Cheyenne

Name

The name Cheyenne (pronounced shy-ANN) is derived from the Sioux word shyela or Shaiena. meaning “red talkers” or “people of different speech.” Other sources suggest the Dakota word Šahiyenan, meaning “relatives of the Cree” or “little Cree,” gave the tribe their name. The Cheyenne call themselves Tsitsistas or Bzitsiistas, meaning “beautiful people,” “like-hearted people,” or “our people.” Another name for one of the Cheyenne groups is Sotaeo’o (no translation available).

Location

Originally from the Great Lakes area in present-day Minnesota, the Cheyenne moved westward as other tribes took over their land. They settled in North and South Dakota. Later they were forced into the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. When the tribe split in the early 1800s some Cheyenne moved to Colorado along the Arkansas River. In the late 1800s both Southern and Northern Cheyenne were sent to Oklahoma reservations. The Northern Cheyenne fled to Nebraska and were later moved to Montana. In the early twenty-first century most Cheyenne people live on the Great Plains, mainly in Montana and South Dakota, and in Oklahoma.

Population

Although early estimates of the Cheyenne population varied widely, one estimate says that 3,500 Cheyenne lived on the Great Plains in 1800. In the 1990 U.S. the Census, 7,104 people identified themselves as members of the Cheyenne tribe. By 2000 that number had increased to 11,426, and 19,704 people said they were at least part Cheyenne.

Language family

Algonquian.

Origins and group affiliations

The Cheyenne people, who once lived near the Great Lakes, were forced to move west by other eastern tribes who used guns obtained from the Europeans. In the Great Plains the tribe united with another tribe, the Sutaio, who had also been forced out of their Great Lakes home. The Sioux referred to the union of the two groups as ha hiye na, meaning “people of alien speech.”

The Cheyenne traded with all the Great Plains tribes, but their closest ally was the Arapaho. Though they often got along well with the Kiowa, the Lakota, and the Comanche; at other times the tribes fought. In modern times, the two main groups of Cheyenne live on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana and the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation in Oklahoma.

The story of the Cheyenne people is one of relocation. They were forced to move westward by their constant search for stable food sources and by pressure from other tribes who were being pushed into the West by the gradual expansion of the European-American population. The Cheyenne were known for having one of the most highly organized governments among Native American groups. They were also renowned for their mighty warriors, their ethics, and their spiritual ways.

History

The Cheyenne move West

The Cheyenne probably had their origins in the western Great Lakes region of present-day Minnesota. In the early 1600s they had occasional contact with French and British fur traders. The first Europeans to encounter them were probably French explorers who were building Fort Crevecoeur at a site on the Illinois River in present-day Minnesota. The Cheyenne lived nearby in farming communities. During the late 1600s the Cheyenne moved into what is now North and South Dakota where they built villages of earthen dwellings and farmed the land.

In time pressure from the Sioux tribes and the Ojibway (see entries) drove the Cheyenne even farther west into the area of the Black Hills. By the 1800s the Cheyenne were able to hunt for food on horseback. (Horses were introduced to the Americas by the Spanish.) Many left their villages to follow the buffalo herds across the Great Plains. In the first quarter of the nineteenth century the tribe split up into two groups. The Northern Cheyenne preferred to roam the northern country in search of horses and buffalo. The Southern Cheyenne chose to take up permanent residence along the Arkansas River in Colorado.

Important Dates

1825: The Cheyenne divide into Northern and Southern groups.

1851: The Cheyenne are one of eleven tribes to sign the Treaty of Fort Laramie, which promises annual payments to the tribes for their land.

1864: More than one hundred sleeping Cheyenne and Arapaho are killed by U.S. soldiers in the Sand Creek Massacre.

1876: The Northern Cheyenne join with the Sioux in defeating General George Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

1884: The Northern Cheyenne Reservation is established in eastern Montana.

1989–90: Passage of the National Museum of the American Indian Act and the Native American Grave Protection and Reparations Act brings about the return of their burial remains to Native tribes.

2004: Southern Cheyenne Peace Chief W. Richard West Jr. becomes director of the newly opened National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Conflict

During the mid-nineteenth century the fortunes of the Cheyenne underwent great change. The United States took much of the land in the West, and white settlers streamed westward. They traveled on trails that led through the land of many Great Plains tribes, including the Cheyenne. The increasing white population caused a rapid decline in the number of buffalo. As a result armed conflicts between the Native Americans and settlers (and U.S. soldiers who came to protect them) grew more and more common. The federal government tried to safeguard white settlers and to pay tribes for their losses of buffalo and land.

