On April 3, Dr. Joe Medicine Crow, 102, walked on. The last living link to the pre-reservation history of the Crow people, Medicine Crow was eulogized in many circles – in the Crow nation, in the state of Montana, by President Obama and by Senator Tester, the vice-chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
On April 3, Dr. Joe Medicine Crow, 102, walked on. The last living link to the pre-reservation history of the Crow people, Medicine Crow was eulogized in many circles – in the Crow nation, in the state of Montana, by President Obama and by Senator Tester, the vice-chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
One Crow citizen, now a teacher at Montana State University, sent around a simple message on social media: “For me as a young Crow person, he gave me the idea that I could do or be anything I wanted.”
Medicine Crow was the first member of his tribe to achieve a Master’s degree. His field was anthropology and his thesis was about the impact of contact with European settlers on the “economic, social and religious life of Crow Indians.” He spoke out tirelessly for native peoples.
According to The Washington Post: “In 1948, Medicine Crow was appointed tribal historian and anthropologist. He had an impeccable recall of stories he’d been told as a child… He served on historical and educational commissions, authored nearly a dozen books on Crow culture…”
Medicine Crow became a tribal war chief after completing four challenges – leading a war party, stealing a horse, touching an enemy and stealing his weapon without killing him – feats that celebrate skill and daring more than violence. Medicine Crow met these four challenges – almost by accident, as he tells it — as a soldier in World War II, wearing war paint under his uniform, and feather under his helmet.
