Eye-Opening Photographs That Capture The Real Native American Way Of Life

The fabulously dressed man you see here apparently belonged to the Cherokee. The Cherokee were actually one of North America’s largest tribes when Europeans began to arrive. Back in 1650, in fact, there were 22,500 or so members scattered over a territory of some 40,000 square miles. And many people around today can trace their roots back to these ancestors. Around 820,000 people claimed they had Cherokee ancestry in the 2010 U.S. Census.

Here’s a group of Bannock people in Idaho. The Bannock could be found mainly along the stretch of the Snake River in Idaho, and as the 19th century rolled on they became closely associated with the Shoshone tribe. Buffalo hunting was at the center of their semi-nomadic lives, although they also harvested fruits and feasted on salmon during the summer months. But, sadly, these people saw their fair share of tragedy. The 1878 Bannock War – a rebellion against the reservation program – ended with the slaughter of around 140 warriors. They’ve since dwindled in number, too. Incredibly, the 2010 U.S. census found only 89 people who identified as Bannock.

This Yuma man with his elaborate face paint holds a flute to his lips, and we only wish we could hear the tunes he played. The Yuma people were actually made up of several tribes, including the Maricopa, the Quechan and the Mohave, and you could find them in the vicinity of the Colorado River as well as the foothills of the Chocolate Mountains. For food, they typically cultivated crops such as beans and corn and hunted rabbits and antelope. And there are still plenty of Yuma around today. In 2010 the U.S. Census recorded just over 10,000 people who identified themselves as belonging to the tribe.

A family of Blackfoot people is seen here on their way to eastern Canada. And they’re using the traditional carriage vehicle of many Native Americans: the travois. In this case, it’s being pulled by horses, although dogs could also drag this simple contraption across the prairies. How do you make an authentic travois? Well, you just need to bind two crossed poles with buffalo hide or sinew, and you have a neat way of transporting goods or even carrying the ill or infirm.

It’s 1923, and a distinguished group of Pueblo chiefs have gathered at the U.S. Capitol. They’ve traveled there for a hearing of the Senate Lands Committee, making them the first of their people to visit Washington, D.C. since the time of Abraham Lincoln. The chiefs were campaigning against a bill to allow settlers easier access to Pueblo lands. And, happily, it was a fight they ultimately won.

This Native American man stands atop a Californian bluff, looking down at a new arrival in his land: the railroad. To be more precise, that’s the Central Pacific Railroad, which was built over a seven-year period from 1862. And, naturally, railways had a profound impact on America’s indigenous peoples – changing their environments forever and altering their ways of life.

This extraordinary-looking holy man in this 1914 image is a member of the Koskimo tribe. He’s a Hamatsa shaman and can be seen emerging from the forest after days of observing an initiation ceremony. A section of the Quatsino First Nation, the Koskimo lived on Vancouver Island in Canada’s British Columbia.

Edward S. Curtis created this captivating image of a Cheyenne man in 1905. It’s just one of a whopping 40,000 photos of indigenous people that Curtis took over three decades, and he would go on to compile these snaps in his 20-volume collection The North American Indian. Appropriately, The New York Herald called the monumental work “the most ambitious enterprise in publishing since the production of the King James Bible.” However, it sold only 19 copies when it was published in 1930.

We bet the feathered headdresses were the first things you noticed about these two men. And that’s appropriate, as feathers are an important part of Native American culture, symbolizing everything from strength to freedom and wisdom. The most prized examples? Well, they come from the golden eagle and the bald eagle, as those birds soar close to heaven.

Standing in front of their lodge in Loup, Nebraska, this family are from the Pawnee people. The Pawnee tribe lived around Nebraska’s Platte River – often in earthen lodges, though they moved to teepees while hunting buffalo. Nowadays, however, you’re more likely to find these indigenous people further north in the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. Another 3,000 Pawnee Native Americans are scattered about the wider continent.

This Hopi man is ready to travel on a fully saddled horse – even though many indigenous people actually rode bareback. And here’s a myth we have to bust: while we usually associate Native Americans with horses, they actually lived without the animals for around 10,000 years. It’s said that the Spanish introduced them to the animals back in the 17th century.

Little Bear was Cheyenne, and he’s pictured here in 1875 in traditional dress with impressive beadwork. A decade before this photo was taken, however, he had the misfortune to witness the Sand Creek massacre of his people. U.S. cavalrymen killed about 150 Cheyenne in a surprise dawn attack in Sand Creek, Colorado. Even worse, the soldiers also burned the settlement down.

