5 #TwoSpirit Heroes Who Paved the Way for Today's #NativeAmerican #LGBTQ+ Community

by Samuel White Swan-Perkins
Nov 20, 2018

"In the 1990s, Indian Country (as we called it) was a very different place for #NativeAmericans. Our rural communities were isolated, with communication limited to landlines and the mail.

"Cigarette and beer companies frequently sponsored our powwows, recycling was unheard of, and the entire Native scene portrayed itself as very straight. Not straight-laced, per se, but really #hetero.

"The term 'Two Spirit' for LGBTQ+ Native Americans didn’t exist yet, at least not outside #Ojibwe Territory. As for the concept—let’s just say that there were plenty of MCs making #winkte (gay) jokes at the powwows I attended in the early ’90s. Still, in spite of prejudice, it was common knowledge that in 'the old days,' most of our Nations accepted and honored #GenderFluidity.

"I recall one of my elders sharing about a man from home who was that way. 'I don’t like it,' I remember her telling me as she braided me up for one of our dances, 'but we love N. and so—not my way, mind you.' I don’t recall the rest of the conversation, but I understood her comments to mean that winkte was not OK.

"Fast forward a couple of decades, and wow.

"Not only did the Native-American population skyrocket in North America, but we’ve gone through a major shift in how Two Spirits are recognized and treated. Today, dozens of Two Spirit organizations exist across the United States and Canada (North Valley Two Spirits, represent!). We have several of our own powwows, 501c3s and models that help sustain and preserve the Two Spirit way of life.

"To get a sense of where we are today, let’s take a look back at some of the original Two-Spirit heroes who helped light the way."

Read more:
https://www.kqed.org/arts/13845330/5-two-spirit-heroes-who-paved-the-way-for-todays-native-lgbtq-community

#NativeAmericanHistory #LGBTQHistory #OshTisch #Wewha #HastiinKlah #Lozen #Dahteste #Colonialism

Native Warrior Women

Indian women have always been written out of history, but their bravery is being rediscovered in archives and Native oral traditions.

May 11, 2023

“#Cheyenne warrior #BuffaloCalfRoadWoman had fought a number of battles in leadership roles. At the Battle of the #LittleBigHorn, it is told she charged #Custer, grabbed his saber and stabbed him, knocking him off his horse, killing him. Afterward, Cheyenne and #Arapaho women stabbed their awls in Custer’s ears, chanting ‘you will listen to our people in the next world.’ They were avenged.'

"She wasn’t the only female warrior at the Little Big Horn. The Arapaho Chief, #PrettyNose, fought there, too. She lived to be 101 years old and her grandson served in the Korean War as a U.S. Marine and later an Arapaho chief, just like his grandmother.

"Lozen (c. 1840-June 17, 1889) was a female warrior and prophet of the Chihenne Chiricahua #Apache who fought beside #Geronimo. She was the sister of Victorio, a prominent chief. Born into the #Chihenne band during the 1840s, Lozen was, according to legends, able to use her powers in battle to learn the movements of the enemy. The Apache tribesman, scholar and author, James Kaywaykla, was a child during the fighting days of Geronimo, Lozen and Victorio. Kaywaykla wrote, as a child:

"'I saw a magnificent woman on a beautiful horse—Lozen, sister of Victorio. Lozen the woman warrior! High above her head she held her rifle. 'She could ride, shoot, and fight like a man, and I think she had more ability in planning military strategy than did Victorio.'

"He added that Chief Victorio honored his sister as a great warrior: "Lozen is my right hand ... strong as a man, braver than most, and cunning in strategy. Lozen is a shield to her people."

Lozen fought beside Geronimo after his breakout from the San Carlos reservation in 1885, in the last campaign of the Apache wars. The band was pursued relentlessly by both the U.S. and Mexican cavalries. According to Alexander B. Adams in his book Geronimo, Lozen would try to ascertain where the enemy was by standing 'with her arms outstretched, chant a prayer to Ussen, the Apaches' supreme deity, and slowly turn around.' The band often relied on her strategic prowess.

"In 1885, Geronimo and about 140 of his followers, including Lozen, fled the reservation when they heard rumors that they were to be imprisoned on Alcatraz Island. Lozen and another female warrior, Dahteste, were designated to try to negotiate a peace treaty. Ultimately, after Geronimo's final surrender, Lozen traveled as a prisoner of war to the barracks in Mount Vernon, Alabama. There, along with many of her fellow warriors, Lozen died in confinement of tuberculosis in 1889.

"#Dahteste was a #Mescalero Apache warrior who rode with Lozen. Dahteste was fluent in English and often acted as a translator for the Apache people and was designated to lead in treaty negotiations with the American and Mexican armies. When Geronimo surrendered, she was arrested alongside Geronimo and Lozen, but was shipped to St. Augustine, Florida, rather than the barracks in Alabama. Nevertheless, like other prisoners in Florida, she contracted tuberculosis and pneumonia, but managed to survive both. Some scholars believe that #Lozen and Dahteste were #TwoSpirits and lovers."

https://www.notesfromthefrontier.com/post/native-warrior-women

#NativeAmericans #WarriorWomen #TwoSpirit