Famous Native American Women
This page is dedicated to the Native American Women who have been made famous by there acts of bravery and adversity. The button next to this paragraph is a link to the list of Famous Native American Women in history thanks to Wiki. I have also put on this page women who I look up too. I will be putting more up. These women are great! Great in personality, bravery, unconditional love and unfleeting courage.
Princess Angeline
Princess Angeline (c. 1820 - May 31, 1896), also known in Lushootseed as Kikisoblu, Kick-is-om-lo, or Wewick, was the eldest daughter of Chief Seattle. Born in what is now Rainier Beach in Seattle, Washington, she was named Angeline by Catherine Broshears Maynard, second wife of Seattle pioneer Doc Maynard. The 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott required that all Duwamish Indians leave their land for reservations, but Angeline ignored the order and remained in the city. She stayed in a waterfront cabin on Western Avenue between Pike and Pine Streets, near today's Pike Place Market, and made a living taking in laundry and selling handwoven baskets first on the streets of Downtown and later through the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. She was buried in Lake View Cemetery on Capitol Hill. The Chronicle of Holy Names Academy reported:
Death of Princess Angeline. May 29, 1896. With the death of Angeline Seattle died the last of the direct descendants of the great Chief Seattle for whom this city was named. Angeline—Princess Angeline—as she was generally called, was famous all over the world… Angeline was a familiar figure of the streets, bent and wrinkled, a red handkerchief over her head, a shawl about her, walking slowly and painfully with the aid of a cane; it was no infrequent sight to see this poor old Indian woman seated on the sidewalk devoutly reciting her beads. The kindness and generosity of Seattle’s people toward the daughter of the chief… was shown in her funeral obsequies which took place from the Church of Our Lady of Good Help. The church was magnificently decorated; on the somber draped catafalque in a casket in the form of a canoe rested all that was mortal of Princess Angeline.Now days tourists who visit the flower shop at the pike street market often ask store clerks this question, "I saw an elder native American women sitting on the ground on a blanket with baskets as if she were selling them, I went over to buy one but when by the time I got through the crowd she was gone, who was she?" the store clerks grin and reply " that was princess Angaline." Tourists often say that they have seen an elder women wearing a handkerchief on her head and a shall walking in the market with the aid of a cain and this figure is also referred to as princess Angeline.
Black Shawl Woman
Black Shawl was the second wife of Crazy Horse, whom she married in 1871. She had a daughter by the same year, whose name was They Are Afraid of Her. They Are Afraid of Her died at age three, likely of cholera. Black Shawl also suffered the same disease, and was treated by Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy. She was the sister of Red Feather, and died in 1920.
Black Buffalo Woman
Black Buffalo Woman was Crazy Horse's love interest, whom he had known since childhood.
She was the daughter of Red Cloud's brother, and was the first cousin of He Dog and Red Heart Bull. Though she was married to a man named No Water, she married Crazy Horse in 1870 anyway as Lakota were allowed to divorce their husbands at any time for any reason. Despite this, No Water was enraged by his wife's elopement. She and Crazy Horse had gone on a buffalo hunt in the Slim Buttes area of what is today Northwestern South Dakota. When No Water arrived he looked for Crazy Horse's tent. When he found it he called out to Crazy Horse. When Crazy Horse answered he pointed a pistol at his heart. Crazy horse's cousin Touch The Clouds was sitting by the door and deflected the gun so it missed Crazy Horse's heart and hit him in the upper jaw instead. He took off and rode his horse to death as Crazy Horse's relatives pursued. However he made it back to his own camp and safety. The elders intervened in the feud and convinced Crazy Horse and No Water to stop, and ordered No Water to give Crazy Horse three horses as compensation for his wound. Black Buffalo Woman eventually returned to No Water, likely in order to avoid further conflict. She and No Water are known to have had three children together. As a result of this incident, Crazy Horse lost his title of Shirt Wearer (leader) among the Lakota but his shirt was never worn again
Dahteste
Dahteste[pronunciation?] was a Chiricahua Apache woman. Despite being married with children, she took part in raiding parties with her husband. She was a compatriot of Geronimo, and was instrumental in negotiating his surrender to the U.S. Cavalry. She spent 8 years in a Florida prison, and was later shipped to a military prison in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Nineteen years later she was released and lived out the rest of her life on the Mescalero Apache Reservation.
