Oglala

The Oglala (pronounced [oɡəˈlala], meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota
Oglala
language[5]) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with
the Dakota, make up the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority of
the Oglala live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the
eighth-largest Native American reservation in the United States.

The Oglala are a federally recognized tribe whose official title is the Oglala
Sioux Tribe (previously called the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge
Reservation, South Dakota). However, many Oglala reject the term "Sioux" Total population
due to the hypothesis (among other possible theories) that its origin may be a 46,855 enrolled tribal members
derogatory word meaning "snake" in the language of the Ojibwe, who were (2013)[1]
among the historical enemies of the Lakota. They are also known as Oglala Regions with significant
Lakota. populations
United States ( South
Dakota)
Contents Languages
History Lakota, English[2]
Conflict with the European settlers
Religion
Early reservation
traditional tribal religion, Sun
Social organization
Community (Tiyospaye) Dance,[3]
Population Native American Church,
Culture
Christianity[4]
Gender roles Related ethnic groups
Oglala flag other Lakota peoples, Dakota,
Notable Oglala Nakota[5]
Leaders
Military personnel
Artists
Poets
Athletes
Performers
Culinary activists
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
External links

History
Oglala elders relate stories about the origin of the name "Oglala" and their emergence as a distinct group, probably sometime in
the 18th century.

Conflict with the European settlers

In the early 1800s, Europeans passed through Lakota territory in greater and greater numbers. They sought furs, especially beaver
fur at first, and later buffalo fur. The trade in fur changed the Oglala economy and way of life.

1868 brought the Fort Laramie Treaty, and in its wake the Oglala became increasingly polarized over this question: How should
they react to continued American encroachment on their territory? This treaty forfeited large amounts of Oglala territory to the
United States in exchange for food and other necessities.[6] Some bands turned to the Indian agencies—forerunners to the Indian
reservations—where they received beef and other rations from the US government. Other bands held fast to traditional ways of
life. Many bands moved between these two extremes, coming in to the agencies during the winter and joining their relatives in the
north each spring. These challenges further split the various Oglala bands.

Early reservation
The Great Sioux Reservation was broken up into five portions. This caused the Red Cloud Agency to be moved multiple times
throughout the 1870s until it was relocated and renamed the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1878. By 1890, the reservation included
5,537 people, divided into a number of districts that included some 30 distinct communities.

Social organization
The respected Oglala elder Left Heron once explained that before the coming of the
White Buffalo Calf Woman, "the people ran around the prairie like so many wild
animals," not understanding the central importance of community. Left Heron
emphasized that not only did this revered spirit woman bring the Sacred Pipe to the
tribe but she also taught the Lakota people many valuable lessons, including the
importance of family (tiwahe) and community (tiyospaye). The goal of promoting
these two values then became a priority, and in the words of Dakota anthropologist
Ella Cara Deloria, "every other consideration was secondary — property, personal
ambition, glory, good times, life itself. Without that aim and the constant struggle to
attain it, the people would no longer be Dakotas in truth. They would no longer even
be human."[8] This strong and enduring connection between related families
profoundly influenced Oglala history.

Kevin Pourier, an Oglala Lakota

jeweler and sculptor whose
Community (Tiyospaye)
medium is buffalo horn[7]
Dr. John J. Saville, the U.S. Indian agent at the Red Cloud Agency, observed in 1875
that the Oglala tribe was divided into three main groups: the Kiyuksa, the Oyuĥpe
and the True Oglala. "Each of these bands are subdivided into smaller parties, variously named, usually designated by the name
of their chief or leader."[9] As the Oglala were settled on the Pine Ridge Reservation in the late 1870s, their communities
probably looked something like this:

Oyuȟpe Tiyošpaye

True Oyuȟpe (Big Road's band). Other members include: Black Elk
Wakaŋ
Makaicu (Red Dog's band)
Oglala Tiyośpaye

True Oglala
Caŋkahuȟaŋ (He Dog's band). Other members include: Short Bull;
Amos Bad Heart Bull.
Hokayuta (Black Twin's band)
Huŋkpatila (Little Hawk and Crazy Horse's band)
Iteśica (Red Cloud's band)
Payabya (Young Man Afraid of His Horses's band)
Wagluȟe (Chief Blue Horse, American Horse and Three Bear's band)
Kiyaksa Tiyošpaye

True Kiyaksa The Wake Singers, band of

Kuinyan (Little Wound's band) Oglala Lakota musicians
Tapišleca (Yellow Bear's band)

Population
By 1830, the Oglala had around 3,000 members. In the 1820s and 1830s, the Oglala, along with the Brulé, another Lakota band,
and three other Sioux bands, formed the Sioux Alliance. This Alliance attacked surrounding tribes for territorial and hunting
reasons.

Culture

Gender roles
Historically, women have been critical to the family's life: making almost everything used by the family and tribe. They have
cultivated and processed a variety of crops; prepared the food; prepared game and fish; worked skins to make clothing and
footwear, as well as storage bags, the covering of tipis, and other items. Women have historically controlled the food, resources
and movable property, as well as owned the family's home.[10]

Typically, in the Oglala Lakota society, the men are in charge of the politics of the tribe. The men are usually the chiefs for
political affairs, war leaders and warriors, and hunters. Traditionally, when a man marries, he goes to live with his wife with her
people.

