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Activities: Context Activities Star Spangled Moccasins: The American Flag in Native American Culture  Back to Context Activities
In a circa 1874 drawing, the Oglala warrior Sitting Bull depicted a Native American warrior proudly flying the stars and stripes of an American flag as he rides into battle. In many ways, this is a puzzling, even paradoxical, image. Why would the Oglala--who resisted U.S. encroachment on their lands--engage in a seemingly zealous show of American patriotism? Why would they embrace the flag of a country that they had historically perceived as hostile and oppressive? In fact, at the end of the nineteenth century, many Native Americans from many different tribes used flag imagery as a design element in their art, clothing, and crafts. While some of these objects were produced for sale or exchange with European Americans (the tourist trade was a growing component of many tribal economies), there is compelling evidence that many of these artifacts were used, worn, and treasured by Native Americans themselves. Not always literal or exact representations, Native American flag images often modify or abstract the pattern of the American flag, enlarging or shrinking the blue field, omitting stripes, or substituting other shapes for stars. But however the image is refashioned and transformed in Native American art, it is nonetheless recognizable as the American flag. These representations are a testament to the creativity and inventiveness of the Native American artisans who appropriated this symbol of European American power and dominance and adapted it to their own complex and diverse uses. Many of the Great Plains tribes held the traditional belief that flags captured in battle were imbued with the power of the enemy, a belief probably reinforced by the fact that U.S. troops used the flag as a battle emblem when they attacked Native Americans. Upon capture, Native Americans believed that the flag transferred its power to its new owner, thus endowing him with the strength of his adversary. In this context, Sitting Bull's drawing of the Oglala warrior carrying the American flag into combat can be interpreted as a testament to the warrior's prowess and triumph in battle. Similarly, the Lakota tradition of decorating children's clothing with American flags can be understood as a method for ensuring their protection and safety through the flag's talismanic power. One of the few Lakota survivors of the massacre at Wounded Knee was a little girl who was found in the snow, wearing a bonnet beaded with American flag patterns. Native Americans may also have adopted the flag on occasion as an expedient way to make their traditional practices seem less threatening to Reservation authorities. When U.S. authorities banned the Lakota summer Sun Dance ceremony because they saw it as pagan and subversive, the Lakota adapted parts of the ceremony into a sanctioned Fourth of July celebration. Because the traditional sacred colors of the Sun Dance are red and blue, the insertion of American flag imagery did not disrupt the spiritual significance of the ceremony. Native American art also frequently introduces traditional sacred symbols into the representation of the flag pattern itself. Substituting the usual five-pointed stars with four-armed Morning Stars and crosses, Native American artisans transformed the flag into a representation of their own religious and cultural traditions. The varied examples of flag imagery in Native American art point out the multivalence of this symbol. For some artists, the representation of the American flag may have been a means to signify assimilation with the dominant culture, while for others, redesigned images of the flag probably served as a means of proclaiming their cultural independence. Questions
[1086] Lehman and Duval Lithrs., View of the Great Treaty Held at Prarie [sic] Du Chien, September 1825 (1835), courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-USZC4-510]. As the United States pushed west, conflict between native tribes increased due to territorial disputes. The treaty of 1825 sought to end intertribal fighting by establishing fixed tribal boundaries between the Great Lakes and the Missouri River. [1087] Frank Bennett Fiske, Shooting the Last Arrow (n.d.), courtesy of the Library of Congress, American Memory. A group of Indians at a ceremony on a government reservation shoot the last arrow toward the sky to symbolize a new peace agreement and a new way of life. [7411] Juanita, Curio loom with unfinished weavings (c. 1874), courtesy of Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Natural History. Juanita, the wife of chief Manuelito, came to Washington, DC, as part of a Navajo delegation seeking to resolve a land dispute in the Southwest. This small American flag rug, which she most likely wove herself, was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1875. [7414] William Henry Taylor, Juanita, Wife of Navajo Chief Manuelito (c. 1873), courtesy of Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Archives. This is the earliest known image of the American flag motif being used in Navajo rug weaving. [7416] Anonymous, Tray, Apache, San Carlos, Arizona (n.d.), courtesy of the New York State Historical Association, Thaw Collection. Starting in the late 1800s, many Native Americans began incorporating the American flag as a decorative motif in their arts and crafts. An example can be seen in the crossed flags that are woven into the design of this Apache basket. [7418] Anonymous, Boys' moccasins, Lakota (n.d.), courtesy of the New York State Historical Association, Thaw Collection. Reservation period (post-1880) beadwork on these dress moccasins shows how the American flag motif was incorporated into Native American design. |
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