The Sand Creek Massacre

In 1851 the U.S. government and 11 tribes, including the Cheyenne, signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie, which provided that the federal government give annual payments to the Great Plains Indians. It also clearly defined the boundaries of the territory belonging to each tribe. In return the Native Americans agreed that the United States could build roads and military posts in their territories. They also agreed to end warfare among themselves and stop their attacks on white settlers. However, by 1856 tensions began again as the numbers of whites crossing Indian Territory (in present-day Oklahoma) grew. From 1857 to 1879 a war broke out between the Cheyenne and the U.S. Army. The bloodiest encounter of that war was the Sand Creek Massacre.

In 1861 the Southern Cheyenne chief Black Kettle (died 1868), who tried to secure peace with honor for his people, signed a treaty giving up all their lands to the United States, except the small Sand Creek Reservation in southern Colorado. The barren land could not support the Native American people, and in time many young Cheyenne men had to prey upon the livestock and goods of nearby white settlers to survive. After one of the Cheyenne raids, white Coloradans sent an armed force that opened fire on the first group of Cheyenne they met.

Black Kettle spoke with the local military commander and was told he and his people would be safe if they stayed at the Sand Creek Reservation. But on November 29, 1884, a large group of Cheyenne and Arapaho (see entry) people lay sleeping at their camp at Sand Creek. In short order, Colonel John M. Chivington (1821–1894) and his Colorado Volunteers slaughtered 105 women and children and 28 men. Women were mercilessly attacked, children beheaded, and old people dismembered.

Chief Black Kettle rode into the gunfire waving his American flag to show he was under the protection of the American government, but it was no use. Then the Native Americans’ horses were scattered across the Plains, and their settlement was destroyed by fire. In the conflict only nine soldiers were killed and thirty-eight were wounded. Soon after the soldiers paraded through the streets of Denver with body parts of the victims displayed on the ends of their daggers.

Following the massacre the U.S. Congress held a series of hearings, then formally condemned the event and the men who were in charge of it.

Native Americans defeat Custer

The Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867 created a reservation for the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho in northern Oklahoma. The Northern Cheyenne continued fighting the Americans. The conflict peaked with the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn, when the tribe helped the Sioux defeat Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer (1839–1876). In retaliation, U.S. troops rounded up the Northern Cheyenne who had participated in the battle and forced them to move onto the Cheyenne reservation in Oklahoma. The people missed their northern homeland and found conditions on the reservation unbearable. In 1878 they escaped and fled north. U.S. troops captured them in Nebraska, and many perished from gunfire and ill treatment by the soldiers. The survivors were sent to Montana, and six years later, in 1884, were given a small reservation of their own there.

Tribe fragmented

By the 1880s the buffalo had been hunted to near extinction. As a result the Cheyenne grew dependent on the government for food, shelter, and clothing. State officials in both Oklahoma and Montana attempted to introduce cattle raising and encouraged the Cheyenne to become ranchers. U.S. officials, however, opposed this. They preferred to make the Cheyenne into farmers, but their plans did not prove successful.

In 1887 the General Allotment Act (also known as the Dawes Act) was passed. Under this legislation the reservations were divided into small plots of land, called allotments, that were to be owned and farmed by individual Native Americans; the remaining land on the reservations was opened to white settlement. The breakup of their reservations divided the people and led to the breakdown of the Cheyenne culture. In the mid-2000s, though, the Cheyenne people are working hard to revitalize their cultural heritage.

Religion

The Cheyenne people believed that plants, animals, and people all had spirits and that they were direct descendants of the creator-god, Heammawihio, who taught the people how to hunt, when to plant and harvest corn, and how to use fire. The Cheyenne prayed to the spirit of the Earth to keep the crops growing, provide herbs, and heal the sick. The people also prayed to the north, south, east, and west. The west, where the Sun set and rain and storms originated, was the most important of the four directions.

The Sun Dance, a ceremony common among many Plains Indians, was the central religious ceremony of the Cheyenne. It lasted eight days. During the first four days the Cheyenne built the dance lodge and performed secret rites in the Lone Tepee. During the last four days they held a public dance in the Sun Dance Lodge.

