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The Kiowa are a nation of Native Americans who lived mostly in the plains of west Texas, Oklahoma and eastern New Mexico at the time of the arrival of Europeans. Today the Kiowa Tribe is federally recognized, with about 12,000 members living in southwestern Oklahoma.
History
According to historic accounts the Kiowa resided in the northern basin of the Missouri River where the migrating Crow Nation first met them in the Pryor Mountains, then the Kiowa migrated easterly to the Black Hills around 1650. Pushed southward by the invading Cheyennes and Sioux who were being pushed out of their lands in the great lakes regions by the Ojibwa tribes, the Kiowa moved down the Platte River basin to the Arkansas River area. There they fought with the Comanches, who already occupied the land. In the early spring of 1790, at the place that would become Las Vegas, New Mexico, a Kiowa party lead by war leader Guikate made an offer of peace to a Comanche party while both were visiting the home of a friend of both tribes. This lead to a later meeting between Guikate and the head chief of the Nokoni Comanches. The two groups made an alliance to share the same hunting grounds, and entered into a mutual defense pact. From that time on, the Comanches and Kiowa hunted, traveled, and made war together. An additional group, the Plains Apache (also called Kiowa-Apache), affiliated with the Kiowa at this time. The Kiowa lived a typical Plains Indian lifestyle. Mostly nomadic, they survived on buffalo meat and gathered vegetables, lived in lodges, and depended on their horses for hunting and military uses. From their hunting grounds south of the Arkansas River the Kiowa were notorious for long-distance raids as far west as the Grand Canyon region, south into Mexico and Central America, and north into Canada. Even though the winters in their homeland were harsh, the Kiowa tended to enjoy this climate and did not spend much time south of their land. Famous Kiowa leaders were Dohasan (Tauhawsin, BIA), Over-Hanging Butte, alias Little Mountain, alias Little Bluff; Guipahgah (Old Chief Lonewolf), alias Guibayhawgu (Rescued From Wolves); sub-leaders Satanta and Satank. In 1871 Satanta and Big Tree were accused, arrested, transported and confined at Fort Richardson, Texas, after being convicted by a "cowboy jury" in Jacksboro, Texas for participating in the Warren Wagon Train Raid. During the transport to Fort Richardson, Texas old Satank in an attempt to escape was shot by accompaning cavalry troops near Fort Sill, Indian Territory and became a martyr. The Indian Wars
After 1840 the Kiowas joined forces with their former enemies, the Cheyennes, as well as their allies the Comanches and the Apaches, to fight and raid the Eastern natives then moving into the Indian Territory. The United States military intervened, and in the Treaty of Medicine Lodge of 1867 the Kiowa agreed to settle on a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma. Some bands of Kiowas remained at large until 1875 (see Palo Duro Canyon). On August 6, 1901 Kiowa land in Oklahoma was opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation. While each Kiowa head of household was allotted 160 acres (320,000 m²), the only land remaining in Kiowa tribal ownership today is what was the scattered parcels of 'grass land' which had been leased to the white settlers for grazing before the reservation was opened for settlement. Art Kiowa artists are well known for a pictographic art form that is now referred to as "Plains Indian ledger art", and its contribution to the development of contemporary Native American art. The earliest of these Kiowa artists were those held in captivity by the US Army at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida at the conclusion of the Southern Plains Indian war. Traditionally the artist's medium for their pictographic images were natural objects and animal skins, but for the Kiowa in captivity the lined pages of the white man's record keeping books became a popular substitute, thus the name "ledger art".
Twentieth century Kiowa artists include the Kiowa Five, a group of artists whom studied at the University of Oklahoma. The "Five" referred to are the male members of the group. The pictographic art form known as "ledger art" was an Indian art form which had historically been dominated by the male members of the plains culture. However, the "Five" actually had a sixth member, a woman named Lois Smokey. Another prolific and significant pre-Kiowa Five artisan during the early twentieth century was Silverhorn. Well known Kiowa artists of the later twentieth century include Bobby Hill (White Buffalo), Robert Redbird, Roland N. Whitehorse, and T. C. Cannon. The pictographic art of contemporary and traditional artist Sherman Chaddlesone has revived the ledger art form that was absent in most of the art of the Second Generation Modernists that had developed since Silverhorn and the Kiowa Five. Chaddlesone studied under Native American masters Allan Houser and Fritz Scholder and is considered a versatile and widely respected artist. Kiowa author N. Scott Momaday won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for his novel House Made of Dawn. Other Kiowa authors include playwright Hanay Geiogamah, poet and film maker Gus Palmer, Jr., Alyce Sadongei, and Tocakut. Kiowa music is often noted for its hymns that were traditionally accompanied by dance or played on the flute. Traditional performers include Cornel Pewewardy and Phillip "Yogi" Bread. Modern Kiowa musicians such as Tom Mauchahty-Ware.
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American Indian Almanac by Terrell |
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Kiowa ledger drawing in the Smithsonian |
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