| Total population |
|---|
| 12,000 enrolled members |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Montana reservation and cities, and Albuquerque, Denver, Lawrence, Bismarck, Spokane, Seattle, Chicago |
| Languages |
| Religion |
|
Crow Way, Sundance, Tobacco Society, Christian: Catholic, Pentecostal, Baptist |
| Related ethnic groups |
The Crow, also called the Absaroka or Apsáalooke, are a Siouan people of Native Americans who historically lived in the Yellowstone River valley, which extends from present-day Wyoming, through Montana and into North Dakota. They now live on a reservation south of Billings, Montana and in several major, mainly western, cities. Tribal headquarters are located at Crow Agency, Montana.
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The name of the tribe, Apsáalooke [əˈpsaːloːke], was translated into French by interpreters as gens du corbeaux (people of [the] crows). It means "children of the large-beaked bird," [1] a name given by their neighboring tribe, the Hidatsa. The bird, perhaps now extinct, was defined as a fork-tailed bird resembling the blue jay or magpie. In 1743 the Absaroka first encountered people of European descent - the two La Vérendrye brothers from French Canada. The explorers called the Apsáalooke beaux hommes (handsome men). The Crow called the French Canadians baashchíile (persons with yellow eyes).
Some historians believe the early home of the Crow-Hidatsa ancestral tribe was near the headwaters of the Mississippi River in either northern Minnesota or Wisconsin; others place them in the Winnipeg area of Manitoba. Later the people moved to the Devil's Lake region of North Dakota before the Crow split from the Hidatsa and moved westward. The Crow were largely pushed westward by the intrusion and influx of the Sioux, who had been pushed westerly by European-American expansion.
Once established in the Valley of the Yellowstone River[2] and its tributaries on the Northern Plains in Montana and Wyoming, the Crow eventually divided into three groups: the Mountain Crow, River Crow and Kicked in the Bellies. Formerly semi-nomad hunters and farmers in the northeastern woodland, they picked up the nomadic lifestyle of the Plains Indians as hunters and gatherers and went bison hunting, using dog travois for carrying goods.[3][4]
After Plains tribes rapidly adopted the horse from about 1740, various eastern and northern tribes pushed on the Plains, in search of game, bison and more horses. Because the Crow, Hidatsa, Eastern Shoshone and Northern Shoshone were noted as horse breeders and dealers, and had large horse herds, they were subject to raids and horse thefts by neighboring horse-poor tribes.[5] Because the Indians on the northern and northeastern Plains owned fewer horses than those on the southern Plains, they remained more dependent upon dogs for transporting goods, and hunted bison on foot. The scarcity of horses in the north encouraged raiding and warfare in competition for the relatively small number of horses that survived the severe winters.[6] This brought them into conflict with the powerful Blackfoot Confederacy, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, Pawnee, Ute, and later the Lakota and their allies, the Arapaho and Cheyenne, who stole the horses rather than to acquire them through trade. However, their greatest enemies were the tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Lakota-Cheyenne-Arapaho alliance, they counted as allies (sometimes enemies) Flathead, Nez Perce, Kutenai, Shoshone, Kiowa and Kiowa Apache - with the mighty Iron Confederacy or Nehiyaw-Pwat (in Plains Cree: Nehiyaw - ‘Cree’ and Pwat or Pwat-sak - ‘Sioux, i.e. Assiniboine’ - named after the dominating Plains Cree and Assiniboine - including Stoney, Saulteaux and Métis) as the most powerful.