In the late 1800s the U.S. government banned the Sun Dance. The Cheyenne continued to perform the ceremony, but renamed it the Willow Dance. In 1911 the Willow Dance was forbidden, and repeated efforts by the Cheyenne to reinstate it were rejected.

Language

The Cheyenne spoke a musical language that was part of the Algonquian family. (Other Algonquian languages include Cree, Menominee, Fox, Delaware, and Micmac; see entries.) The language had 14 letters that they combined to create very long words. While the Cheyenne nation was strong, its language was widely spoken.

However, as the tribe was influenced by the Sioux, the Cheyenne language changed and became a mix of the two languages. Because there were so many variations of the language, it is difficult for historians to track the names of groups and determine how many groups of Cheyenne there were. The Cheyenne language is spoken in southeastern Montana, in central Oklahoma, and on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation.

Cheyenne Words

• emese … “eat”
• enemene … “sing”
• enesta … “hear”
• enoohta … “leave”
• epeva’ … “It is good.”
• evoohta … “see”
• hetane … “man”
• hotame … “dog”
• ma’eno … “turtle”
• mahpe … “water”
• Netonêševehe? … “What is your name?”
• vee’e … “tepee”
• ve’keso … “bird”

Government

From early times the Cheyenne had a highly organized government. The governing body of the Cheyenne, the Council of Forty-Four, met annually during the summer. It was comprised of forty-four men who were elected from ten Cheyenne groups to serve ten-year terms. Chiefs discussed problems within the tribe and planned how to deal with other tribes. The head of the Council, the Sweet Medicine Chief, performed religious and political duties. He kept the Chief’s Medicine, a sacred bundle of grass, and devised a code establishing how tribal members were to behave. The chiefs shared power; there was no one absolute authority. They made all decisions by consensus, which meant everyone had to agree.

In the mid-2000s Montana’s Northern Cheyenne tribe was governed by a tribal council made up of the president and 24 council members. Council members from five separate districts are elected to two-year terms. The president serves a four-year term. In spite of the changes to their government structure over the years, the Cheyenne still believe in making their decisions by consensus.

A joint tribal business committee governs the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation in Oklahoma. Four members from each tribe are elected to serve four-year terms. The reservation also has a tribal council that includes all members age 18 and older. The tribal council approves the budget, land leases or changes, and laws about membership. They also propose amendments to the constitution, change district boundaries, and override business committee decisions. To veto committee decisions, at least 75 members must vote against the plans.

Population of Cheyenne: 2000 Census

There are four groups of people in the United States who identify themselves as Cheyenne. Their two major reservations are the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana and the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation in Oklahoma. The Northern Cheyenne Reservation spans nearly 450,000 acres in southeastern Montana. The Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribal Jurisdiction Area spreads across an eight-county area in northwest and north central Oklahoma. In the 2000 U.S. Census members of the various Cheyenne groups identified themselves this way:

“2000 Census of Population and Housing. Matrix 7: American Indian and Alaskan Native summary file.” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Data User Services Division, American FactFinder, 2004.

Economy

Cheyenne women contributed to the tribe by picking berries and digging up edible roots. They cooked and dried meat brought home by hunters. They tanned hides, made tepees, and sewed leather clothing and moccasins. Men hunted antelope, buffalo, deer, elk, and wild sheep. They trapped foxes and wolves for their fur.

In the early twenty-first century Northern Cheyenne are employed in many fields. Some work on ranches or for coal companies. Some are trained firefighters who help control fires throughout the West. There are also professionals in fields such as law and teaching. More than forty small businesses operate on the reservation, among them laundromats, gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants. The tribe leases almost all of its rangelands to the Northern Cheyenne Livestock Association, while individuals own between twelve thousand and fifteen thousand head of cattle. They also manage a buffalo herd that provides food and draws tourists. In 2001 the tribe formed an economic development administration and adopted a business plan to improve reservation economy. Many tribe members hold jobs in the tribal government, tourism, forestry, mining, construction, manufacturing, or farming.

The Cheyenne-Arapaho people in Oklahoma earn money from leasing farming and grazing lands, from oil and gas royalties, and from four gaming facilities. Nevertheless, the reduction of federal funds for Native American tribes has become a serious problem for all Cheyenne, who are striving to become financially self-sufficient.

