Native American leader

Explore 17 quotes by Native American leaders

Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the clouds and the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children?

Tecumseh

More information about this quote

Topic

Property rights

Speaker

Tecumseh

Language

English

Time

1810 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Tecumseh. Speech to General William Henry Harrison. 14 Aug. 1810, Council at Vincennes, Indiana Territory, USA.

Current Citation

Tecumseh. Quoted in A History of the Indians of the United States, written by Angie Debo. University of Oklahoma Press, 2013.

It is my land, my home, my father's land, to which I now ask to be allowed to return. I want to spend my last days there, and be buried among those mountains. If this could be I might die in peace, feeling that my people, placed in their native homes, would increase in numbers, rather than diminish as at present, and that our name would not become extinct.

Geronimo

On Arizona.

More information about this quote

Topic

Home Native American life

Speaker

Geronimo

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1877 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Geronimo. Speech from Fort Sill. 1877, Fort Sill, OK, USA.

Current Citation

Geronimo. Quoted in Geronimo: The Man, His Time, His Place, written by Angie Debo. University of Oklahoma Press, 1976.

These lands are ours. No one has a right to remove us, because we were the first owners. The Great Spirit above has appointed this place for us, on which to light our fires, and here we will remain. As to boundaries, the Great Spirit knows no boundaries, nor will his red children acknowledge any.

Tecumseh

More information about this quote

Topic

US and Native American relations

Speaker

Tecumseh

Language

English

Time

1810 1810s 19th centry

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Tecumseh. To Joseph Barron. c. 1810.

What treaty that the whites have kept has the red man broken? Not one. What treaty that the whites ever made with us red men have they kept? Not one. When I was a boy the Sioux owned the world. The sun rose and set in their lands. They sent 10,000 horsemen to battle. Where are the warriors to-day? Who slew them? Where are our lands ? Who owns them ? What white man can say I ever stole his lands or a penny of his money? Yet they say I am a thief. What white woman, however lonely, was ever when a captive insulted by me? Yet they say I am a bad Indian. What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and gone unfed ? Who has ever seen me beat my wives or abuse my children ? What law have I broken ? Is it wrong for me to love my own ? Is it wicked in me because my skin is red ; because I am a Sioux ; because I was born where my fathers lived ; because I would die for my people and my country ?

Sitting Bull

More information about this quote

Topic

US and Native American relations American expansion

Speaker

Sitting Bull

Language

Lakota

Time

1890 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sitting Bull. Quoted in Life of Sitting Bull and History of the Indian War of 1890-'91, written by W. Fletcher Johnson. Edgewood Publishing Co., 1891.

Brothers, I have listened to a great many talks from our great father. But they always began and ended in this: "Get a little further; you are too near me."

Speckled Snake

More information about this quote

Topic

Manifest destiny

Speaker

Speckled Snake

Language

English

Time

1829 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Speckled Snake. Speech delivered at a council of Indian chiefs. 20 June 1829, USA.

Current Citation

Speckled Snake. Quoted in A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present, written by Howard Zinn. Routledge, 2015, ch. 7.

When the white men came we gave them lands, and did not wish to hurt them. But the white man drove us back and took our lands. Then the Great Father made us many promises, but they are not kept. He promised to give us large presents, and when they came to us they were small; they seemed to be lost on the way.

Red Cloud

On promises made and broken by the American government.

More information about this quote

Topic

US and Native American relations American expansion

Speaker

Red Cloud

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1870 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Red Cloud. Speech at Council of Peace. 15 June 1870, New York City, NY, USA.

If you tie up a horse to a stake, do you expect he will grow fat? If you pen an Indian up on a small spot of earth, and compel him to stay there, he will not be contented, nor will he grow and prosper. I have asked some of the great white chiefs where they get their authority to say the Indian that he shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where they please. They can not tell me.