Captured in 1859 or 1860, this image shows four of the principal chiefs of the Arapaho people. And the character on the far right is Warshinun – sometimes known by the name of Chief Friday. As a young boy, Warshinun somehow became separated from his people, who lived along the Cache la Poudre River in Colorado. Thankfully, he was eventually rescued by a fur trapper, and for a time he even attended school in St. Louis. That meant he ultimately learned English, which enabled him to play an important role as an interpreter and negotiator for members of his tribe.

Here are four Arikara medicine men performing a ceremony that was intended to bring rain and food to their people. In the late 19th century, government officers attempted to ban such acts of worship – although enforcement of this was nigh-on impossible. This 1908 image, then? It was set up by the legendary photographer of Native Americans, Edward S. Curtis. Apparently, it was he who arranged this performance of the ritual.

This 1882 image shows the famous Lakota Sioux chief Sitting Bull with his mother, a sister, two of his daughters and a grandson. Famously, he was the principal leader of the Cheyenne and Sioux braves that fought the U.S. Cavalry at the Battle of Little Big Horn. If you don’t remember from history class, General George Custer and his troops had previously threatened a large Native American settlement. Bad idea, to say the least! The Native Americans retaliated, and Custer and 210 of his men were ultimately killed in the ensuing skirmish.

This impressive group of Sioux and Arapaho chiefs includes Spotted Tail, Worshinun, Black Coal and Touch the Sky. The two white men? They acted as interpreters. The 1877 delegation to Washington, D.C. came the year after the Battle of Little Big Horn, and the group were asking the U.S. government to deal fairly with them as they were forced into reserves.

Weasel Calf of the Siksika Nation poses in full ceremonial dress in a photo from about 1910. The Siksika are part of the Blackfoot Confederacy, which is based in Alberta, Canada – although members of the tribe once roamed as far south as the Yellowstone River in Montana. And they had the nomadic lives of Plains Indians, hunting buffalo and living off the land. The around 7,500 Siksika people across Canada today may just get their meat pre-caught, though...

This venerable woman was photographed in 1888, when she was said to be almost 100 years old. She was Cheyenne – one of the so-called Plains Indian peoples who lived in the lands between the Arkansas and Platte rivers. And from 1857, members of the tribe came into direct and often bitter conflict with white settlers and U.S. soldiers. The Cheyenne got revenge of a sort, though, at the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Another of Edward S. Curtis’ evocative images depicts a young Apache woman called Yuls-Huls-Walking. And while she can be seen wearing what has been described as a “Christian medallion,” we can assume that she’d actually adopted the religion of the people who had settled her ancestral lands.

Three women in elegant traditional dress are at a Native American fair in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. They’re selling crafts such as beaded belts and jewelry at a 1941 event organized by the local indigenous association. It’s a neat snapshot of life as it was, and we have the influential anthropologist John Collier Jr. to thank for capturing it for us.

Yellow Kidney and Little Plume are seen here relaxing in their lodge. They were both members of the Piegan – the largest of three tribes that together formed the Blackfoot Confederacy. The other two groups, in case you didn’t already know, were the Kainai and the Siksika.

This Apache mom and her swaddled baby were photographed in 1873 by Timothy H. O’Sullivan. She’s posing near Fort Apache in Arizona, which had only been established three years before this picture was taken. Soldiers garrisoned at the fort were heavily involved in the Indian Wars that raged in the White Mountains region.

This depiction of Navajo women engaged in weaving is one of Edward S. Curtis’ many photographs. The snapper even gave a description of the shot in The North American Indian, writing, “The Navajo-land blanket looms are in evidence everywhere. The simplicity of the loom and its product are here clearly shown – pictured in the early morning light under a large cottonwood.” Lovely.

Here we see a Chiricahua Apache medicine man with his family, posed at the entrance of their brush wickiup sometime in the 1880s. When the Spanish first explored America, the nomadic Chiricahua tribe lived in what is now the southwest of the U.S. and the north of Mexico. European settlers ultimately pushed the indigenous people out, however, when they came in the 19th century. And that displacement left the Chiricahua landless for a while until they ended up on reservations in New Mexico and Arizona.

This large Sioux camp with its dozens of teepees was located at Pine Ridge in South Dakota – or it was in November 1880, anyway. And, appropriately, the word “teepee” itself actually translates as “used to live in” – which the Sioux did, as these tents were surprisingly spacious! A typical example could accommodate up to ten adults plus children.

One of the best-known Native Americans, Geronimo – far right in this 1886 picture – was chief of the Chiricahua Apache. Born in 1829, the chief led his people in resistance against both Mexican and American attempts to take Apache territory or force them into reservations. At one point, a quarter of U.S. army forces apparently hunted the legendary leader until he was eventually captured in 1886. He then lived on as a prisoner of war until 1909.

