The American Indian in Postage Stamps

The New America: Knowledge of the Land

Sacagawea Shoshone Guide, Negotiator, and Peacemaker

Sacagawea, focused by her mission to reunite with her birth family at her ancestral Shoshone home, led the 1804 Lewis and Clark expedition one thousand miles over the major portion of its trek across the Rocky Mountains, down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean.

Hardy, resourceful and keenly aware of her indigenous geography, her presence served not only to calm the potential for war with the tribal nations along the way, but to secure the lives of her non-Native companions in negotiations for supplies and safety.

The Legends of the West stamps were the first in the Classic Collection series that featured broadly defined, Americana-based themes. The 20-stamp sheet portrays 16 individuals.

The Sacagawea stamp was issued in Laramie, Wyoming; Tucson, Arizona; and Lawton, Oklahoma, October 18, 1994.

Ingenuity in Written Communication

Sequoyah Cherokee Visionary, Pioneer Communicator and Publisher

Sequoyah, a skilled silversmith without a formal education, understood the importance of the written word or “talking leaves” of the non-Native settlers, and set out to devise a method of writing using 85 symbols to represent all the vowel and consonant sounds that formed the Cherokee language.

Sequoyah’s syllabary was completed around 1821 and brought written literacy to the Cherokee people. It was used to publish books, newspapers, hymnals, and hand bills.

Tsa la gi Tsu lehisanunhi or The Cherokee Phoenix, made possible through the innovation of the syllabary, became the first American Indian newspaper in 1828.

The Sequoyah stamp was the first issue in the Great Americans series. The stamp image is based on a full-color portrait of Sequoyah, painted in 1965 by Charles Banks Wilson, that hangs in the Oklahoma state capital. It was issued in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, December 27, 1980.

Post-Removal Regeneration and Resiliance

The Chickasaw, Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee and Seminole peoples became known by non-Natives as The Five Civilized Tribes after making every effort to adapt to the ways requested by their treaties - establishing courts and a formalized code of laws, and constructing schools and churches. Nevertheless, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law in 1830, intending to open up Indian land for settlement by European migrants. Their lands now appropriated, the five tribes were forcibly relocated to “Indian Country,” today’s Oklahoma, their long walk known as The Trail of Tears. Amid the unjust conditions they had endured, these Southeastern peoples retained their resolve to resettle as sovereign tribal nations, to establish themselves on new homelands and to continue their traditions and cultures.

The Paths of Great Sioux Leaders: Red Cloud

Red Cloud (Makhpiya Luta) Chief of Oglala-Lakota Defender, Negotiator, and Educator

A flood of American settlers was moving west over the Plains by 1866. Red Cloud fought a war to keep the wagon trains from trespassing on Oglala lands and destroying the buffalo herds, forcing the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, which was to guarantee the Lakota possession of their lands forever. The treaty was broken and his people were forced onto the Pine Ridge Reservation. Red Cloud now envisioned that the route to survival and prosperity for his people was education. He petitioned Washington DC for a mission school where the Lakota youth would be equipped to walk equally in both the Lakota and white man’s worlds. A school continues in Pine Ridge as the Red Cloud Indian School, enhanced today by other educational institutions such as the Oglala Lakota College.

The Paths of Great Sioux Leaders: Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse (Teshunke Witko) Shirt Wearer Chief of the Oglala-Lakota Courageous Warrior, Visionary, and Hero

Tireless in his passion to thwart American military efforts intent on the confinement of the Lakota to reservations, the name Teshunke Witko remains a symbol of national pride and resistance among the Sioux people. A suberb military tactician in his own right, Crazy Horse played a major role in the defeat of General George Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. “My lands,” he said, “are where my people lie buried,” and “One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk.” Crazy Horse chose to continue fighting after other chiefs such as Red Cloud and American Horse had chosen to seek peace with the United States. He was fatally bayoneted by a U.S. soldier while resisting his own confinement. There are no authenticated photographs of Crazy Horse.