Their tribal territory stretched from what is now Yellowstone National Park and the headwaters of the Yellowstone River (E-chee-dick-karsh-ah-shay - 'Elk River') in the west, north to the Musselshell River, then northeast to its mouth into the Missouri River, then southeast to the confluence of the Yellowstone and Powder Rivers (Bilap chashee - 'Powder River' or 'Ash River'), south along the South Fork of the Powder River, confined in the SE by the Rattlesnake Mountains and westwards in the SW by the Wind River Range. Their tribal area included the river valleys of the Judith River (Buluhpa'ashe - 'Plum River'), Powder River, Tongue River, Big Horn River and Wind River as well as the Bighorn Mountains (Iisiaxpúatachee Isawaxaawúua), Pryor Mountains (Baahpuuo Isawaxaawúua), Wolf Mountains (Cheetiish - ‘Wolf Teeth Mountains’) and Absaroka Range (also called Absalaga Mountains).[7]
To acquire control of this area, they warred against Shoshone bands (called Bikkaashe - 'People of the Grass Lodges'),[8] and drove them westward, but allied themselves with local Kiowa and Kiowa Apache bands.[9][10][11] The Kiowa and Kiowa Apache bands migrated southward, and the Crow remained dominant in their established area through the 18th century, 19th century and the era of the fur trade.
The Ashalaho or Mountain Crow, the largest Crow group, split from the Awatixa Hidatsa and were the first to travel west (McCleary 1997: 2-3)., (Bowers 1992: 21), because their leader No Intestines had received a vision and led his band on a long migratory search for sacred tobacco, finally settling in southeastern Montana. They lived in the Rocky Mountains and foothills on the Wyoming-Montana border along the Upper Yellowstone River, in the Big Horn and Absaroka Range (also Absalaga Mountains) with the Black Hills on the eastern edge of their territory.
The Binnéessiippeele or River Crow split from the Hidatsa proper, according to tradition, because of a dispute over a bison stomach so that the Hidatsa called the Crow Gixáa-iccá - 'Those Who Pout Over Tripe' (Bowers 1992: 23; Lowie 1993: 272-275). They lived along the Yellowstone River and Musselshell River south of the Missouri River and in the river valleys of the Big Horn, Powder River and Wind River, (historically known as the Powder River Country), sometimes travelling north up to the Milk River.[12]
The Eelalapito or Kicked In The Bellies split off from the Ashalaho or Mountain Crow (Lowie 1912: 183-184). They claimed the area known as the Bighorn Basin, from the Bighorn Mountains in the east to the Absaroka Range to the west and south to the Wind River Range in northern Wyoming. Sometimes they settled in the Owl Creek Mountains, Bridger Mountains and along the Sweetwater River in the south.[13]
The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 confirmed a large area centered on the Big Horn Mountains as Crow lands — the area ran from the Big Horn Basin on the west, to the Musselshell River on the north, and east to the Powder River, and included the Tongue River basin.[14] However, for two centuries, the Cheyenne and many bands of Lakota Sioux had been steadily migrating westward across the plains, and by 1851 they were established just to the south and east of Crow territory in Montana.[15] These enemy tribes coveted the fine hunting lands of the Crow and conducted tribal warfare against them and boldly appropriated their eastern hunting lands, including the Powder and Tongue River valleys, pushing the less numerous Crow to the west and northwest along the Yellowstone.
After about 1860 these Lakota Sioux bands claimed all the former Crow lands lying east of the Big Horn Mountains and required the whites to deal with them regarding any intrusion into these areas. Red Cloud's War (1866 to 1868) was a challenge by the Lakota Sioux to the military presence on the Bozeman Trail, which went to the Montana gold fields along the eastern edge of the Big Horn Mountains. Red Cloud's War ended in a complete victory for the Lakota Sioux, and the 1868 Treaty of Ft. Laramie confirmed their control over all the high plains from the crest of the Big Horn Mountains eastward across the Powder River Basin to the Black Hills.[16] Thereafter bands of Lakota Sioux led by Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and others, along with their Northern Cheyenne allies, hunted and raided throughout the length and breadth of eastern Montana and northeastern Wyoming - ancestral Crow territory. Although early in the war on June 25, 1876 the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne enjoyed a major victory over army forces under General George A. Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, the Great Sioux War (1876 - 1877) ended in the defeat of the Sioux and their Cheyenne allies, and their exodus from eastern Montana and Wyoming, either in flight to Canada or by forced removal to distant reservations.
The Apsaalooke were divided into three independent groupings, that only came together for common defense:[17]
The oral tradition of the Apsaalooke also mentions a fourth group, the Bilapiluutche (‘Beaver Dries its Fur’), which probably merged with the Kiowa in the second half of the eighteenth century.