Lyda
Eliza Burton “Lyda” Conley (abt. 1869–1946) was an American lawyer of Native American and European descent, the first woman admitted to the Kansas bar. She was notable for her campaign to prevent the sale and development of the Huron Cemetery in Kansas City, now known as the Wyandot National Burying Ground. She challenged the government in court, and in 1909 she was the first Native American woman admitted to argue a case before the Supreme Court of the United States.
Her case appears to be the first in which "a plaintiff argued that the burying grounds of Native Americans were entitled to federal protection."[1] Conley gained the support of Kansas Senator Charles Curtis, who proposed and led passage of legislation in 1916 to prevent the sale and establish the Huron Cemetery as a federal park. In 1971 the Huron Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
From the late 19th century, the cemetery was at the heart of a struggle between the present-day Wyandot Nation of Kansas and the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma. In 1998 the two groups finally came to agreement to preserve the Wyandot National Burying Ground only for religious, cultural and related purposes in keeping with its sacred history.
Cuhtahlatah
Cuhtahlatah was a Cherokee woman who lived during the period of the American Revolutionary War. Her name means "wild hemp". When her husband was killed in battle, she grabbed his tomahawk and attacked the enemy, screaming "Kill! Kill!". Her people had been in retreat, but her actions inspired them to rally and they gained victory in the battle.[1] Her story is contained in the Wahnenauhi manuscript of 1889.[citation needed]
Eagle of Delight
Eagle of Delight, also called Hayne Hudjihini in Otoe (b. c. 1795 - d. 1822), was one of the five wives of Chief Shaumonekusse of the Otoe tribe in the first quarter of the 19th century.[1] They were based in present-day Nebraska.
In 1822, she accompanied her husband with an Indian delegation of chiefs to Washington D.C., where they met James Monroe, the President of the United States. She was described by those who met her as beautiful and charming. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) commissioned Charles Bird King to paint portraits of Hudjihini and Shaumonekusse.
Shortly after her visit, Hudjihini died of measles, probably contracted during her travels. It was one of the endemic Eurasian infectious diseases to which Native Americans had no natural immunity.
Although the original portrait of Eagle of Delight was destroyed in a fire at the Smithsonian Institution in 1865, a patron donated King's personal copy to the White House in 1962. The portrait now hangs in the White House library.
Glory of the Morning
Glory of the Morning was the first woman ever described in the written history of Wisconsin,[1] and the only known female chief of the Hocąk (Winnebago) nation. At least one source has rendered her name as Hopokoekau, which is a corruption of Hąboguwįga, from hąp, "day"; ho-, "the time at which"; gu, "to come arriving"; -wį, an affix indicating the feminine gender; and -ga, a definite article used for personal names.[2] The name is conventionally translated as, "Glory of the Morning" or "The Coming Dawn." She was the daughter of the chief of the tribe,[3] and therefore a member of the Thunderbird Clan who lived in a large village on Doty Island in what is now Neenah. Sometime before 1730, the French—in connection with their development of the vast territory of Louisiana-- renewed contact with the tribe. A small force of French troops under the command of Sabrevoir De Carrie visited the Hocągara and established cordial relations. The opportunities of this contact impressed themselves upon De Carrie, who resigned his commission to become a fur trader among the tribe. It was around this time that he married Glory of the Morning. It cannot be established whether she was made chief before or after this marriage. Her marriage seems to have enhanced her status, as De Carrie is remembered very favorably in the Hocąk oral tradition, which says, "in his affairs he was most emphatically a leader of men."[4] Glory of the Morning bore him two sons and a daughter.[5]
George B. Campion, The Battle of Sainte-Foy.
The eldest son was Cugiga, "Spoon, Ladle", known to history as "Spoon Dekaury". The younger son was known as Cap’osgaga, "White Breast", also called "Buzzard Decorah". In time the marriage dissolved, and De Carrie returned to his residence in Quebec, taking his little daughter with him. When she grew up, she married Laurent Fily, an Indian trader in Quebec. When the French and Indian War broke out, De Carrie resumed his commission in the French army, and during the Battle of Sainte-Foy (April 28, 1760) was mortally wounded and later died in the hospital in Montreal.[6]
As the French struggled with the Fox over the fur trade, Glory of the Morning firmly allied herself with her husband's people, precipitating seven years of war with their neighbors. In the end, she was instrumental in bringing peace. Later she allowed renewed warfare against the Illini, her braves falling upon the Michigamea and the Cahokia. When war between France and England broke out in 1754, the Hocak warriors attacked the English settlements far to the east. However, when the British overcame the French, Glory of the Morning established friendly relations with them and refused to tread the war path of Pontiac.[7] Three years later Capt. Jonathan Carver, a Connecticut Yankee in the service of the Crown, paid a visit to her village in 1766, and gives an interesting account of her.
