Seated: Yellow Bear, J. Merivalle, Billy Garnett, Leon Pallardy, Three Bears
I don't know the occasion, nor where this was taken. It looks as if there more on the right which is cut off. But I am grateful that the names of all these participants were posted on Facebook with their photo. I also notice that the "white men" aren't in uniform. I wonder who they were...
Billy Garnett was an interpreter. Here's a story about him and the murder of Crazy Horse. And here's a great resource that I'll spend more time looking further soon...American Tribes photos identified! I found Leon Pallardy there, another interpreter.
Incidentally, we just passed the anniversary of the Massacre at Wounded Knee. Did you ever see the movie Little Big Man with Dustin Hoffman as the narrator?
And on the American Tribes link I found the same photo without being cut at the right side. The names and tribes are given for the men in it. (NOTE: This was taken at the same time, but some details show it's a different photo.)
Standing L-R: He Dog (Oglala), Little Wound (Oglala), American Horse (Oglala), Little Big Man (Oglala), Young Man Afraid of His Horses (Oglala), George Sword (Oglala) Sitting L-R: Yellow Bear (Oglala), Jose Merivalle, Billy Hunter, Leon Pallardy, Three Bears (Oglala) - 1877
Today's Quote:
Abandon surface impressions and patterns, abandon what has become
comfortable, and embrace the sacred depth of being that asks us to
enter that which is wholly unknown and that which fosters genuine
metanoia [a transformative change of heart]. The Holy Silence
creates an inner clearing that makes room for new life, including
living, breathing Silence. In this dimension
where time becomes space, life is enlivened.
ideas, emotions because they provide a semblance of light. When
light of the soul is blocked, we develop a desire for things, not for
Silence.
a creative purity that is startling, because we are accompanied by
the companion-presence: Love.
From the introduction to:
Silence: The Mystery of Wholeness
by Robert Sardello
Hello,
ReplyDeleteInteresting photo, I wonder the reason for the meeting. Something important, I am sure. Great quote. Take care, enjoy your weekend!
It was probably one where promises were made by white men, which all those American Indians believed, but were later broken (the promises.)
DeleteWounded Knee is a story I am quite familiar with.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your connection to Wounded Knee?
Delete...beautiful images.
ReplyDeleteAnd those American Indians didn't often sit in chairs!
Delete"Young Man Afraid" - doesn't sound like a name to be proud of. Wonder what the story is behind that one.
ReplyDeleteYes, it does make him sound like he'd spend the rest of his life trying to live down that name.
DeleteIt seems like it would have been a momentous occasion for that many to have gathered for the photograph. (and the fact that there's a photograph, period)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it was an occasion the white men had gathered them together for...and the photo was to somehow commemorate it.
DeleteBeautiful historical photos.
ReplyDeleteI had saved the first one when I saw it, and am glad to have found more information. But there's still more to learn!
DeleteThey came to negotiate but what did they get in return?
ReplyDeleteWhatever it may have been, the American Indians lost in the long run.
DeleteBarbara - what a great post. I love the names. Now we know what he is afraid of his horses. I'm afraid of horses too and they know it. I love them but I'm not a horsey person. This photo is so poignant particularly since I've heard this morning about the possible fate of the Seattle Archives as per here. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/30/seattle-national-archives-indigenous-people-property-sale?fbclid=IwAR0uit8TB1mit6AinHpTeiROO3UGJxAgi_76ud9MMdVvl3AMSCjFDyONYi8 And the quote makes for very interesting thinking for me. It is so quiet here in Brisbane at the moment last night with the lockdown. I had great difficulty getting to sleep last night because it was ridiculously quiet. I felt like we were the last people on earth. I am not comfortable with silence obviously. I need to chat less and be still.
ReplyDeleteI envy you the quiet...often we have sirens of either police or ambulances, or sometimes even fire trucks in our neighborhood. I'll check out the link you sent.
DeleteThe wonderful thing about posts like this is that it allows me to see what has hitherto been just the subject of Wild West films as actual history and the history of real people. The photographs bring a reality that can never really be captured by actors and film sets. What a great post.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not the stuff of either movies or TV shows. We Americans need to start re-history-ing...showing the truth no matter how much it shows the dirt of us white Americans.
DeleteInteresting. If we ever made full reparations to our native tribes, we would probably run out of money.
ReplyDeleteYes, just like toward those who were enslaved. We owe them a lot.
DeleteThe second photo looks like the "Offical photo" In the first photo the people in the backrow have their hands on the shoulders of the people in the front row. Maybe the relationship between them was friendly(?) I suppose if they were interpretors they would have had to build up a level of trust with those who spoke the language.
ReplyDeleteI liked looking into the information about the various interpreters. It must have been quite a life to learn how to speak and maybe understand the indigenous cultures.
DeleteI am intrigued by the hand on the shoulder of Leon Pallardy in both photos and on the shoulder of Billy Garnett in the first photo. They lend a sense of intimacy in a formal photograph.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting post. I, too, noticed there were Indian hands resting on the shoulders of the white men in the picture which must have indicated friendship. At least I'd like to think that's what it meant. Some 'whites' were sympathetic with the native's complaints and trials, but they often didn't have any real power to accomplish what they wished they could for those they'd come to know and like. That must have been terribly frustrating.
ReplyDeleteThe photos still have an exotic quality of a meeting of two different cultures. I imagine translating for such a group was very challenging. Did the native chiefs ever see the photos?
ReplyDelete