Apache Dreams: An Examination From History to Today

Margaret Powell ANT348: Native American Anthropology

Dr. Sorensen July 28, 2014

Pictures from http://www.kiowatribe.org.

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America: the land of the free. The expansion of the country was based on the belief of Manifest Destiny, but the inhabitants of this country might argue against it. Native Americans, as Indians are called now, populated America long before the first settlers arrived here, but their population has continued to diminish over the course of history. This has been true for many of the tribes, like the Kiowa Apaches, but the population of the tribe is gradually increasing despite the absence of the majority of the land previously sacred to them. A thorough examination of the Kiowa Apache tribe will be given, along with a comparison of the tribe with the Shoshone (Shoshoni) tribe to fully examine the complexities of the Kiowa tribe as a whole.

Introduction

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Introduction of the Kiowans and the Shoshones

Drying meat on the Kiowa Reservation (Kracht, n.d.)

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Who Are the Kiowa Indians?

The Kiowa Apaches are a part of the entirety of the Plains Indians. The Plains Indians lands stretch from Canada to Texas, but their lands have been confiscated in order to expand the white mans destiny. It is said that the majority of those who are left in this tribe have been confined to a small area around Northern Oklahoma (Rand, 2008). These lands are not enough though as the population continues to swell over the next several years. The historical population of this tribe is unknown, but the population of this tribe in this present day and age is around 12,000, according to the US Census (2014). As time goes on, the population will continue to grow. The problem is the fact that there may not be enough land for them all.

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Who Are The Shoshone Indians?

The Shoshoni, on the other hand, are different from the Kiowa in several ways. They were a tribe in the northern part of North America, with colder climates but equal hospitable land. They were an agricultural society, meaning they planted and harvested in order to sustain their tribe. They may have moved on the fact of depletion of plant-based sustenance. Also, the men were not the head of the food gathering, unlike the Kiowa Apaches. It is said, As the primary food providers, women possibly obtained as much as 80% of the day-to-day diet . . . of edible plants (Oswalt, 2009, pp. 173).

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Origin Story and Migration History

Kiowans on the move. (Kracht, n.d.).

Kiowa Origins

A man by the name of N. Scott Momaday (n.d.) gave an account of a story told down through the generations on how the Kiowa Indians became one on Earth. His grandmother passed it to him, and it came to her by those that came before her. It reads,

You know, everything had to begin, and this is how it was: the Kiowas came one by one into the world through a hollow log. There were many more than now, but not all of them got out. There was a woman whose body was swollen up with child, and she got stuck in the log. After that, no one could get through, and that is why the Kiowas are a small tribe in number. They looked all around and saw the world. It made them glad to see so many things. They called themselves Kwuda, coming out (Momaday, n.d).

Migration

They came into North America via the Bering Strait. They migrated down through Canada, and they joined up with the Crows and other Plains Indians. Of course, the tribe is pushed further down the US, by the government and other tribes like the Sioux and the Lakota. It is said, By the 1850s the Kiowas inhabited a large territory west of the ninety-eighth parallel, covering much of southeastern Colorado and northeastern New Mexico as well as southern Kansas, western Indian Territory, and northwestern Texas (Rand, 2008, pp. 11). They were much like the majority of Plains Indians, although they were much feared.

Shoshone Origins

The Shoshone have an interesting tale on how they came to be in existence. The story begins with two figures called Coyote and Water Girl. According to Jim Tybo (as cited by Oswalt, 2009), Coyote, a trickster, found a way to copulate with Water Girl, who previously stopped Coyote from having relations with her with a vagina filled with teeth. She became pregnant and gave birth to several children. After they matured, the more pretty ones left with the mother, but the less attractive individuals left with Coyote, becoming the Shoshone people. This is a horrible way to describe life of a tribe, but it seems to be a humble explanation.

Migration

The migration of the Shoshone tribe is quite different than the Kiowa Indians mainly because of where they thrive. The Shoshone are desert people, so it is not surprise that they would arrive in the US from Mexico, along with the Paiute. The Great Basin people were nomadic in nature, mainly because the water in the areas they were living in were sparse (Oswalt, 2009). They were comfortable living is desert conditions, so it is easy to say that they may have been doing this for centuries before.

Historical and Contemporary History

Three Kiowa Men: 1898 (Kracht, n.d.).