On the 25th [of September] I left the Green Bay, and proceeded up Fox River, ſtill in company with the traders and ſome Indians. On the 25th I arrived at the great town of the Winnebagoes, ſituated on a ſmall iſland juſt as you enter the eaſt end of Lake Winnebago. Here the queen who preſided over this tribe inſtead of a Sachem, received me with great civility, and entertained me in a very diſtinguiſhed manner, during the four days I continued with her. The day after my arrival I held a council with the chiefs, of whom I aſked permiſſion to paſs through their country, in my way to more remote nations on buſineſs of importance. This was readily granted me, the requeſt being eſteemed by them as a great compliment paid to their tribe. The Queen ſat in (33) the council, but only aſked a few queſtions, or gave ſome trifling directions in matters relative to the ſtate; for women are never allowed to ſit in their councils, except they happen to be inveſted with the ſupreme authority, and then it is not cuſtomary for them to make any formal ſpeeches as the chiefs do. She was a very ancient woman, ſmall in ſtature, and not much diſtinguiſhed by her dreſs from ſeveral young women that attended her. Theſe her attendants ſeemed greatly pleaſed whenever I ſhowed any tokens of reſpect to their queen, particularly when I ſaluted her, which I frequently did to acquire her favour. On theſe occaſions the good old lady endeavoured to aſſume a juvenile gaiety, and by her ſmiles ſhowed ſhe was equally pleaſed with the attention I paid her. ... Having made ſome acceptable preſents to the good old queen, and received her bleſſing, I left the town of the Winnebagoes on the 29th of September ...[8]
Nothing is heard of her until the Kinzies visited her in 1832. She had lived to an unheard of age. Mrs. Kinzie paints a portrait of her:
There was among their number, this year, one whom I had never before seen—the mother of the elder Day-kau-ray. No one could tell her age, but all agreed that she must have seen upwards of a hundred winters. Her eyes dimmed, and almost white with age—her face dark and withered, like a baked apple—her voice tremulous and feeble, except when raised in fury to reprove her graceless grandsons, who were fond of playing her all sorts of mischievous tricks, indicated the very great age she must have attained. She usually went upon all fours, not having strength to hold herself erect. On the day of the payment, having received her portion, which she carefully hid in the corner of her blanket, she came crawling along and seated herself on the door step, to count her treasure.... In spite of their vexatious tricks, she seemed very fond of them, and never failed to beg something of her Father, that she might bestow upon them. She crept into the parlor one morning, then straightening herself up, and supporting herself by the frame of the door, she cried in a most piteous tone,—“Shaw-nee-aw-kee Wau-tshob-ee-rah Thsoonsh-koo-nee-noh!” [Žuniya-ąké ho(kik)čąbira čųšgunįno] (Silver-man I have no looking glass.) My husband smiling and taking up the same little tone, cried, in return,— “Do you wish to look at yourself mother?” The idea seemed to her so irresistibly comic that she laughed until she was fairly obliged to seat herself upon the floor and give way to her enjoyment. She then owned that it was for one of the boys that she wanted the little mirror. When her Father had given it to her, she found that she had “no comb,” then that she had “no knife,” then that she had “no calico shawl,” until it ended, as it generally did, by Shaw-nee-aw-kee paying pretty dearly for his joke.[9]
She must have died soon afterwards. Hocąk lore has filled in the details. The tradition says that when she was out among the pines, an owl, a creature of ill omen, perched nearby and uttered her name.[10] That night, wrapped in her furs with a smile on her face, she died. Strangely, during the raging blizzard that engulfed the village that night, the rare sound of thunder could be heard, as the patron deities of her clan called her home.[11]
Her offspring flourished as the famed Decorah family, who supplied countless chiefs to the nation.[12] Her grandson was Chief Waukon Decorah, the eponym of two cities in Iowa, Waukon and Decorah.[13]