Daily life

Families

The chief duties of the women of the tribe were to care for their homes, raise their children, and gather food. They made furnishings for their tepees using grass, earth, and buffalo hides. They also packed up belongings when the tribe changed camps. Men hunted and protected their territory from enemies.

Buildings

The Cheyenne lived as farmers in Minnesota and the eastern Dakotas from the 1600s to the early 1800s. They lived in earthen lodges made of wooden frames covered with sod. As they moved to the Great Plains to hunt buffalo, they adopted the tepee. This was a dwelling made of wooden poles and buffalo hides that could be moved easily with the aid of horses. They built fires in the center of the tepees, and beds of buffalo robes lined the walls. Men sometimes painted their tepees with designs they had seen in a vision. Dome-shaped sweat lodges were used for bathing and purification rituals.

Clothing and adornment

Cheyenne clothing was designed to permit freedom of movement. In warm weather most men wore only moccasins and breechcloths (material that goes between the legs and fastens at the waist). In colder weather they also wore leggings and shirts. Women wore dresses and moccasins, adding leggings in winter. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries these items were made of animal skins, usually deer or elk.

Everyday clothing was usually very plain, but clothing for ceremonial occasions could be very elaborate. It might be decorated with beads, quillwork, bells, and fringes. Designs for men’s clothing were determined by their status as warriors. Often the design told a story about the wearer. The most spectacular were the knee-length shirts of warriors, adorned with beads and quillwork.

The Northern Cheyenne favored heavily beaded shirts, while the Southern Cheyenne shirts had dark-green fringes and relied more on color for effect. Medicine bags, eagle feathers, and berry beads also provided decoration. Men wore handsome robes during cold weather or to impress visitors.

Tribal leaders wore tall feather headdresses. Only the most well-respected men had long war bonnets with trailing eagle feathers. Men wore their hair either in braids with a topknot or pompadour (high puffed up hair at the forehead). Women braided their hair or left it loose. The Cheyenne painted designs on their faces, and the patterns were different for war than for religious or festive celebrations.

Food

When the Cheyenne lived in Minnesota and the Dakotas they raised corn, beans, and squash, supplementing the crops with deer and bear meat. When they moved to the Great Plains Cheyenne men hunted buffalo. Women used all parts of the buffalo for food, tepee coverings, and other necessities. Later the Cheyenne traded with Americans for new food items, including coffee, sugar, and flour, plus needles and other metal items and beads.

Women planted and prepared vegetables from their gardens, such as turnips, which were sliced, boiled, and dried in the sun. They collected fruit from the prickly pear cactus, an especially difficult task because the fruit had prickly spines. The dried fruit was used as a thickener for stews and soups. Women made pemmican balls from dried ground animal meat, dried berries, and animal fat. They made similar balls substituting ground corn for the meat.

Cheyenne Bread

The Cheyenne once lived as an agricultural people in fixed villages. Later they became wandering buffalo hunters. Their rituals still reflect the period when they lived in permanent villages and grew corn before moving to the Great Plains. Their use of cornmeal to make various breads is related to a time when young women were taught home economics at boarding schools near the reservation.

• 1 quart milk or water
• 2 cups yellow or white cornmeal
• 3 eggs, separated
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 375°F.

>Bring milk to a boil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Gradually stir in cornmeal and cook, stirring, for a few minutes until thickened.

Beat in egg yolks, butter, and seasonings.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until they stand in stiff peaks. Fold whites into corn mixture and pour into a 2-quart baking dish.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until puffed and golden brown on top.

Serves 6.

Cox, Beverly, and Martin Jacobs. Spirit of the Harvest. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1991, p. 109.

Education

Cheyenne girls learned the daily tasks of women by watching their mothers and other women work, and they played with deerskin dolls and had miniature cradleboards to imitate the way their mothers took care of their babies. Boys used small bows and arrows and practiced shooting arrows until they never missed a target. They also learned to hunt rabbits, turkey, and fowl. Boys and girls learned to ride horses, and older boys were taught to tend the tribe’s horses. When a boy reached the age of twelve, his grandfather instructed him in men’s duties, including buffalo hunting and horse raiding.

