| Two-hatchet |
| Total population |
|---|
| 12,000 (2011)[1] |
| Regions with significant populations |
| United States, ( Oklahoma) |
| Languages |
| Religion |
|
Christianity and Native American Church |
The Kiowa ( /ˈkaɪ.ɵwə/) are a nation of American Indians and indigenous people of the Great Plains. They migrated from the northern plains to the southern plains in the late 17th century. In 1867, the Kiowa moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma. Today, they are a federally recognized tribe, the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, with 12,000 members.[1] '
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Kiowa call themselves Kaui-gu. Ancient names were Kwu-da and Tep-da, relating to the myth pulling or coming out of a hollow log until a pregnant woman got stuck. Later, they called themselves Kom-pa-bianta for "people with large tipi flaps", before they met Southern Plains tribes or before they met white men. Another explanation of their name "Kiowa" originated after their migration through what the Kiowa refer to as "The Mountains of the Kiowa" (Kaui-kope) in the present eastern edge of Glacier National Park, Montana, just south of the border with Canada. The mountain pass they came through was populated heavily by grizzly bear Kgyi-yo and Blackfoot people. Other tribes who encountered the Kiowa used sign language to describe them by holding two straight fingers near the lower outside edge of the eye and moving these fingers back past the ear. This corresponded to the ancient Kiowa hairstyle cut horizontally from the lower outside edge of the eyes to the back of their ears. This was a functional practice to keep their hair from getting tangled as an arrow was let loose from a bow string. George Catlin painted Kiowa warriors with this hairstyle.
The Kiowa language is a member of the Kiowa-Tanoan language family. The relationship was first proposed by Smithsonian linguist John P. Harrington in 1910, and was definitively established in 1967.[2] Parker McKenzie, born 1897, was a noted authority on the Kiowa language, learned English when he began school. He worked with John P. Harrington on the Kiowa language. He went on to discuss the etymology of words and insights of how the Kiowa language changed to incorporate new items of material culture. McKenzie's letters are in the National Anthropological Archives on pronunciation and grammar of the Kiowa language.[3]
The Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma is headquartered in Carnegie, Oklahoma. Their tribal jurisdictional area includes Caddo, Comanche, Cotton, Grady, Kiowa, Tillman, and Washita Counties. Enrollment in the tribe requires a minimum blood quantum of 1/4 Kiowa descent.[1]
Their current business committee is as follows.
The Kiowa Tribe issues its own vehicle tags. The tribe owns one smoke shop and two casinos,[1] the Kiowa Red River Casino, Morningstar Steakhouse and Grill, Morningstar Buffet, and The Winner's Circle restaurant in Devol, Oklahoma,[5] and Kiowa Bingo near Carnegie, Oklahoma.[6]
The Kiowa were patrilineal with a chiefdom living in semi-sedentary structures. They were hunters and gatherers, meaning they did not live in one area long enough to grow plants or crops, but did trade with sedentary tribes that grew crops. The Kiowas migrated with the American bison because it was their main food source along with an abundant supply of antelope, deer, wild berries, wild fruit, turkeys and other wild game. Dogs dragged travois and rawhide parfleche that contained camping goods for short moves that were for long periods of time. With the introduction of the horse the Kiowa revolutionized their economy and when they arrived on the Plains they were a fully mounted warrior nation. The horses were acquired from Spanish rancherias south of the Rio Grande River.[7]
The new Kiowa and Plains Apache homeland lay in the southwestern plains adjacent to the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado and western Kansas and the Red River drainage of the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma.[8] The Kiowas had a well structured tribal government like most tribes on the Northern Plains. They had a yearly Sun Dance gathering and a chieftain who was considered to be the leader of the entire tribe. There were warrior societies and religious societies that made up the Kiowa society. Kiowa government was democratic. The ideal personality of the Kiowas was that of the young fearless warrior. The entire tribe was structured around this individual. The warrior was the ideal to which young men aspired. Because of these factors, the Kiowa was of utmost importance in the history of the Southern Plains.[9] The women gain prestige through the achievements of their husbands, sons, and fathers or through their own achievements in the arts. Kiowa women tanned, skin-sewed, quilled, painted geometric designs on parfleche and later beaded hides.[10] The Kiowa women took care of the camp while the men were away. They gathered and prepared food for winter months and participated in events.[11]
The Kiowa men lived in the families of their wives extended families, which merged to become a band (topadoga). These bands were led by a chief, the Topadok'i. The Kiowa had two political subdivisions (particularly with regard to their relationship with the Comanche):
Kiowa bands within the tipi ring during the annual Sun Dance:[12]
During the Sun Dance, some bands had a special obligation which was traditionally defined:
The Kâtá had the traditional right (duty or task) to supply the Kiowa during the Sun Dance with enough bison meat and other means. This band was particularly wealthy in horses, tipis and other goods. One of the famous Kiowa chiefs, Dohäsan, was a member of this band.
