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The first Crow Dog, who is also called Kangi-Shunka, founded the Crow Dog clan. He was a contemporary of Spotted Tail, but the two leaders had very different approaches in how to deal with the threat of white society. While Spotted Tail believed it was useless to try resisting the white colonizers, Crow Dog resisted. Mary implies that Crow Dog’s attitude set a precedent for his descendants, whom she describes as “a tribe apart.” Cultural traditions are alive among the clan, which suggests that Crow Dog’s resistance—and the continued resistance of his descendants—are what allow them to hold onto their culture and lifestyle, even in the midst of encroaching white society.
The First Crow Dog Quotes in Lakota Woman
The Lakota Woman quotes below are all either spoken by The First Crow Dog or refer to The First Crow Dog. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 12 Quotes
The first Crow Dog was an outcast but also something of a hero. The Crow Dogs wrapped themselves in their pride as in a blanket. […] The first Crow Dog had shown them the way. As a chief he had the right to wear a war bonnet, but he never did. Instead he found somewhere an old, discarded white man’s cloth cap with a visor and to the top of it he fastened an eagle feather […] He used to say: “This white man’s cap that I am wearing means that I must live in the wasičun’s world, under his government. The eagle feather means that I, Crow Dog, do not let the wasičun’s world get the better of me, that I remain an Indian until the day I die.” […] [T]hat old cap became in the people’s mind a thing more splendid than any war bonnet.
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The First Crow Dog Character Timeline in Lakota Woman
The timeline below shows where the character The First Crow Dog appears in Lakota Woman. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: A Woman from He-Dog
The first Crow Dog was a chief who got his name after a coyote and crow helped him while...
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Chapter 10: The Ghosts Return
...story’s narrative to tell the history behind the Ghost Dance, which begins with Leonard’s great-grandfather, the first Crow Dog . The elder Crow Dog received the instructions for the Ghost Dance from a man...
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...the Lakota dancers into the hills of the Badlands, where the dancers began to starve. The first Crow Dog was one of the chiefs who, along with his people, were driven into the hills....
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Chapter 12: Sioux and Elephants Never Forget
...family history. The founder of the clan (the first Crow Dog) was a man named Kangi-Shunka. A warrior, a medicine man, and a chief, Kangi-Shunka is an important figure in Lakota...
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Mary then tells the story of how Kangi-Shunka got his name, which means Crow Dog. It comes from an attack that he and...
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Kangi-Shunka was dying in the snow when two coyotes approached him. They kept him warm and...
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The most famous story about the first Crow Dog is his murder of Spotted Tail, a chief of the Brule tribe. Although the first...
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On August 4, 1881, the first Crow Dog and Spotted Tail got into a gun fight. Spotted Tail had initiated the fight, but...
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A judge in nearby Deadwood sentenced the first Crow Dog to death for the murder and gave him one month to prepare for his hanging....
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But the first Crow Dog did suffer a punishment among his people: he was sentenced to living apart from his...
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Chapter 14: Cante Ishta—The Eye of the Heart
Mary interrupts her story to add that the Crow Dogs still feel weighted by the first Crow Dog chief’s killing of Spotted Tail, even though the event happened about a hundred years ago....
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Chapter 15: The Eagle Caged
...echo history, Leonard gave himself up in Deadwood at the same courthouse that his great-grandfather, the first Crow Dog , had surrendered himself.
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