Native American Wisdom

October 12
Your mid must never be like a tipi. Leave the entrance flap open so that the fresh air can enter
and clear out the smoke of confusion.
Chief Eagle
Teton Sioux


On this date in Native American history :
October 12, 1492 : Christopher Columbus accidentally lands in the Bahamas.

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October 13
We may misunderstand, but we do not misexperience.
Vine Deloria Jr.
Lakota, Standing Rock Sioux



A Native to know :
Cree musician Buffy Sainte-Marie was raised by a Micmac couple in Canada. She was world-
famous by the 1970's for her singing and songwriting, especially protest songs like "Now That
The Buffalo's Gone."

October 14
The song of the bird in the open tree is the one that brings true music to the ear, while that of the one in the
cage is but a sad imitation.
"Old Keyam" (Edward. Ahenakew)
Plains Cree

On this date in Native American history :
October 14, 1964 : Billy Mills, Sioux, won the Olympic Gold Medal for the 10,000 meter run in record time. 28
minutes and 24.04 seconds-in Tokyo. With his victory came much publicity and distinction. In the 100 year history
of the Olympic games, Mills was the first Native American Indian to win the event.

October 15
In our language there is no word to say inferior or superiority or equality because we are all equal...
Alanis Obomsawin
Abenaki

On this date in Native. American history :
October 15, 1925 : The Vanishing American, a controversial motion picture exploring the
mismanagement and corruption reservations and how this affects the American Indian, premiered
in New York City. This sympathetic view of indigenous people was not completely well received
by the American public, and many debated not only the condition of the American Indian, but
also what should be done for them.

October 16
I can tell my children that the way to get honor is to go to work
and be good men and women.
Chief Running Bird
Kiowa
Did you know?
When a young hunter killed his first deer, seal, buffalo or other
large animal meant for consumption, the community usually
held a special ceremony in his honor.

October 17
Certain small ways and observances sometimes have connection with large and more profound
ideas.
Luther Standing Bear (1868-1937)
Oglala Sioux

A Native to know.
Pretty Shield, Crow, was born in 1857. She became an important medicine woman and an
outspoken advocate for her people's traditional way of life.

October 18
I'm the only one who's responsible for my soul, if I don't do the right thing here. I'm at fault, not him, not the
church, not the mountain over there or the sun. This is the way they teach Indian religion. No one is going
to influence you, no one is going to bring you up to your grave, but yourself.
Alex Saluskin
Yakima 1970

October 19
There are no Indians left but me...(said in anger to his people for turning over 10 million acres
of reservation land to the U.S. Government in 1889)
Sitting Bull (Hunkesni)
On this date in Native American history :
October 19, 1984 : An amendment to the Indian Education Act of 1972 called, the Indian Education
Amendment, was enacted, promising to improve educational standards of Native American
children by extending programs and allowing Indian tribes to engage in a policy of
self determination.

October 20
I went up to heaven and saw the Great Spirit and all the people who had died a long time. Ago.
The Great Spirit told me to come back and tell my people they must be good and love one
another, and not fight, steal, or lie.
Wokova (Jack Wilson)
Paiute spiritual leader 1889

On this date in Native American history.
October 20, 1876 : Satanta (White Bear) spoke to representatives of the United States government
at Medicine Lodge Creek. Satanta spoke of the right to raise his children as he was raised. He
asked not to be placed on a reservation, and said, "I have heard that you intend to settle us on
a reservation. I don't want to settle. I love to roam over the prairies. When we settle down we
grow pale and die." Satanta was later imprisoned for alleged participation in murderous raids on
white frontiersmen-he committed suicide in prison in 1878.

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October 21
When (I was) a child, my mother taught me...to kneel and pray to Use for strength, health,
wisdom, and protection.
Geronimo (Goyathlay)
Apach Medicine Man and War Chief
1829-1909
A Native to know :
Wilma Mankiller was elected the first female deputy chief of the Cherokees in 1983. She was
involved in the Alcatraz occupation of 1969, has taught at Dartmouth College, and has written
her memoir.