The Kogui were responsible for conducting the war ceremonies during the Sun Dance. Many famous families and leaders because of their military exploits and bravery, like Ad-da-te (‘Islandman’), Satanta, Big Bow, and others belonged to this band.
The Kaigwu were the guardians of the Sacred or Medicine bundle (Tai-mé, Taimay) and the holy lance. Therefore they were very respected by the other groups and enjoyed a special prestige.
The Kinep or Khe-ate were often called ‘Sun Dance Shields’ because during the dance they observed police duties and ensured security.
The Semat were allowed to participate equally, but had no specific duties and obligations during the Sun Dance.
The Soy-hay-talpupé were often called Montalyui (‘Black Boys’). Like the Semat, they had no specific duties or responsibilities.
The Kiowa people told James Mooney that the first calendar keeper in their tribe was Little Bluff, or Tohausan, who was the principal chief of the tribe from 1833 to 1866. Mooney also worked with two other calendar keepers, Settan, or Little Bear, and Ankopaingyadete, In the Middle of Many Tracks, commonly known as Anko. Other Plains tribes kept pictorial records, known as "winter counts", however the Kiowa calendar system is unique recording two events for each year, offering a finer grained record of the passage of time and twice as many entries for any given period. Silver Horn (1860–1940), or Haungooah, was the most highly esteemed artist of the Kiowa tribe in the 19th and 20th century and a respected religious leader in his later years. He was a silversmith, working both in sterling silver, often made from coins, and in German silver. He did beadwork and featherwork. He was also a graphic artist. He applied his graphic skills to his calendars and he produced at least three different calendar records, adding new entries over time. He drew a calendar for the anthropologist James Mooney in 1904, working in a field notebook that Mooney brought with him from Washington. That calendar is in the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Archives (NAA).[13] He created over one thousand drawings and paintings using Western art media to describe Kiowa daily and ceremonial life at the turn of the 20th century.[14]
After A'date famous Kiowa leaders were Dohäsan (Tauhawsin), Over-Hanging Butte, alias Little Mountain, alias Little Bluff; Lone Wolf, The Elder (Gui-pah-gho), alias Guibayhawgu (Rescued From Wolves); sub-leaders Satanta (White Bear)and Satank. Dohosan is considered by many to be the greatest Kiowa Chief (1805–1866), who unified and ruled the Kiowa for 30 years. He signed several treaties such as the Fort Atkinson Treaty of July 27, 1852 and the Arkansas River Treaty in 1865. Lone Wolf, The Elder (Gui-Pah-gho), became the head chief of the Kiowa when Dohosan (Little Bluff) named Guipahgo as his successor to become the Principal Chief of the Kiowa people. Lone Wolf, The Elder (Gui-Pah-gho), died in 1879. In 1871 Satanta and Big Tree were accused, arrested, transported, and confined at Fort Richardson, Texas, after being convicted by a "cowboy jury" in the Trial of Satanta and Big Tree in Jacksboro, Texas, for participating in the Warren Wagon Train Raid. In some documents Big Tree is translated as Addo-etta (Big Tree).[15] During the transport to Fort Richardson, Satank was shot in an escape attempt by accompanying cavalry troops near Fort Sill, Indian Territory.
The sculptor of the Indian Head nickel, James Earle Fraser, is reported to have said that Chief Big Tree (Adoeette) was one of his models for the U.S. coin that was minted from 1913 through 1938.[16] The last federally-recognized Chief of the Kiowa Tribe was Chief Ahpeahtone, born in 1855 and died Aug. 8, 1930. Through his chieftainship he developed and decided the use of the democratic system of nominating and voting maintaining Kiowa government as the white leaders. He developed the system and organization of tribal business committees to transact tribal business. He saw this would be the best way to govern and lead the Kiowa people. Ahpeahtone invested money, establishing the Kiowa Indian Hospital in Lawton in 1914 that is now part of the Indian Public Health Service.[17]
Plains tribes fought for territory of hunting grounds against other tribes.[7] In the early spring of 1790 at the place that would become Las Vegas, New Mexico, a Kiowa party led by war leader Guikate, made an offer of peace to a Comanche party while both were visiting the home of a mutual friend of both tribes. This led to a later meeting between Guikate and the head chief of the Nokoni Comanche. The two groups made an alliance to share the same hunting grounds and entered into a mutual defense pact and became the dominant inhabitants of the Southern Plains. From that time on the Comanche and Kiowa hunted, traveled, and made war together. An additional group the Plains Apache (Kiowa-Apache), affiliated with the Kiowa at this time.