In the mid-2000s Dull Knife Memorial College, a modern facility on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana, served more than three hundred students. It offers associate degrees in arts and in applied science. Programs are available in office skills and entrepreneurial training (learning how to create a new business).

Healing practices

Cheyenne medicine men called shamans (pronounced SHAH-munz or SHAY-munz) performed healing rituals. They sucked out the evil that was causing the illness and spit it out onto the ground. Shamans also said prayers, blew whistles, beat on drums, and used rattles made of gourds, animal bladders, or eagle’s heads as part of their healing rituals. Priests were called in if the shamans were unsuccessful. Priests wore more elaborate costumes and conducted more involved rituals than did shamans. They also practiced minor surgery.

Drums were an important part of the healing process. The round shape of the drum represented the entire universe, and its steady beat represented the pulsing heart. Drums soothed tortured minds and healed suffering bodies.

Arts

Cheyenne women were known for their creativity in decorating objects with horsehair, feathers, and the bones and skin of animals. Traditional crafts included quill embroidery, beadwork, pipestone carving, and pottery. Beginning in the 1800s they incorporated trinkets, beads, commercial paints, and metal brought by the white traders into their clothing and craft designs.

Oral literature

The oral literature of the Cheyenne was made up of war stories, sacred stories, and hero myths. An important figure was Wihio, a trickster who resembled the Coyote trickster of the stories of many other tribes.

Customs

Birth and naming

When a Cheyenne child was born a family member sewed a small pouch to hold his or her placenta (a cord attached to the navel, or bellybutton, through which the fetus receives nourishment before it is born). The pouches were filled with sweet grass and tied to the child’s belt. A girl’s navel amulet had a turtle design on it, while a boy’s had a lizard. Because both these animals had long lives, the families wished this for their newborns. The Cheyenne said that a child who did not have a navel amulet would always be looking for his or her soul.

After a Cheyenne woman had a baby another woman fed the baby for four days so the mother could rest. If the new baby was healthy, the father gave away his best horse to friends or family. Women did not have a second child until their first one was ten years old. When the parents announced that they were expecting another baby, they had a celebration and the father again gave away a horse.

Puberty

When a girl had her first menses she was painted red and purified with smoke from a fire. Then she joined her grandmother in an isolated hut for four days. The father announced her new status to the village and gave away a horse. Before she returned to the village she was again purified with smoke.

During her periods a female could not touch or even be near medicine, shields, weapons, or sacred objects, so most women spent these days in the menstrual hut. If a menstruating woman went into her home, it had to be purified by burning juniper leaves and sweet grass before a warrior could safely enter.

Courtship and marriage

A Cheyenne woman often waited years before accepting a marriage proposal. Those who remained pure were held in high esteem. A man never proposed to a woman directly. Instead he asked an older female relative to take gifts to the woman’s family and make his case for him. If the woman accepted the proposal, the bride was brought to her husband’s family. She was placed on a ceremonial blanket, carried into the tepee, and adorned with new clothes and paint. Then a feast was held. A man who was very prosperous sometimes had several wives; he was expected to supply a tepee for each one.

Festivals

The most sacred of the Cheyenne ceremonies was the annual renewal of the Sacred Arrows, which took place during the summer solstice (June 21, when the Sun is at its highest point at the tropic of Cancer). The Sacred Arrows were found in the Black Hills of South Dakota by the prophet Sweet Medicine, who then brought them to the Cheyenne. The arrows’ special powers helped the Cheyenne hunt buffalo and defeat their enemies in battle.

Only men were allowed to attend the four-day Sacred Arrow ceremony. On the first day they brought offerings to the Great Spirit, and men were chosen to erect the Sacred Arrow Lodge. On the second day a man, painted red and dressed only in a buffalo robe, presented a bundle of sacred arrows to the high priest. The unity of each Cheyenne family within the tribe was celebrated on the third day. Sticks representing each family were burned in an incense fire. On the fourth day the sacred arrows were placed on public view in the sunlight. All the men and boys of the tribe walked past the arrows to obtain their sacred powers. A large tepee called the Sweet Medicine Lodge was then erected over the arrows. That evening, the medicine men went inside the tepee and sang sacred songs. Just before daybreak on the fifth day all participants went into the sweat lodge for a cleansing.