The Paths of Great Sioux Leaders: Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull (Tatanka Iyotanka) Chief and Holy Man of the Hunkpapa Dakota Determined Defender, Inspirational Patriot, and Educator

Tatanka Iyotaka , or a large bull buffalo at rest, remained resistant to takeover until his death, and was to be the last chief to surrender his rifle. Like Crazy Horse, he served as a combined military, spiritual and political leader, standing firm against land intrusion by those who would talk peace and not guarantee it. At the Battle of the Little Big Horn against General Custer, his spiritual vision of victory was powerful enough to inspire his warriors to succeed. When famine forced him finally to deliver himself and his band into the hands of the United States Army, he still refused to sell his land. Today, once again inspired by the visionary hope of their leader, Sitting Bull College has as its motto that of the great Hunkpapa leader: “Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.”

The Paths of Great Sioux Leaders: Hollow Horn Bear

Hollow Horn Bear (Matihehlogego) Chief of the Sicangu Lakota (Brulé) Warrior, Diplomatic Statesman, and Orator

Hollow Horn Bear fought for his treaty rights at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. A well-recognized speaker for his people, representing them at treaty negotiations, he was a steadfast negotiator for peace in the face of overwhelming force. “You talk to us very sweet, but you do not mean it. You have not fulfilled any of the old treaties,” he said. He was also chosen to represent his people in negotiations with General George Crook at Rosebud Agency, South Dakota. He traveled to Washington, D.C. in 1905 to take part in President Theodore Roosevelt’s inauguration as representative of his people, and walked in the Woodrow Wilson inaugural parade in 1913. His great appeal as a representative of an American Indian nations resulted in his likeness also appearing on a fourteen-cent stamp and a five-dollar bill.

Patriotism: In Defense of Freedom

Geronimo (Goyathlay) Chiricahua Apache Warrior, Prisoner of War, American Icon

A most combative Apache leader, Geronimo resisted all government attempts to confine his people to reservations. “I was born on the prairies where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures.”A masterful warrior-chief, he fought Anglo-American and Mexican encroachment for thirty years, and suffered exile as a prisoner of war to a Florida jail, later to a guarded area in Alabama, and finally returned to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Much of Geronimo’s military prowess was attributed to spiritual knowledge, partly expressed in his autobiography: “When a child, my mother taught me to kneel and pray to Usen for strength, health, wisdom and protection.”

The Legends of the West stamps were the first in the Classic Collection series that featured broadly defined, Americana-based themes. The 20-stamp sheet portrays 16 individuals. This stamp is based on a posed photograph of Geronimo by A. F. Randall. Issued in Laramie, Wyoming; Tucson, Arizona; and Lawton, Oklahoma, October 18, 1994.

Valor: Even in the Face of History

Stand Watie (De-ga-ta-ga) Cherokee Confederate General

American Indians appear in all major American historical engagements. One of two American Indian brigadier generals to fight in the Civil War, Stand Watie commanded the First Indian Brigade, including cavalry and infantry from the Cherokee, Seminole and Osage, for the Southern Confederacy. He was the last confederate general to surrender. The other Indian general, the Seneca luminary, Ely S. Parker, penned Ulysses S. Grant’s terms of surrender for General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox.

The Civil War stamps were the second in the Classic Collection series. They were designed by stamp artist Mark Hess of Katonah, New York. There are 20 stamps in the pane. They were issued in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, June 29, 1995 (Scott 2975 L).

