#standing bear

[pick-a-plush]

Saturday Daily Bracket: Littlest Pet Shop Edition Part 7! Top 4 will move on to the next round!

Which plushie would you adopt?

Row 1 left: LPSO Wackiest Butterfly

Row 1 right: LPSO Wackiest Cat

Row 2 left: LPSO Standing Dog

Row 2 right: LPSO Standing Bear

Row 3 left: LPSO Standing cat

Row 3 right: LPSO Standing Bird

Row 4 left: LPSO Standing Penguin

Row 4 right: LPSO Standing Mouse

Voting ended onJul 5, 2025

[loveboatinsanity]

[siamkram]

“Only to the white man was nature a wilderness, and only to him it was ‘infested’ with ‘wild’ animals and ‘savage’ people. To us it was tame. Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery.” -Luther Standing Bear (1868-1939)

[nebraskas]

Harvard University museum agrees to return Standing Bear's tomahawk

An important piece of history appears poised to return to the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska.

A Harvard University museum has agreed to return to the Ponca people a ceremonial tomahawk that once belonged to Standing Bear. Once finalized, the move, which was requested by descendants of the legendary Ponca chief, as well as tribal leadership and the Nebraska Legislature, will mark the homecoming of an important part of Ponca history. The saga also could serve as an example of a nonconfrontational process for returning native belongings, according to members of the Ponca Tribe. “I think this could be an example for sure,” said Larry Wright Jr., chairman of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and a participant in the repatriation discussions. The Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma also are involved in the repatriation talks.

The tribes requested that they be allowed to inspect the tomahawk, two other items that once belonged to Standing Bear and funerary objects that once belonged to the Ponca. That visit is tentatively planned for September.

While museums serve an important role in preserving and spreading awareness of history, the tomahawk belongs with the Ponca people in Nebraska, said [Tom] Brewer, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. “It’s a priceless item coming back to the Ponca people, and it’s a really good thing,” he said.

[acrossthecoronaverse]

after hiking around Six Grandfathers, we went over to view the Crazy Horse monument

Crazy Horse (Tȟašúŋke Witkó) was a skilful Lakota warrior of the Oglala who fought in numerous battles against colonization and white American encroachment on Lakota land in the 19th century. While there aren’t any photographs of Crazy Horse, those who knew him, including his sister, were able to describe his appearance to a mormon missionary who made a sketch of him. This sketch and other art was used to create the Crazy Horse sculpture in the side of the mountain. The unfinished statue is meant to depict the warrior on horseback with his index finger extended. This represents a saying of Crazy Horse, ‘my lands are where my dead lie buried’ in acknowledgment of the many Native Americans who lost their lives and their lands to colonization.

Not long after the sculpting at Six Grandfathers / Mount Rushmore had started, Henry Standing Bear commissioned a sculptor named Korczak Ziolkowski to create the carving of Crazy Horse, saying "my fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know that the red man has great heroes, too". While this project was meant to honor Crazy Horse and Native Americans, the descendants of Crazy Horse have pointed out that Henry Standing Bear should have sought their consensus before dynamiting the sacred mountain.

We weren’t able to get close to the mountain (it was close to closing time and we would have had to ride a bus, which wouldn’t have been COVID-friendly) but briefly took a look around the visitor’s center, saw some beautiful indigenous artwork and learned more about the Lakota/Sioux people. 

[blue-flyfins]

Did anyone learn about Standing Bear, Ely Parker, Washakie, Carlos Montezuma, Jane Schoolcraft, or Osceola in school?

[kereeachan]

Chief Standing Bear

This is the statue that will be officially added to the National Statuary Hall as one of Nebraska’s two state statues. Chief Standing Bear is an extremely important historical figure, being the chief of the Ponca and a Native American Rights activist who won district court case declaring the US had to recognize Native Americans as “persons under the law” and thus allowed rights and protections, allowing the Ponca tribe to return home after being unlawfully arrested. He then went on a five year lecture tour about Native American rights before returning to his home along the Niobrara river to farm. He died in 1908 of oral cancer, and was buried one a hill that overlooks his birthsite. Half of his people, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, still reside there today (the other half the tribe is recognized and lives in Oklahoma). Check him out, there’s tons of information about him online.

At my workplace in the capitol, we are so super excited he’s coming in and the tour guides have been prepping for weeks to answer questions about him. He’s going to be one of our larger statues (not counting pedestal height, those vary a lot) and we have noted he will be next to Edison, who is one of the smaller ones and shall thus be rendered “tiny” next to this great chief. He will be unveiled in a ceremony on September 18, 2019 and after that will be on just about all public tours in his location in Statuary Hall.  Come check if out if you’re in the area, touring the capitol is totally free!

[nemfrog]

The bears. Atlas zu Alex. V. Humboldt’s Cosmos. p.35. 1851. Detail.