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Kiowa Relations

Eventually, the government had corralled the entirety of the tribe into Oklahoma, which severely depleted the sacred lands of the Kiowa tribe. This led to treaty war between the two factions, and some state, Provisions of the 1865 Little Arkansas Treaty forced the Kiowa and Comanche to relinquish lands in Kansas and New Mexico. The Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache were confined following their subjugation at the end of the Red River War in May 1875 (as cited by Kracht, n.d.). They have since swelled the size of their population, working on the land they are trapped on.

Shoshone Relations

The Shoshone have always had a hard time with the government. One main instance was when silver was found within the Nevada hills. According to W. Oswalt (2009), The whites proceeded to displace the Indians without compensation and subsequently tapped the deep hard-rock silver deposits with costly and complex equiptment (pp. 185). They became displaced, and they continued to be so by the government. Eventually, they were corralled within Nevada by the government, much like the Kiowa, on reservations provided. The main similarity that all the Native Americans within this country and Canada is the fact that they have been ill used by the government.

Descent, Kinship, Political Structure, and Religious Beliefs

Kiowa Gourd Dance Procession 4th of July Carnegie Park 2011. (YouTube, 2011).

The Decent of the Kiowans and Shoshone

Several tribes throughout the US practice either matrilineal or patrilineal descents within their tribe, but the Kiowa and Shoshone tribes are different. They practice bilateral descents (Kracht, n.d.). Bilateral descent is where both the male and female side of the family is important. When faced in a matrilineal descent, the wifes mother and womanly ancestors are important, whereas in a patrilineal descent focuses on the husbands family and his male ancestors. When a bilateral descent is available within the tribe, the newly married couple will settle within close distance of family. This is quite true within todays society, although not as often as it was in previous decades. The Kiowa and Shoshone tribes have been practicing this type of kinship system for many years before European immigrants arrived at the shores on the US, and there could be something relative to the positive comparison between the two. Of course, that is a discussion for another time!

Kinship of the Kiowans

So, the Kiowans practice a bilateral descent, and it is stated,

With exceptions, collateral relatives in the grandparents' generation were recognized as grandparents, a person's cousins were "brothers" and "sisters," siblings' children were "sons" and "daughters," and great-grandparents and great-grandchildren reciprocally addressed one another as siblings (Kracht, n.d.). The family is very close-knit, and the intermingling of families allowed for a veritable force on protection.

Kinship of the Shoshone

The Shoshone are very much the same as the Kiowa Indians. They have the same terms as the Kiowans for their kin, as well as cousins. It is said, The kinship terms for parents and their siblings were the bifurcate merging type, whereas cousin terminology was the modified Eskimo type (Oswalt, 2009, pp. 179). Any marriage would increase this ten-fold, which could increase the likelihood of successful farming and hunting. This allowed the families to become a condensed force for protection and sustainability.

Political Structure of the Kiowans

The political and economic situation of the Kiowa tribe is quite simple to describe and understand. The Kiowa followed a system much like what Europeans have been practicing in their own countries. The social castes within were separated, even throughout the political sphere. There is no telling who had the system first, but the idea is very similar. The Kiowas were practicing this type of economic separation long before Europeans arrive in the continent of North America. It is said,

Ondedw kindreds (ten percent of the total population) were led by high-ranking men who possessed supernatural "power" that contributed to their success as great warriors and owners of tribal or personal medicine bundles. Next were Ondegupa, or second rank kindreds (thirty to fifty percent) represented by lesser ranked leaders, and below them were the kwwn (ten to fifty percent), the dapom, "bums," or "no-accounts," and the go.bop "captives"(ten percent) (Kracht, n.d.).

This was based on power and whomever had the most riches. It discriminated by social caste.

Political Structure of the Shoshone

Within the Shoshone, the male is the main decision maker in the tribe. It is said, A male with proven decision-making abilities became a family cluster leader . . . leadership preferably passed along the paternal line, but a male antelope shaman could also become a local leader (Oswalt, 2009, pp. 180). The Kiowas do not place heredity on the top of the leader list. The preferable way should be much like the Kiowas unless the heredity was weakened somehow, like the loss of understanding in dealing with strenuous or unintended situations.

Religious Structure of the Kiowans

Religion is an important part of the Kiowa tribe. They take their beliefs seriously, and they integrate their beliefs throughout every minute of their lives. The Kiowa worshiped animals and nature. Animals were sacred to the tribe, with the spirits able to harm or heal within the tribe. They also believed the sun was the most important in their lives, causing them to do dance rituals for protection. These Sun Dances were used to band the tribe together in order to have cohesion during work or warfare (Rand, 2009). Eventually, the dances were dropped, and Ghost dances became popular. Ghost dances were practices requiring the use of a substance (peyote is common) in order to commune with the Dead for the betterment of the tribe (Kracht, n.d.). Peyote is a popular cactus used in many Native American rituals, and the US even allows this usage for rituals within the country with no penalty.