Traditional Crow shelters are tipis made with bison skins stretched over wooden poles. The Crow are historically known to construct some of the largest tipis. Inside the tipi, mattresses and buffalo-hide seats were arranged around the edge, with a fireplace in the center. The smoke from the fire escaped through a hole in the top of the tipi. Many Crow families still own and use the tipi, especially when traveling. The annual Crow Fair has been described as the largest gathering of tipis in the world.
The Crow wore clothing distinguished by gender. Women wore simple clothes - dresses made of deer and buffalo skins, decorated with elk teeth. They covered their legs with leggings during winter and their feet with moccasins. Crow women wore their hair in two braids, unlike the men. Male clothing usually consisted of a shirt, trimmed leggings with a belt, a robe, and moccasins. Their hair was long, in some cases reaching or dragging the ground,[20] and often part was styled into a pompadour.
The Crows' main source of food was bison, but they also hunted mountain sheep, deer, and other game. Buffalo meat was often roasted or boiled in a stew with prairie turnips. The rump, tongue, liver, heart, and kidneys all were considered delicacies. Dried bison meat was ground with fat and berries to make pemmican.
The Crow had more horses than any other Plains tribe; in 1914 they numbered approximately thirty to forty thousand head. By 1921 the number of mounts had dwindled to just one thousand. They also had many dogs; one source counted five to six hundred. Unlike some other tribes, they did not eat dog but used them as guards, to carry burdens and to hunt. The Crow were a nomadic people.
The Crow had a matrilineal system. After marriage, the couple was matrilocal (the husband moved to the wife's mother's house upon marriage). Women held a significant role within the tribe.
Crow kinship is a system used to define family. Identified by Lewis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Crow system is one of the six major types among indigenous people which he described: Eskimo, Hawaiian, Iroquois, Crow, Omaha, and Sudanese.
The Crow Indian Reservation in south-central Montana is a large reservation covering approximately 2,300,000 acres (9,300 km2) of land area, the fifth-largest Indian reservation in the United States. The reservation is primarily in Big Horn and Yellowstone counties with ceded lands in Rosebud, Carbon, and Treasure Counties. The Crow Indian Reservation's eastern border is the 107th meridian line, except along the border line of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. The southern border is from the 107th meridian line west to the east bank of the Big Horn River. The line travels downstream to Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area and west to the Pryor Mountains and north-easterly to Billings. The northern border travels east and through Hardin, Montana, to the 107th meridian line. The 2000 census reported a total population of 6,894 on reservation lands. Its largest community is Crow Agency.
The seat of government and capital of the Crow Indian Reservation is Crow Agency, Montana.
Prior to the 2001 Constitution, the Crow Nation was governed by a 1948 Constitution. The former constitution organized the tribe as a General Council (Tribal Council). The General Council in essence held the executive, legislative, and judicial powers of the government, and was composed of all enrolled members of the Crow Nation, provided that females were 18 years or older and males were 21 or older. The General Council was a direct democracy, comparable to that of ancient Athens.
The Crow Nation, or Crow Tribe of Indians, established a three-branch government at a 2001 Council Meeting. The new government is known as the 2001 Constitution. The General Council remains the governing body of the tribe; however, the powers were distributed to a three-branch government. In theory, the General Council is still the governing body of the Crow Nation, yet in reality the General Council has not convened since the establishment of the 2001 Constitution.
The Executive Branch has four officials. These officials are known as the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Secretary, and Vice-Secretary. The Executive Branch officials are also the officials within the Crow Tribal General Council, which has not met since July 15, 2001. These officials established the 2001 Constitution.
The Legislative Branch consists of three members from each district on the Crow Indian Reservation. The Crow Indian Reservation is divided into six districts known as The Valley of the Chiefs, Reno, Black Lodge, Mighty Few, Big Horn, and Pryor Districts. The Valley of the Chiefs District is the largest district by population.
The Judicial Branch consists of all courts established by the Crow Law and Order Code and in accordance with the 2001 Constitution. The Judicial Branch has jurisdiction over all matters defined in the Crow Law and Order Code. The Judicial Branch attempts to be a separate and distinct branch of government from the Legislative and Executive Branches of Crow Tribal Government. The Judicial Branch consists of an elected Chief Judge and two Associate Judges. The Crow Court of Appeals, similar to State Court of Appeals, receives all appeals from the lower courts. The Chief Judge of the Crow Nation is Angela Russell.
