Sits In The Middle Of The Land - Crow Land Series
When I was an undergrad I came across a speech by Chief Sits In The Middle Of The Land which inspired me to produce the Crow Indian Tribute Series. Sits In The Middle Of The Land's speech mapped out 33 million acres of Crow territory to U.S. Officials during a treaty signing by using the metaphor of the four poles which are the foundation of Crow tipis. The Crow reservation is now reduced to only 2.2 million acres from it's original 33 million acres. After reading his speech, I realized my University was on original Crow territory. I imagined my ancestors walking around Bozeman and wanted to honor their spirits by bringing the Crow tipi back to campus.
Every two weeks I would scout an area on campus and set up my tipis. Usually someone would knock them down by the next day. I was sadden by this experience but continued setting them back up no matter how many times they were knocked down. This act seemed like a metaphor of the Native American experience.
For my last set up I chose the University's football field. It was a perfect ending to the project. My tipis took a final stand on the 50 yard line in America's most hallowed arena and held their ground.
Here are a couple of versions of Sits In The Middle Of The Land's speech found on Little Bighorn College website:
The next speech by Sits In The Middle Of The Land is the often quoted metaphorical piece about the area of Crow Country. He originally gave this speech at the Ft. Laramie Treaty negotiations of 1868 and later repeated it at a council held at Crow Agency, Montana in August of 1873, when it was recorded and published in the 1873 Annual Report of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs.
When we set up our lodge poles, one reaches to the Yellowstone, the other is on the White River (Milk River), another one goes to Wind River, the other lodges on the Bridger Mountains. This is our land.
Another version of this speech, possibly the one originally given at Ft. Laramie, was cited in Peter Nabokov Two Leggings: The Making of a Crow Indian Warrior:
I have but one tipi. It has but four poles. It is held to the ground by big rocks. My east lodge pole touches the ground at the Black Hills, my south, the ground at the headwaters of the Wind River, my west, the snow-capped Absaroke and Beartooth Range, the north lodge pole resting on the Bearpaw Mountains.
Every two weeks I would scout an area on campus and set up my tipis. Usually someone would knock them down by the next day. I was sadden by this experience but continued setting them back up no matter how many times they were knocked down. This act seemed like a metaphor of the Native American experience.
For my last set up I chose the University's football field. It was a perfect ending to the project. My tipis took a final stand on the 50 yard line in America's most hallowed arena and held their ground.
Here are a couple of versions of Sits In The Middle Of The Land's speech found on Little Bighorn College website:
The next speech by Sits In The Middle Of The Land is the often quoted metaphorical piece about the area of Crow Country. He originally gave this speech at the Ft. Laramie Treaty negotiations of 1868 and later repeated it at a council held at Crow Agency, Montana in August of 1873, when it was recorded and published in the 1873 Annual Report of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs.
When we set up our lodge poles, one reaches to the Yellowstone, the other is on the White River (Milk River), another one goes to Wind River, the other lodges on the Bridger Mountains. This is our land.
Another version of this speech, possibly the one originally given at Ft. Laramie, was cited in Peter Nabokov Two Leggings: The Making of a Crow Indian Warrior:
I have but one tipi. It has but four poles. It is held to the ground by big rocks. My east lodge pole touches the ground at the Black Hills, my south, the ground at the headwaters of the Wind River, my west, the snow-capped Absaroke and Beartooth Range, the north lodge pole resting on the Bearpaw Mountains.
