Battle of Bushy Run. She distinguished herself in battle and gained considerable fame as a warrior.

She became known as “Grenadier Squaw,” a reference to the British grenadiers who were selected among the tallest soldiers and wore tall hats that made them appear even taller. Her village also became known as “Grenadier Squaw’s Town.”

It is also possible that she fought alongside her brother during Lord Dunmore's War. She was present during negotiations accompanied by a young woman named Fannie or Fawney, who may have been her daughter.

According to the resulting treaty, the Shawnee agreed to give up their claims to Kentucky and to refrain from harming settlers. These were terms that Nonhelema was determined to uphold.

Diplomat and negotiator

Nonhelema spent the last decades of her life working for peace. When the American Revolutionary War began in 1775, she advised the Shawnee to remain neutral. She sought to establish peaceful relations with neighboring settlers. She warned them of impending attacks and even once disguised two white men as Native people to help them escape.

However, as settlers continued to expand into Shawnee lands, Nonhelema’s pacifist stance drew increasing criticism. Settlers expected to deal with male leaders and often refused to take Native women in positions of authority seriously. This attitude may also have contributed to a shift within Shawnee society itself.

In 1778, Nonhelema was forced to lead two hundred Shawnees in search of new lands. Because she spoke four languages, she served as a guide and interpreter for the French officer Augustin de La Balme.

In 1785, she appealed to the United States Congress, asking for a land grant in Ohio in recognition of her efforts as a mediator between the Shawnee and the Americans and for her service as a guide to the American army. Instead, she was granted only a small pension consisting of daily rations and an annual allowance of clothing and blankets.

The following year, the American army raided Nonhelema’s village. They cut the fingers from her right hand, disabling the famous warrior, and took her captive. She died soon afterward.

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Further reading: 

Klotter James C., Friend Craig Thompson, A New History of Kentucky

McEuen Melissa A., Appleton Thomas H., Kentucky Women : Their Lives and Times

Misencik Paul R., Misencik Sally E., American Indians of the Ohio Country in the 18th Century

[amandayoung101]

A drag queen won’t turn your kids gay, but Shawnee Smith as Amanda Young will.

[sartorialadventure]

Street style at the Santa Fe Indian Market, photographed by Shayla Blatchford

Check out the source for article, more photos, and names of designers!

Another Vogue article on artists and designers at the Santa Fe Indian Market.

More images below the cut!

^ Natasha Ashley Brokeshoulder

“Natasha Ashley Brokeshoulder, for instance, who is Diné, wore a wing dress created by her father-in-law, while her breastplate was assembled by her husband. “I got the right to wear the regalia that I have from my husband, who is Absentee Shawnee from the Southern Plains,” she said, adding that it is respectful to gain permission from other tribes to wear their specific styles of garment.”

^ James Budday

^ Sharon Brokeshoulder

^ Zeke Arjeanas

‘Others chose a more historical approach to fashion. Zeke Arjeanas, who is also Diné and won first place in the men’s category, referenced the Long Walk of the Navajo (the 1860s deportation of this indigenous tribe from their native land) for his traditional Clothing Contest outfit. “What I’m wearing is a blanket—not a Navajo blanket, but an army-issued blanket that was issued to the Navajos [at that time],” he said. “With the army-issued blanket, it’s a lot thicker and scratchier versus a Navajo textile blanket, which was more fine, lightweight, and waterproof.”’

^ Two looks from Korina Emmerich with jewelry by Tania Larsson

“...the new collection of the New York–based designer Korina Emmerich (Puyallup), whose asymmetrical vests and graphic wool coats offered a modern interpretation of her tribe’s punchy aesthetic. She also used Gwich’in-inspired jewelry by Larsson, mentioned above, in the show. “What I admire in Korina’s work is her modern, impeccable cuts,” Larsson said. “There is a traditional element that is inherent within my work because of the materials that I use and through the process that they are acquired, such as trade and through community exchanges.””

^ Phillip Bread in a Matthew Charley squash blossom necklace

^ Marcus Winchester

[maesmoon]

she so small she only need one popcorn

[railwayhistorical]

Sigel, Illinois (Amtrak)

The next train to come by this same location (Sigel, Illinois, see previous post) was Amtrak’s Shawnee. This train ran between Chicago and Carbondale, Illinois.

The speed limit here at that time was 90 miles-per-hour given the cab signals of the Illinois Central. The train is being powered by the short-lived GE P30CH.

Image by Richard Koenig; taken in February of 1979.

[daily-quotations]

"The lands are ours. No one has the right to remove us, because we were the first owners. The Great Spirit above has appointed this place for us, on which to light our fires, and here we will remain. As to boundaries, the Great Spirit knows no boundaries, nor will his red children acknowledge any."

Tecumseh To Joseph Barren, messenger of President James Madison [1810]

Familiar Quotations Fifteenth and 125th Anniversary Edition John Bartlett