According to the 1948 Constitution, Resolution 63-01, all constitutional amendments must be voted on by secret ballot or referendum vote. In 2001, major actions were taken by the former Chairperson Birdinground without complying with those requirements. The quarterly council meeting on July 15, 2001 passed all resolutions by voice vote, including the measure to repeal the current constitution and approve a new constitution. An opposition has arisen to challenge the new constitution's validity. The challenge is now in Crow Tribal Courts awaiting a decision.
Critics contend the new constitution is contrary to the spirit of the Crow Nation, as it provides authority for the US Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to approve Crow legislation and decisions. The Crow people have guarded their sovereignty and Treaty Rights. The alleged New Constitution was not voted on to add it to the agenda of the Tribal Council. The former constitution mandated that constitutional changes be conducted by referendum vote, using the secret ballot election method and criteria. In addition, a constitutional change can only be conducted in a specially called election, which was never approved by council action for the 2001 Constitution. The agenda was not voted on or accepted at the council.
The only vote taken at the council was whether to conduct the voting by voice vote or walking through the line. Critics say the Chairman ignored and suppressed attempts to discuss the Constitution. This council and constitutional change was never ratified by any subsequent council action. The Tribal Secretary, who was removed from office by the BirdinGround Administration, was the leader of the opposition. All activity occurred without his signature.
When the opposition challenged, citing the violation of the Constitutional Process and the Right to Vote, the Birdinground Administration sought the approval of the United States Department of the Interior (USDOI), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The latter stated it could not interfere in an internal tribal affair. The federal court also ruled that the constitutional change was an internal tribal matter.
The Crow Nation has traditionally elected a chairperson of the Crow Tribal Council biennially; however, in 2001, the term of office was extended to four years. The previous chairperson was Carl Venne. The chairperson serves as chief executive officer, speaker of the council, and majority leader of the Crow Tribal Council. The constitutional changes of 2001 created a three-branch government. The chairperson serves as the head of the executive branch, which includes the offices of vice-chairperson, secretary, vice-secretary, and the tribal offices and departments of the Crow Tribal Administration. Notable chairs are Clara Nomee, Edison Real Bird, and Robert "Robie" Yellowtail.
On May 19, 2008, Hartford and Mary Black Eagle of the Crow Nation adopted U.S. Senator (now President) Barack Obama into the tribe on the date of the first visit of a U.S. presidential candidate to the nation.[21] Crow representatives also took part in President Obama's inaugural parade. In 2009 Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow was one of 16 people awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Edgar Allan Poe's 1838 novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket features a character, Dirk Peters, who is the son of an Upsaroka (Absaroka) mother and a French father.
The cover of the popular music album America, which contained the Top Ten song, "Horse With No Name," featured the three group members sitting on the floor in front of a mural of Eight Crows.
The tribe hosts a large pow wow, rodeo, and parade annually; the 86th Crow Fair was held in Crow Agency from August 17–21, 2006. Called Baasaxpilue (to make much noise), it is the largest and most spectacular of Indian celebrations in the northern Plains.[22] The photographer Elsa Spear Byron photographed the Crow Fair from 1911 to the 1950s.
Angus Young, a Crow elder and historian, and professor at Little Big Horn College, was featured on the 2006 installment of the PBS television series Frontier House.[23]
In the documentary Native Spirit and the Sun Dance Way (2007), Thomas Yellowtail, a Crow medicine man and Sun Dance chief for more than 30 years, describes and explains the ancient Sun Dance ceremony, which is sacred to the Crow tribe. In the 1994 film Legends of the Fall, based on the 1979 novella of the same name by Jim Harrison, actor Gordon Tootoosis spoke Yellowtail's words to examine the preservation of a cultural and spiritual world before the coming of European settlers.
In 2007 Medicine Crow's grandson Joe Medicine Crow appears on Ken Burns PBS series The War (documentary).