Religious Structure of the Shoshone

Much like the Kiowans, the Shoshone were animalistic in their religion. The spirits of those Shoshone that are deceased can come back to others during dream states (Oswalt, 2009). It is said, an immortal spirit helper, usually a bird or animal, adopted the dreamer. From this helper, the person acquired a sacred song and learned ritual practices and prohibitions . . . (Oswalt, 2009, pp. 181). A shaman was used as well, for they might have much more dream sequences in order to doctor those of the tribe. Dances, much like the Kiowans, were a big part of the religious system. These can be used as a way to heal the intended recipient (Oswalt, 2009).

Sovereignty Issues

What is sovereignty? It is stated that sovereignty is the power of a people to make governmental arrangements to protect and limit personal liberty by social control and demonstrated how pervasively changes in the Supreme Court's interpretation of this intangible influenced Native American lives (as cited by Garrison, 1996, pp. 265).

Kiowa Sovereignty

The Kiowans had a very poor relationship with the US government to begin with. The main example is through land ownership. It is said, The Kiowas early history on the southern Plains indicates a sophistication that was essential to successful conduct of relations in that world. Their command of southern Plains politics contrasted starkly with American settlers imaginative portrayals of irrational, warring savages (Rand, 2008, pp. 37).

The government was certainly not happy, and the government began taking land without any sincere thought to the Kiowans. In the mid-1800s, a main treaty was introduced between the government and the Kiowa tribe within the Medicine Lodge Creek of Kansas, aptly named as the Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek (Rand, 2008). The Kiowas, having been oppressed by the soldiers of the US government and the unlawful acquisition of Indian land, wanted nothing but peace to live and survive on their land. The government did not care, and they simply just took from the Kiowa.

Shoshone Sovereignty

The main treaty for the Shoshone tribe was the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley. The treaty was not a sovereignty issue, however, because it recognized the tribe and their land, but the treaty did allow the Europeans to stay on the land they were on. It is said, It was a treaty of peace and friendship . . . [and gave] the Indians [a right to] receive goods, supplies, and livestock valued at $5,000 each year for 25 years (Oswalt 2009, pp. 186). Of course, this never happened because of errors of the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs).

This treaty is still being debated today because the Shoshone believe that the government had violated the treaty by not abiding by it. The Shoshoni want their ancestral land back as a result. The government wants to offer money in exchange, but it has negative consequences for the pride of the Shoshone and their heritage (Oswalt, 2009).

Conclusion

A thorough examination of the Kiowa Apache tribe has been given, along with a comparison of the tribe with the Shoshone (Shoshoni) tribe to fully examine the complexities of the Kiowa tribe as a whole. The Kiowans have been through much strain to get to the positive era of occupied US rule. The Kiowans have adapted their lives to fit within the US only because the US has recognized them as a tribe. The majority of Native American tribes explored have had the same experiences with the US, but there has been only a couple that have adapted positively to US assimilation. The Kiowa tribe could be one. The tribes are similar within their religious beliefs than anything, and both tribes believe that animals and their spirits are to be revered and protected. The Shoshone is very similar to the Kiowans in virtually every way, which goes to show that although they are separated, they have more in common than they know. They have both had hardships in surviving, and without help, they may soon perish, taking the history of the US with them. What a sad day that would be for future generations.

References

Garrison, T. (1996). The Nadir of Native American Sovereignty. Reviews in American History (24.2). Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy-library.ashford.edu/journals/reviews_in_american_history/v024/24.2garrison.html.

Kiowasuga. (2011). Kiowa Gourd Dance Procession 4th of July Carnegie Park 2011. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HgrjaZJALs.

Kiowa Tribe. (2011) Photos. Retrieved from http://www.kiowatribe.org

Kracht, B. (n.d.) Kiowa. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved from http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/K/KI017.html.

Momaday, N.S. (n.d.) The Kiowa Creation Story. Retrieved from http://public.wsu.edu/~hughesc/creation_kiowa.htm.

Mayhall, M. (2010). "KIOWA INDIANS," Handbook of Texas Online http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/bmk10.

Oswalt, W. H. (2009). This Land was Theirs: A Study of Native North Americans (9th ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Rand, J. (2008). Kiowa Humanity and the Invasion of the State. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/lib/ashford/docDetail.action?docID=10217007.

US Census Bureau. (2014). American Indian and Alaska Native: Census 2010. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/aian/census_2010/.