Valor: Even in the Face of History

The White Cloud (Mew-hu-she-kaw ) Chief of the Ioway Son of White Cloud (Mew-hu-she-kaw ) the Elder Orator, Provider, Peacemaker

By 1900, Euro-American settlers had claimed nearly all of Iowa's 36 million acres as farmland. The original Iowa people had signed treaties to accommodate the expansion and had been relocated to a small reservation in southeast Nebraska where they became increasingly impoverished. Mew-hu-she-haw, inheriting the leadership skills of his father, decided to raise funds by touring with other Ioway in London in 1844-45, meeting with British dignitaries. While there, the entourage dressed in formal regalia and were engaged by George Catlin to perform in his studio and elsewhere for donations, part of which was donated to European hospitals. White Cloud was awarded a gold medal by the king. "The Americans have been long trying to civilize us, and we now begin to see the advantages of it, and hope the Government of the United States will do us some good,” White Cloud said. Today, the tribal headquarters of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska is located on reservation lands west of White Cloud, Kansas.

The Four Centuries of American Art sheet of twenty stamps was issued on August 27, 1998 in Santa Clara, CA. One of the stamps features the 1844/1845 The White Cloud, Head Chief of the Iowas painting by George Caitlin currently in the Paul Mellon Collection at the National Gallery of Art.

The Twentieth-Century American Indian: Entertainment

Will Rogers Cherokee Humanitarian, Author, and Philosopher

Will Rogers exposed the lie of the stereotypical view of the “stoic” or humorless Indian. He reached millions of Americans with his wry social and political commentaries. Born in 1879, at Oologah, Oklahoma and raised on the family ranch, he was skillful at contest roping, becoming popular in Wild West shows and vaudeville as a trick roper. The multi-talented Rogers wrote books and newspaper columns and appeared in movies and on the radio. The three-cent stamp memorializes one of his lines that sums up his approach to life: “I never met a man I didn’t like.”

Issued in Claremore, Oklahoma on the 100th anniversary of Will Rogers’ birth, November 4, 1979, this is the third in the Performing Arts and Artists series of stamps and the second stamp to honor Will Rogers.

The Bountiful Buffalo: Re-building the Lost Herds

To the American Indian people of the Plains, buffalo were considered the ever-abundant bounty; their vast natural herds, numbering in the millions, provided food, clothing, shelter, all manner of tools, and even boats. The Buffalo Nation’s existence was ceremonially appreciated in dance, song and prayer. Ironically, by 1898 when this stamp is issued, the vast buffalo herd, at one time sixty million strong, was reduced to a few hundred animals penned in ranches and zoos. The Native nations, similarly decimated, their economic life nearly destroyed at the turn of the 20th Century, have reclaimed and revitalized this important aspect of their culture.

This stamp is part of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition Issue of 1898, issued in conjunction with the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition at Omaha, Nebraska, that called attention to developments west of the Mississippi River. The design is based on an engraving by Seth Eastman in one of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft’s volumes on the history of Indian tribes, published in 1854. Eastman was a talented amateur painter as well as an Army officer who had spent considerable time living among Plains Indians. It was issued in Omaha, Nebraska, June 17, 1898 (Scott 287).

Today, the 57 tribes of the InterTribal Bison Cooperative have rebuilt an Indian Country herd of over 15,000.

The buffalo is once again part of their peoples’ spiritual, ceremonial and nutritional life.

Cooperative Living, AD 1000 Centralized Cities Under One Roof

Indigenous peoples of southwestern United States realized economic and social safety in thousand-year-old massive structures serving as combined social, administrative and ceremonial centers that still stand today. Known as The Cliff Palace, a stately series of attached dwellings housed the Anasazi, the ancestors of the peoples of the contemporary pueblos. The Palace is dated to between AD 1100 and 1200 and is located in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. About 300 feet long, The Palace at one time contained 150 rooms and 23 kivas, rooms dedicated to spiritual or community meetings, which were entered from the roof level by ladders. The Cliff Palace may have had a population of 120 people.

Before Columbus

The Calusa Indians were a thriving fishing and hunting society dating from circa AD 500 who lived along the southern gulf coast of Florida and into the inland waterways. Part of their spiritual life was their respect for the Florida panther. The Calusa were diminished by warfare with other Native nations and attacks from European invaders, but devastated by new European diseases and are lost to the historical record by the late 18th Century. In 1896, archeologist Frank Hamilton Cushing found this wooden, six-inch-high, human-feline effigy figure (AD 1400-1500) while excavating through a type of wetland that made possible the preservation of such a spectacular example of Calusa culture. Referred to as the “Key Marco Cat,” it is a transformative effigy with spiritual and ceremonial significance.