In the mid-2000s several powwows and celebrations take place each year on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana. A powwow is a celebration at which the main activities are traditional singing and dancing. In modern times, the singers and dancers at powwows come from many different tribes. In Oklahoma, the Cheyenne-Arapaho people hold two annual powwows: the Cheyenne-Arapaho Summer Fest and Oklahoma Indian Nation Pow Wow in August, and the Homecoming Powwow over Labor Day weekend.

War rituals

The Cheyenne were organized into five military societies: Bowstring, Dog, Elk, Kit-Fox, and Shield. Four leaders took charge of each society. Two were the war chiefs and decision-makers, and two were peace leaders and ambassadors to other societies. Each group had unique war costumes, rituals, and chants. They each selected a young woman to serve as society sister. These women were respected and held to high standards, including not having babies while they were society sisters.

During the 1800s the society called the Dog Soldiers, which fought with U.S. government troops, was the most famous and most feared on the Great Plains. A Dog Soldier wore a long sash across his chest made of buffalo hide and decorated with beads and dyed porcupine quills. The Dog Soldier pinned one end to the ground with a long, sharp pin to show that he would stay in a battle until the end. To defeat a Dog Soldier, an opponent had to pull the pin from the ground and beat the warrior with a whip to force him to leave.

Pipe smoking

Smoking a pipe is a religious ceremony. Before he smokes a man touches the bowl of the pipe to the ground four times and honors the spirits who live in the four directions—the holy men of the North, the water creatures of the East, the four-legged creatures of the South, and the birds of the West.

To seal agreements, men smoked a pipe together. A treaty bound in this way was considered sacred. When Custer smoked a pipe with Stone Forehead in 1869, the chief emptied the ashes onto the general’s boots and warned him that if he ever lied to the tribe, he would become like those ashes. Custer later did go against his word and was killed in the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876.

Death

A close relative usually prepared the body for a Cheyenne burial by dressing it in fine clothing and wrapping it in blankets. Then they bound it with ropes and carried it to the burial site. Mourners sang and prayed. The deceased person’s dearest possessions were placed next to the body. For example, a man might be buried with his gun or knife; sometimes his best horse was shot. His remaining goods were distributed among non-relatives, but his widow was allowed to keep a blanket.

Current tribal issues

Natural resources

Using the rich natural resources on their land in a responsible way is an important issue for many tribes, including the Cheyenne. The discovery of coal in the late 1960s on the reservation in Montana promised an opportunity for economic independence. Supporters of coal mining pointed out that money obtained in this way could pay for educational and health programs to improve living conditions on the reservation. Others feared environmental destruction. They believed coal companies would benefit and leave the tribe in poverty. Those who opposed won the argument, and the land was preserved.

Human remains and sacred sites

In 1986 the Northern Cheyenne discovered that the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., possessed remains of thousands of Native people and funeral objects (items that had been placed with the dead to accompany them into the next world). Natives started a movement that resulted in passage of the National Museum of the American Indian Act (1989) and the Native American Grave Protection and Reparations Act (1990).

The first act required that the Smithsonian to list all the remains and objects in its possession and then return them to the appropriate tribes. The act also authorized the creation of a Native American Museum. The second act required that all remains held by local, state, or federal agencies had to be returned to their native tribes.

The Cheyenne received and reburied remains of their ancestors. In 2004, when the National Museum of the American Indian opened in Washington, D.C., Southern Cheyenne Peace Chief W. Richard West Jr. (1943–) became the museum’s first director.

Notable people

Women’s rights activist Suzan Shown Harjo (1945–), a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, is a journalist and poet. She has been a major activist in Washington, D.C., for reshaping federal Native American policy.

In 1992 Ben Nighthorse Campbell (1933–), a member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, became the first Native American to be elected to the U.S. Senate in more than sixty years. He is also the first Native American to chair the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Of Apache/Pueblo/Cheyenne and Portuguese heritage, he is an Air Force veteran, a college graduate, and holds a sixth-degree black belt in judo. He has been a teacher, a horse breeder and trainer, and an award-winning jewelry designer and maker.

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Gordon L. Pullar, Director, Department of Alaska Native and Rural Development College of Rural and Community Development, UAF, Anchorage, Alaska

Laurie Edwards

Brian Wescott (Athabaskan/Yup’ik)

Laurie Edwards

Amanda Beresford McCarthy

Laurie Edwards