October 22
An Indian respects a brave man, but he despises a coward. He loves a straight
tongue, but he hates a forked tongue.
Chief Joseph
Nez Perce 1879


On this date in Native American history :
October 22, 1844. Metis leader Louis Riel Jr. was born.

October 23
To give up when all is against you is a sign of being weak and cowardly.
Chief Eagle
Teton Sioux
In Remembrance :
Of Chief Ten Bears, a great leader of the Yamparika Comanches, who died on October 23, 1872,
following a trip to Washington, D.C., to discuss peace between his people and the United States.

October 24
My son, you are now flesh and bone of our bone. By the ceremony performed this day, every drop of white
blood was washed from your veins ; you were taken into the Shawnee nation...you were adopted into a
great family (at the tribal adoption of Daniel Boone in 1778).
Black Fish
Shawnee

October 25
Standards of conduct were just as rigid as the laws of any other people, but force seldom was
used to enforce good conduct. Each person was his own judge. Deceitfulness was a crime. We
lived according to our own standards and principles, not for what others might think of us.
Thomas Wildcat Alford
Shawnee

October 26
We believe that the spirit pervades all creation and that every creature possesses a soul in some
degree, though not necessarily a soul conscious of itself. The tree, the waterfall, the grizzly bear,
each is an embodied Force, and as such an object of reverence.
Ohiyesa (Charles Eastman) (1858-1939)
Santee Sioux

October 27
We ask every lover of justice, is it right that a great and powerful government should, year by
year, continue to demand cessions of land from weaker and dependent people, under the plea
of securing homes for the homeless?
Delegates of the Choctow and Chickasaw Nation about 1895

October 28
When this pipe touches your lip, may it operate as a blessing upon all my tribe.
May the smoke rise like a cloud, and carry with it all the animosities which have
arisen between us.
Black Thunder
Fox
On this date in Native American history :
October 28, 1871. In Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, indigenous people began a six
month sit-in at the Indian Affairs Office to protest the harsh conditions for children
at reservation schools.

October 29
Marriage among my people was like traveling in a canoe. The
man sat in front and paddled the canoe. The woman sat in the
stern, but she steered.
Anonymous
Art work Maiden in Canoe by Larry Mcdonald

October 30
I am the Maker of heaven and earth, the trees, lakes, rivers, and all things else. I am the Maker
of mankind ; and because I love you, you must do my will...(repeating what the Great Spirit told
him in 1763)
Pontiac
Ottawa

On this date in Native American history :
October 30, 1990. Congress enacted the Native American Languages Act, admitting that "...
there is a widespread practice of treating Native American languages as if they were anachronisms
...there is a lack of clear, comprehensive, and consistent Federal policy on treatment of Native
American languages which has often resulted in acts of suppression and extermination of Native
American languages and cultures...in conflict with the United States policy of self determination
for Native Americans."

October 31
Brother : We are of the same opinion with the people of the United States ; you consider yourselves
as independent people ; we, as the original inhabitants of this country, and sovereigns of the soil,
look upon ourselves as equally independent, and free as any other nation or nations. This country
was given to us by the Great Spirit above ; we wish to enjoy it (at a council of whites).
Thayendanegea (Joseph Bryant)
Mohawk 1794

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November 1
My heart laughs with joy because I am in your presence.
Chitmachas Chief

On this date in Native American history :
November 1, 1972, hundreds of Indian activists banded together in protest at the Sioux Rosebud
Reservation.

November 2
All life was injustice...lightening found the good man and the bad . Sickness carried no respect
for virtue, and luck flitted around like the spring butterfly. It is good to learn this in the days of
mother's milk.
Bad Arm
Sioux 1862

Did you know?
November is American Indian Heritage Month