American Indian Dances

Ceremonial and social dance is a core traditional value among American Indian peoples.

“When we dance, we enter a totally Indian world, and we shake the earth and touch the sky as we continue our culture.” — George Horse Capture, Àani (Gros Ventre) culture-bearer, traditional dancer, museum professional.

This stamp series, designed by Keith Birdsong of Muskogee, Oklahoma, was issued during the Red Earth Festival, one of the largest celebrations of Native American culture. Issued in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, June 7, 1996.

The Fancy Dance, an energetic and spirited dance involving spinning is regularly seen at powwows.

Art of the American Indian Issue (continued)

The Mimbres people of southwestern New Mexico produced a unique style of black-on-white pottery featuring representations of wildlife, humans, or mythic beings combined with geometric motifs. Most bowls of the Classic Mimbres period (circa A.D. 1000-1150) probably served as eating vessels. This striking example depicts two stylized bighorn sheep, animals that were once common in the Mimbres area.

Maxwell Museum of Anthropology The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

Art of the American Indian Issue (continued)

Wood sculpture was a fundamental form of artistic expression among the men of the Northwest Coast tribes, and objects carved and painted in their distinctive style were eagerly sought by tourists and collectors. These two Tlingit sculptures, dated circa 1890, likely illustrate the story of Salmon Boy, a youth who lived for a time with the Salmon People in their supernatural realm beneath the sea.

Phoebe A Hearst Museum of Anthropology University of California, Berkeley

Art of the American Indian Issue (continued)

Using ingenious twining techniques, women of the Great Lakes and Central Plains tribes wove beautiful storage bags of bison hair, plant fibers, and wool yarn, often incorporating stylized depictions of mythological beings into their designs. The thunderbird, which embodies the sky realm, was a favorite motif; this one is a detail from an 1840-1860 Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) bag collected in Nebraska.

Cronbrook Institute of Science Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

Art of the American Indian Issue (continued)

During the early decades of the 20th century, Miccosukee Seminole women in Florida developed a unique style of patchwork clothing. They used hand-operated sewing machines to piece together brightly colored cotton shirts and dresses, and they outfitted dolls made for the tourist trade in miniature versions of these traditional garments. This male doll, made circa 1935, wears a man's foksikco.bi, or big shirt.

National Museum of the American Indian Washington, D.C.

Art of the American Indian Issue (continued)

Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico is known for exceptionally thin-walled pottery decorated with complex geometric designs carefully painted on a white slip background. Master potter Lucy Martin Lewis (circa 1895-1992) helped revive the black-on-white style by adapting 800-year-old Puebloan pottery designs to modern Acoma ceramics. The lightning pattern on this jar, which she made about 1969, derives from ancestral traditions.

National Museum of the American Indian Washington, D.C.

Art of the American Indian Issue (continued)

Weaving is the art form for which the Navajo are best known, and the finely woven textiles from the Two Grey Hills region in New Mexico--characterized by geometric designs executed in natural shades of hand-spun wool yarns with wide or multiple borders-are highly esteemed. Daisy Taugelchee ( 191 1-1990), who set unprecedented standards of fine spinning and weaving, made this stellar tapestry in the late 1940s.

Denver Art Museum Denver, Colorado

Art of the American Indian Issue (continued)

Among the Iroquois, carving was traditionally men's work, and they were adept at transforming wooden utensils into works of art-a skill particularly evident in the diverse human and animal effigies that adorn the handles of ladles. This elaborately carved handle finial, depicting a dog watching a human eating, ornaments a mid-19th-century Seneca ladle from the Tonawanda Reservation in New York.

New York State Museum Albany, New York, on loan to Akwesasne Museum, Hogansburg, New York