In closing years of the 18th century and in the first quarter of the 19th century the Kiowa feared little from European neighbors. Kiowa ranged north of the Wichita Mountains. The Kiowa and Comanche controlled a vast expanse of territory from the Arkansas River to the Brazos River. The enemies of the Kiowa were usually the enemies of the Comanche. To the east there was warfare with the Osage and Pawnee. In the early 18th century the Cheyenne and Arapaho began camping on the Arkansas River and new warfare broke out. In the south of the Kiowa and Comanche were Caddoan speakers, but the Kiowa and Comanche were friendly toward these bands. The Comanche were at war with the Apache of the Rio Grande region.[9] They warred with the Cheyenne and Arapaho, Pawnee, Sac & Fox and Osages. They traded with the Wichita south along Red River and with Mescalero Apache and New Mexicans to the southwest. After 1840 the Kiowa with their former enemies the Cheyenne, as well as their allies the Comanche and the Apache fought and raided the Eastern natives moving into the Indian Territory.[18]
The years from 1873 to 1878 marked a drastic change in Kiowa lifestyle. In June 1874, the Kiowa, along with a group of Comanche and Cheyenne warriors made their last protest against the invasion of the white man in the Battle of Adobe Walls in Texas which proved futile to the Indians. In 1877 the first homes for the Indian chiefs and initiated a plan to employ Indians at the Agency. Thirty Indians were hired to form the first police force on the Reservation. [19] The Kiowa agreed to settle on a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma. Some bands of Kiowas remained at large until 1875. By the Treaty of Medicine Lodge in 1867 the Kiowas settled in Western Oklahoma and Kansas. They were forced to move south of the Washita River to the Red River and Western Oklahoma with the Comanches and the Kiowa-Apache Tribe. The reservation period lasted from 1868 to 1906. The transition from the free life of Plains people to a restricted life of the reservation was more difficult for some families than others.[20]
An agreement made with the Cherokee Commission signed by 456 adult male Kiowa, Comanche, and Kiowa-Apache on Sept. 28, 1892, cleared the way for the opening of the country to white settlers. The agreement provided for an allotment of 160 acres (0.65 km2) to every individual in the tribes and for the sale of the reservation lands (2,488,893 acres (10,072.19 km2)) to the United States – was to go into effect immediately upon ratification by Congress, even though the Medicine Lodge treaty of 1867 had guaranteed Indian possession of the reservation until 1898. The Indian signers wanted their names stricken but it was too late. A'piatan, as the leader, went to Washington to protest. Chief Lone Wolf (the Younger) immediately file proceedings against the act in the Supreme Court, but the Court decided against him on June 26, 1901.[21]
Agents were assigned to the Kiowa people. 1873 the first school among the Kiowa was established by Quaker Thomas C. Battey. In 1877 the federal government built the first homes for the Indian chiefs and a plan was to employ Indians so 30 Indians were hired to form the first police force on the reservation. 1879 the agency was moved from Ft. Sill to Anadarko.[22] Since 1968 the Kiowa have been governed by the Kiowa Tribal Council, which preside over business related to health, education, and economic and industrial development programs.[23]
On March 13, 1970 the Constitution and Bylaws of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, was ratified to voters of the Kiowa Tribe on May 23, 1970, which currently governs the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma.[24] A landmark decision and significant legal development occurred in 1998. In Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma v Manufacturing Technologies, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Indian tribes retain their sovereign immunity from suit without their consent even in off-reservation transactions where they do not waive that immunity.[25]
In the year 2000 more than four thousand out of 12,500 Kiowa lived near the towns of Anadarko, Fort Cobb, and Carnegie, in Caddo and Kiowa counties, Oklahoma. Kiowas also reside in urban and suburban communities from San Jose, California to Washington, D.C. World War II rekindled the Kiowa warrior spirit and urbanization and modernization occurred in the war's aftermath. Each year Kiowa veterans commemorate the warlike spirit of the 19th century leaders performed by the Kiowa Gourd Clan and Kiowa Black Leggings Warrior Society. Kiowa cultural identity and pride is apparent in their expressive culture and strong influence on the Gourd Dance and southern plains art.[23]
Documentation of the history and development of contemporary Kiowa art formulates one of the most unique records in Native American culture. As early as 1891, Kiowa artists were being commissioned to produce works for display at international expositions. The "Kiowa Five" were some of the earliest Native Americans to receive international recognition for their work in the fine art world. They influenced generations of Indian artists among the Kiowa, and other Plains tribes. Traditional craft skills are not lost among the Kiowa people today and the talented fine arts and crafts produced by Kiowa Indians helped the Oklahoma Indian Arts and Crafts Cooperative flourish over its 20 year existence.[22]
Early Kiowa ledger artists were those held in captivity by the U.S. Army at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida (1875–1878) at the conclusion of the Red River War, which also is known as the Southern Plains Indian War.[26] Ledger art emerges from the Plains hide painting tradition. These Fort Marion artists include Etadleuh Doanmoe and Zotom, who was a prolific artist who he chronicled his experiences before and after becoming a captive at the fort. After his release from Fort Marion, Paul Zom-tiam (Zonetime, Koba) studied theology from 1878 until 1881, when he was ordained as a deacon in the Episcopal church.[27] He went back to the Indian culture to become a medicine man and a very useful man.[28] Artists' media for their pictographic images were natural objects and animal skins, but for the Kiowa in captivity the lined pages of record keeping books became a frequent substitute for the unavailable natural materials.
