1838–1908
A key chief of the Osage Nation, James Bigheart was born in Kansas and, as a child, attended a Catholic mission school. He remained a committed Christian all his life.
A veteran of the Civil War, he was a member of the Kansas Volunteer Academy and was discharged in 1865 as a First Lieutenant.
An educated man, Bigheart spoke several languages, including English, Latin, and French, as well as Cherokee, Ponca, and Sioux. But Bigheart’s main claim to fame was that he insured that the Osage people retained mineral rights to their own land in the very last scrap of territory that they would ever own, Osage County in Oklahoma on the Indian Territory. When oil was discovered on the land, the Osage became one of the wealthiest peoples in the world for a while.
From the word charqui, a South American Indian word.
Less complicated than pemmican, jerky consists of nothing but thin slivers of meat—from elk, deer, buffalo, or any animal—dried in the sun to provide a rich source of nutrition that is long-lasting and easy to transport.
This order of Roman Catholic priests were among the first Europeans to have any significantly close contact with the Native peoples of America, and certainly the first to spread the gospel of Christianity. The Jesuits, because they chose to live among the Indians, were able to observe them and their rituals and ways of life at close hand, and wrote about these fascinating facets of Native Americans in the Jesuit Relations, which fortunately provides us with a contemporary source of information.
A division of the Apache people, the Jicarilla originally lived in New Mexico and Colorado. They lived in tipis and hunted buffalo.
Also known as the Mother of Nations, according to legend Jigonhsasee was the first person to accept the message of peace brought by Dekanawida, also known as The Great Peacemaker, and his ally Hiawatha. This message of peace resulted in the union of five great Indian Nations into the Iroquois League, also called the Haudenosaunee, which was founded in the 11th century.
Jigonhsasee played a major part in the success of the founding of the League. According to legend, all five Nations had accepted the message, but the leader of the Onondaga—a terrifying character named Tadodaho, who ruled his people through a combination of fear and black magic—continued to resist. Hiawatha and Dekanawida sought Jigonhsasee’s help; she came to their aid and eventually Tadodaho was conquered with kindness, his matted hair combed, his twisted body healed. Tadodaho went on to become Chairman of the Council of the Haudenosaunee.
Belonging to the nightshade family, jimsonweed is a tall plant with elegant, trumpet-shaped flowers which bears a prickly fruit. Like other members of the species, jimsonweed is highly toxic but is used by Native Americans from California and the southwest as an important part of rituals. The stems, roots, and leaves of the plant are infused into a tea specially for this purpose.
In the 1850s, a band of Assiniboin were set upon by some Sioux warriors. Among the Assiniboin party was a child aged just 11, named Jumping Bull. Although many of the Assiniboin fled from the Sioux—whose party included Sitting Bull—Jumping Bull stood his ground, aiming his child-size bow and arrow at his enemy. Sitting Bull saved the courageous boy.
Jumping Bull spent the rest of his life with Sitting Bull, and even died alongside him, trying to save him when he was shot.