The Indigenous Vibe Tribes

07/07/2024

"A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT"
The Potomac and Shenandoah
1500-1700
When settlers first came over the mountains into the Shenandoah valley in the early 1700s, they found that the land was still the hunting ground of the Iroquois - which were called the Six Nations. This included the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas and later the Tuscaroras.

The two main rivers, now known as the Potomac and Shenandoah, seemed to have had many Native American variances in name. In the early 1700s, the western Potomac River was known as “Cohongoroota” or the “River of Geese” and its head waters were known as the “Quiriough” or its alias “Patawomeck” or “Potowmack”. The South Branch would be called “Wappacomo” by the Algonquin. Once Lord Fairfax claimed this land for himself, the maps he had drawn would keep the early names and contend that the “Wappacomo” was indeed the south branch of the “Cohongoroota” or (Potomac). In these early years, the river from Harper’s Ferry running eastward had many names, and the pronunciations were quite strange to early white settlers. The active American name “Quiriough” was common but hard to pronounce...the settlers preferred the more common “Pawtaw-Moke”, “Pot-O-Make”, “Potomake”, or “Po-to-moke”...it officially became the “Potomac” in 1931.

The “Sherando” had many names before it settled on the Shenandoah. It was called “Shendow”, “Sherundo”, and “Shennandow”. The earliest records refer to the Shenandoah River valley as “Gerundo”.

Native Americans tended to encompass rivers and valleys and areas with one full name, and the “Gerundo” encompassed a hunting ground that was vast and vital to their lives and to their existence. In the early days, the Iroquois chief “Gherundo” or “Sherando” was at war with the Powhatan Chief “Opeck-enough” or “Opechancanough” who was infringing on the hunting grounds in the valley. A band from each tribe had been hunting in the valley when they came upon each other. Opeck-enough returned to his village but left his son “Shee-Wa-a-nee” and a band of warriors to watch over their hunting grounds. It was not long until the main body of the Iroquois returned, and a battle ensued, and Gherundo drove the chief east of the mountains. The European settlers of the mid-1700’s found that the Shawnee were still using the “Opeck-enough” name for a small creek that would eventually become known as the Opequon.

08/31/2023

The meaning behind the feathers we wore

08/31/2023

Virginia Native American Festival returns to Riverbend Park in Great Falls! 🍂🍁
Saturday, September 16, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Experience traditional dances, music, storytelling and authentic crafts. 🎵
Buy Tickets Online ($12 per person): https://bit.ly/3P7JSfy

12/12/2022

03/29/2022

Warning: description of violence

💥 Raymond Yellow Thunder, 1972 💥

The man who caused the American Indian Movement to gain national and worldwide attention was an Indian cowboy from Pine Ridge. His name was Raymond Yellow Thunder and we should never forget his name or the abuses his murder revealed.

In 1972, Native rancher, Raymond Yellow Thunder, was attacked by racists, stripped from the waist down, and forced into an American Legion bar where people made fun of him, forced him to dance, and had lit ci******es put out on him. Raymond Yellow Thunder was castrated, his skull was crushed with a tire iron and he was tortured.

On a cold winter evening in 1972, four young, restless white men and one woman were drinking beer and cruising the streets of Gordon, Nebraska, when they came upon an intoxicated Oglala Lakota ranch hand named Raymond Yellow Thunder.

They grabbed him by the hair, punched him in the face, stripped him from the waist down, and forced him into the trunk of their car. They thought it would be a great joke to shove him half-naked into the American Legion Hall, where a benefit dance was underway.
The townspeople stared in shock as the bruised Indian cowboy in the doorway pulled his shirttail down to cover himself and hid his face in shame. They took him outside to beat him to death. They put him in a trunk of their car and drove around. Then they put him into the cab of a pickup truck in a used car lot where he died. Two little boys found his body a week later. He had died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

His death became notable as an example of a racial assault, as he was murdered by four white men who had bragged earlier that evening about beating an Indian.

Melvin and Leslie were initially charged with assault and battery and released without bail. After AIM protested, the charges were upgraded to second-degree manslaughter. One of the five was never charged with anything. Three of them were charged with manslaughter and the fourth was charged with false imprisonment. But it was two months after the murder, in May of 1972, before any charges were made.

The murders received a light sentence. Leslie and Melvin Hare were eventually convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to six years with a $500 fine, and two years with a $500 fine, respectively.
The authorities were not going to charge anybody at first. But after a protest by a caravan of AIM people and people from Pine Ridge, the Hare brothers were charged. They were convicted and sentenced to a year in prison. The local Indian leaders called on AIM to come in to help protect them.

The AIM protests over Raymond’s killing and the killing of Wesley Bad Heart Bull led directly to the Indian occupation of Wounded Knee in February 1973. AIM later established the Yellow Thunder Camp in Raymond’s honor.

Murders of Indians had been going on in South Dakota for a hundred years by that time. Before the Hares, allegedly, no white man had ever been arrested, tried, or convicted for killing an Indian. It was as hard to convict a white man of killing an Indian in South Dakota as it was to convict a K*K member for lynching a Black man in Alabama.

The signs in stores, bars, and restaurants that said “No Dogs or Indians Allowed” had just started to come down by then.
Raymond Yellow Thunder was born near Kyle on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He was a direct descendant of American Horse, a chief who believed strongly that education and hard work was the best way for the Lakota peoples to advance. Raymond’s parents, Andrew and Jennie felt the same, and they maintained a farm and a small herd of horses. His life was in many ways typical of that era.

03/29/2022

🕺 😆

03/24/2022