Following in Silver Horn's footsteps are the Kiowa Five, or, as they increasingly are known, the Kiowa Six. They are Spencer Asah, James Auchiah, Jack Hokeah, Stephen Mopope, Lois Bougetah Smoky, and Monroe Tsatoke[29] Coming from the area around Anadarko, Oklahoma, these artists studied at the University of Oklahoma. Lois Smoky left the group in 1927, but James Auchiah took her place in the group. The Kiowa Five gained international recognition as fine artists by exhibiting their work in the 1928 International Art Congress in Czechoslovakia and then participated in the Venice Biennale in 1932.[30]
Besides the Kiowa Five and Silver Horn, Kiowa painters active in the 20th and 21st centuries include Homer Buffalo, Charley Oheltoint, T. C. Cannon, Woody Big Bow, George Geionty, Bobby Hill (1933—1984), Harding Bigbow (1921–1997), Jim Tartsah, Mirac Creepingbear (1947—1990), Herman Toppah, Ernie Keahbone, C.E. Rowell, Dixon Palmer, Roland Whitehorse, Blackbear Bosin, Woody Big Bow (1914—1998), Parker Boyiddle (1947—2007), Dennis Belindo (1938—2009), Clifford Doyeto (1942—2010), Al Momaday, George Keahbone, Joe Lucero (Hobay), Ladonna Tsatoke Silverhorn, R.G. Geionty, Huzo Paddelty, Keri Ataumbi, David Williams, Micah Wesley, Thomas Poolaw, Tennyson Reid, Sherman Chaddlesone, Sharon Ahtone Harjo, Cruz McDaniels, Robert Redbird (b. 1939), Gus Hawziptaw, Gerald Darby, Lee Tsatoke, Jr., N. Scott Momaday, and Barthell Little Chief.
Noted Kiowa beadwork artists include Donna Jean Tsatoke, Alice Littleman, Venice Reid, Nettie Standing, Edna Hokeah Pauahty, Leona Geimasaddle, Kathy Littlechief, Marilyn Yeahquo, Katherine Dickerson, Charlie Silverhorn, Paul McDaniels, Jr., Grace Tsontekoy, Richard Aitson, Judy Beaver, Vanessa Paukeigope Jennings, Leatrice Geimasaddle, and Teri Greeves.
Kiowa-Cherokee author N. Scott Momaday won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for his novel House Made of Dawn. Other Kiowa authors include playwright Hanay Geiogamah, playwright Diane Yeahquo, poet and filmmaker Gus Palmer, Jr., Alyce Sadongei, Marian Kaulaity Hansson, and Tocakut.
Kiowa music often is noted for its hymns that traditionally were accompanied by dance or played on the flute. Noted Kiowa composer of contemporary music include James Anquoe and noted for his contributions to Native American culture.[31] Contemporary Kiowa musicians include Cornel Pewewardy, Phillip Bread, Tom Mauchahty-Ware, and Terry Tsotigh.
Kiowa photographer Horace Poolaw (1906–1984) was one of the most prolific Native American photographers of his generation. He documented the Kiowa people living near his community in Mountain View, Oklahoma beginning the 1920s. His legacy is continued today by his grandson, Thomas Poolaw, a prominent Kiowa photographer and digital artist.[32]
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