This man’s name may be lost to history, but we can say that he was a chief of the Sioux people – also known as the Dakota. We also know that he took part in an 1862 rebellion that included deadly attacks on white settlers around the Minnesota River. But there were horrific consequences for this insurrection. In the aftermath, 38 Native Americans were executed in a mass hanging at Mankato in the south-west of Minnesota.

The great Apache leader Geronimo can be seen here in a pretty unlikely scenario. Resplendent in a top hat, he sits at the wheel of an automobile – a Locomobile Model C – in 1905. His companion in the front seat? A Ponca chief called Edward Le Clair Sr. In 1886 Geronimo was the last Native American chief to surrender to U.S. forces. But although he was then officially a prisoner of war, he was allowed to make the occasional trip from his confinement at Fort Sill in Oklahoma.

Naturally, many Apache bitterly opposed the white settlers who took their lands. This group of scouts, though? They actually worked for the U.S. Army. Yep, the ten men photographed here assisted General George Crook. He was hunting the Apache leader Geronimo, who was finally forced to surrender in 1886 – likely the very year this image was created.

This party is made up of crew and performers from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show – including the chiefs Blue Horse, American Horse and Red Shirt. And they’re standing on the deck of the S.S. State of Nebraska, which set sail for England in 1887. There, the Native Americans would entertain Queen Victoria and hordes of Britons during the monarch’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.

In yet another Edward S. Curtis photo, distinguished Native American chiefs gather sometime around 1900. Starting from the left, we have Little Plume of the Piegan, Buckskin Charley from the Ute, the great Chiricahua Apache leader Geronimo, Comanche chief Quanah Parker, Hollow Horn Bear of the Brulé Sioux and the Oglala Sioux American Horse. And even though this photograph is obviously posed, it’s truly splendid nonetheless.

These three impressively costumed figures are Yebichai dancers of the Navajo people. The Yebichai were mythical figures who, as legend has it, created the Navajo and instructed them on how to live harmoniously with their world. As for the Navajo ceremonies themselves? They typically involved prolonged rounds of singing as well as the occasional large-scale circle dance.

This photo from 1906 shows two Hopi women dressed in their finest clothes. And we know that they weren’t married at the time, as their distinctive hairstyles – known as squash blossoms – were only worn by single female members of the tribe. The ’do wasn’t an easy one to master, either! Squash blossoms were constructed around a wooden frame that was only removed after the hair was perfected.

It looks like a particularly chilly winter’s day as two Apsaroke men sit astride their horses in this Edward Curtis photo from 1908. The Apsaroke people – also known as the Crow – were part of the Sioux Nation of Plains Indians. They traditionally lived around the Yellowstone River, although they later settled in Montana and divided into two groups: the River Crow and the Mountain Crow.

In this Timothy O’Sullivan photograph from 1873, three fierce-looking Apache braves are dressed ready for war. And between them, they carry the full range of weaponry most commonly used by Apache men: a bow, a rifle and a spear. Don’t be fooled, though! Although members of the tribe have been stereotyped as aggressively warlike, they mostly lived peaceably with their neighbors. There were just over 110,000 Apache people living in the U.S. in 2010, according to official census figures from that year.

A large number of spectators watch as Hopi Pueblo girls and women bearing woven baskets perform a circle dance. In this 1890s shot, the females are dressed in matching blankets and stand facing each other in semi-circles. What’s the significance of this ritual? Well, sorry, but to this day we don’t actually know!

These men coming down a mountain excellently illustrate a skill many Native Americans cultivated: unrivaled horsemanship. The riders are from the Blackfoot tribe, and they’re in what is now the Glacier National Park of Montana. Horses were central to the life of the Blackfoot people – as transport, for hunting buffalo, in conflict and even in ceremonial rituals.

In a photograph taken in 1900 or thereabouts, an Apache girl carries a woven water basket on her head. This is known as an “olla,” and the young woman must have been very strong if it was full of water! Today, these elaborately decorated yet completely functional baskets are highly prized by collectors. That means they can attract bids of thousands of dollars at auction.

These young Hopi women with their magnificent squash blossom hairstyles are engaged in the essential task of grinding grain to make flour. And perhaps the fruits of their labor were later used for a Hopi bread called “piki.” This was created from flour from blue corn, and the dough was baked wafer-thin on large flat stones. How many Hopi are around today? Well, the 2010 U.S. Census registered nearly 20,000 people.

The Apache in this 1886 photograph are prisoners of the U.S. government, although they’ve been allowed off their railroad carriage for a rest break as they journey towards a reservation in Florida. One of their number – third from the right in the front row – is the legendary chief Geronimo. Another is his son, who is seen here on his father’s left. The older man had finally surrendered just a few days before this photograph was taken.