Portrait of an Arapaho woman named ‘Pretty Nose’
This photo was taken at Fort Keogh, Montana in 1879, by photographer Laton Alton Huffman. Unbeknownst to Huffman, he was actually providing future generations with a vivid example of equality amongst the Native American tribes. Not only was Pretty Nose a real war chief with the Arapaho tribe but she also participated in the Battle of Little Bighorn which marked the most decisive Native American victory against the U.S. Army.
Pretty Nose was initially considered a member of the Cheyenne tribe but evidence such as her red, black, and white beaded cuffs showed that she belonged to the Arapaho tribe. She died at the age of 101 but not before witnessing her grandson, Mark Soldier Wolf, become an Arapaho tribal elder, join the Marine Corps and serve in Korea and return home safe and sound.
2 thoughts on “7 Photos of Real Americans Like You’ve Never Seen Before”
I was born in New Hampshire about 50 miles south of Canada in the mid 1930’s. Ever since since I could remember, I for some reason revered the Native American Indian and have read many books about how they lived, worked and played. Yes, they had their wars among themselves because they too were humans which many foreign intruders like our ancestors, did not take into account. Late on, after I joined the U.S. Air Force in 1954, I was selected to compete for Airman of the Year representing the Air Force Base where I was performing duty. One question was to describe all the features shown on the buttons of the dress uniform. Easy question plus many more. I distinctly remembered the it was the month of February in 1962 when I meat the qualification board. The last question asked of me was, Do you support Black History Month”? My answer without hesitation was, “I will support Black History Month when we as a nation can have a Native American Month.” Now for the End of the story – – I obviously did not get to represent the Air Force Base. And I still feel the same way because the American Indian was here in this North American territory long before the European natives embarked on this land called the Home of the Free and thee Brave called AMERICA My answer was out of pure respect for the Natives and had nothing to do with ethnicity because slavery ran rampant before the years 2000 BC all over Europe and Africa and we seem to have forgotten that little bit of history which is one of the many reasons we repeat mistakes of our ancestors. #30
This was an awesome read about our country’s background. way back in the day.
It also brought to life, the way we treated the owners of the land. And how we stole this country from them.