Oglala flag
First used in 1961, this flag was approved by the Oglala Sioux
Triba OST Council on March 9, 1962, as the flag of the Oglala
Sioux Tribe (OST). The circle of eight teepees on the flag
represent the nine districts of the reservation: Porcupine,
Wakpamni, Medicine Root, Pass Creek, Eagle Nest, White Clay,
LaCreek, Wounded Knee, and Pine Ridge. The red field
represents the blood shed by the tribe in defense of their lands
and an allegorical reference to the term "red man," by which they
were referred to by European Americans. The blue represents the Oglala flag in use since 1961
sky, as seen in all four cardinal directions during the worship of the Great Spirit, and the elements. It also represents the Lakota
spiritual concept of heaven or "the Spirit World" to which departed tribal members go.[11]

Notable Oglala

Leaders
American Horse (The Younger)
American Horse (The Elder)
Bryan Brewer
Crazy Horse
Crow Dog (Kangisanka)
Kicking Bear
Little Wound
Old Chief Smoke (Šóta)
Red Cloud
Chief Blue Horse
Iron Tail American Horse "The
Flying Hawk Younger"
Big Mouth
Cecilia Fire Thunder
Theresa Two Bulls
Young Man Afraid of His Horses
Black Elk
Red Shirt (Oglala)
Luther Standing Bear
Henry Standing Bear
Russell Means (Oyate Wacinyapin)

Military personnel
Ed McGaa – Korean and Vietnam War veteran
Long Wolf (1833–1892) – Battle of the Little Bighorn and Sioux Wars
Ola Mildred Rexroat – WASP, World War II[12]
Pat Cuny Ola Mildred Rexroat, the only
Surrounded By the Enemy (1865–1887) – also a gunslinger and horse-rider Native American pilot in the
stuntman in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show Women Airforce Service Pilots
(WASP)

Artists
Amos Bad Heart Bull
Arthur Amiotte
Kicking Bear

Poets
Layli Long Soldier
Athletes
Billy Mills, Olympic Champion (1964)
Brady Jandreau, former rodeo rider and star of The Rider (2018)

Performers
Albert Afraid of Hawk - member of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show who died and was buried in Danbury, CT, while
on tour in 1900. His remains were exhumed and re-interred on Pine Ridge Reservation in 2012.[13]

Culinary activists
Sean Sherman, (Pine Ridge, South Dakota,) co-author of The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen.[14]

See also
Sicaŋǧu, Brulé (Burned Thighs)
Itazipco, Sans Arc (No Bows)
Huŋkpapa, (End of Village)
Miniconjou, (Swamp Plant)
Sihasapa, (Blackfoot Sioux)
O'ohenuŋpa, (Two Kettles)
Four Guns

Notes
1. "Pine Ridge Agency." (http://www.bia.gov/WhoWeAre/RegionalOffices/GreatPlains/WeAre/Agencies/PineRidge/in
dex.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20130217190143/http://www.bia.gov/WhoWeAre/RegionalOffice
s/GreatPlains/WeAre/Agencies/PineRidge/index.htm) 2013-02-17 at the Wayback Machine US Department of the
Interior Indian Affairs. Retrieved 25 Feb 2013.
2. Pritzker 329
3. Pritzker 331
4. Pritzker 335
5. Pritzker 328
6. Means, Jeffrey D. (Autumn 2011). " 'Indians SHALL DO THINGS in Common': Oglala Lakota Identity and Cattle-
Raising on the Pine Ridge Reservation". Montana: The Magazine of Western History. 61 (3): 3–21, 91–93.
JSTOR 23054756 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/23054756).
7. Crash, Tom (12 June 2008). "Oglala Lakota College opens their summer artist series" (http://www.lakotacountryti
mes.com/news/2008-06-12/Lakota_Wicoiye/Oglala_Lakota_College_opens_their_summer_artist_se.html).
Lakota Times. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
8. Deloria, Ella (1944). Speaking of Indians. New York: Friendship Press. p. 25.
9. Saville, John J. (August 31, 1875). "To Commissioner of Indian Affairs". Annual Report of the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Government Printing Office: 250. Dr. Saville also listed
a fourth band, the Wajaje, in his report, but while they were closely associated with the Oglala at that time, they
were in fact Brulé.
10. LaFromboise, Teresa D.; Heyle, Anneliese M.; Ozer, Emily J. "Changing and diverse roles of women in American
Indian cultures" (https://link-springer-com.libproxy1.usc.edu/article/10.1007/BF00288164). Sex Roles. 22 (7–8):
455–476. doi:10.1007/bf00288164 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fbf00288164).
11. Oglala Sioux Tribe (http://home.comcast.net/~zebrec/index.html), Official Website
12. "American Indian Heritage Month – Native American Women Veterans" (http://www.defense.gov/specials/nativea
merican01/women.html). Department of Defense.
13. "Albert Afraid of Hawk" (http://www.afraidofhawk.org/Afraid_of_Hawk/Bio.html). Albert Afraid of Hawk. Retrieved
3 February 2017.
14. "The Sioux Chef" (https://sioux-chef.com/about/). The Sioux Chef. Retrieved 13 January 2019. From website
("Sean Sherman: Founder / CEO Chef"): "The Sioux Chef team continues with their mission statement to help
educate and make indigenous foods more accessible to as many communities as possible."

References
Oglala Sioux Tribe: A Profile (http://www.oglalalakotanation.org)
Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-19-513877-1.

Further reading
Ruling Pine Ridge: Oglala Lakota Politics from the IRA to Wounded Knee Texas Tech University Press
Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux University of Nebraska Press

External links
Official Oglala Lakota Nation website (http://oglalalakotanation.info/)
Oglala Lakota College (http://www.olc.edu/)
National Museum of the American Indian: Oglala Lakota art (http://www.nmai.si.edu/searchcollections/results.asp
x?regid=290)

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This page was last edited on 4 June 2019, at 13:49 (UTC).

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