“My friends! Be strong…because me, I am nothing…”
(Sitting Bull’s song, according to Cedric Good House.)
Today is a great day to honor the life of Tatanaka Iyotake, popularly known as Sitting Bull, who died on this day in 1890. Six years ago on December 15th, his descendants held a ceremony for him. Having recently received his leggings and a piece of his hair from the Smithsonian due to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, they held the ceremony to figure out what to do with the items. Check out this great American Public Media interview with Ernie LaPointe in which he talks about that event. Also on that page you can view pictures drawn by Sitting Bull while imprisoned. They are incredible in the amount of detail and the flatness of the human figures compared to the fullness of the horse figures.
Tatanaka Iyotake was a Firebrand! This illustration for Firebrands: Portraits from the Americas is by Roger Peet. Can you think of a Firebrand whose life you’d like to highlight? Leave a comment!