Chief Joseph

More information about this quote

Topic

Native American life US and Native American relations

Speaker

Chief Joseph

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1879 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Chief Joseph. Speech in Lincoln Hall. 14 Jan. 1879, Lincoln Hall, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Chief Joseph. "An Indian's Views of Indian Affairs." Great Speeches by Native Americans, edited by Bob Blaisdell. Dover Publications, 2012.

From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.

Chief Joseph

Quoted in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown

More information about this quote

Topic

US and Native American relations American West

Speaker

Chief Joseph

Author

Dee Brown

Source

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1877 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chief Joseph. Surrender message to General Howard. 4 Oct. 1877.

One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk.

Crazy Horse

Quoted in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown

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More information about this quote

Topic

Property rights

Speaker

Crazy Horse

Author

Dee Brown

Source

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Language

English

Time

1970 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Witko, Tashunka. Quoted in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, written by Dee Brown. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970, ch. 12.

I am tired of fighting... I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead.

Chief Joseph

Speech of surrender at end of the Nez Perce War, October 5th, 1877.

More information about this quote

Topic

US and Native American relations

Speaker

Chief Joseph

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1877 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chief Joseph. "I Will No Longer Fight Forever More." 5 Oct. 1877, Blaine County, Montana Territory, USA.

Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican, the Pokanoket, and many other once powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before the avarice and oppression of the white man, as snow before the summer sun.

Tecumseh

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

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More information about this quote

Topic

US and Native American relations Native Americans

Speaker

Tecumseh

Source

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1799 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Tecumseh. 1799. Tribal councils with White Men. Urbana, Ohio, USA.

Current Citation

Tecumseh. Quoted in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West, written by Dee Brown. Picador, 2007, ch. 1.

What law have I broken? Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red, because I am Sioux, because I was born where my fathers lived, because I would die for my people and my country?

Sitting Bull

More information about this quote

Topic

Native Americans

Speaker

Sitting Bull

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1881 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Sitting Bull. Speech to Major Brotherton. 19 or 20 July 1881, Fort Buford, ND, USA.

Current Citation

Sitting Bull. "What treaty that the whites have kept has the red man broken?" Great Speeches by Native Americans, edited by Bob Blaisdell. Dover Publications, 2000.

When the white man had warmed himself before the Indians' fire and filled himself with their hominy, he became very large. With a step he bestrode the mountains, and his feet covered the plains and the valleys. His hands grasped the eastern and the western sea, and his head rested on the moon.

Speckled Snake

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More information about this quote

Topic

US and Native American relations

Speaker

Speckled Snake

Language

English

Time

1829 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Speckled Snake. Speech delivered at a council of Indian chiefs. 20 June 1829, USA.

Current Citation

Speckled Snake. Quoted in A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present, written by Howard Zinn. Routledge, 2015, ch. 7.

When I make up my mind, I act. If I speak, what I say, I will do. If the hail rattles, let the flowers be crushed. The oak of the forest will lift up its head to the sky and storm, towering and unscathed.

Osceola

More information about this quote

Topic

Personal integrity Words vs. actions

Speaker

Osceola

Language

English

Time

1836 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Osceola. Quoted in Florida's Past: People and Events That Shaped the State, written by Gene Burnett. Vol. 1, Pineapple Press, 1996, ch. 31. Originally a statement during treaty negotiations during the Second Seminole War. 1836, FL, USA.

The life of white men is slavery. They are prisoners in towns or farms. The life my people want is a life of freedom. I have seen nothing that a white man has, houses or railways or clothing or food, that is as good as the right to move in the open country, and live in our own fashion.

Sitting Bull

More information about this quote

Topic

Modern life Native American life Simple living Freedom

Speaker

Sitting Bull

Source

On the Great Highway: The Wanderings and Adventures of a Special Correspondent

Medium

Interview

Language

Lakota

Time

19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Sitting Bull. Statement to journalist James Creel. 1882.

Current Citation

Sitting Bull. Quoted in Great Speeches by Native Americans, edited by Bob Blaisdell. Dover Publications, 2012.

A little while and I will be gone from among you, whither I cannot tell. From nowhere we came, into nowhere we go. What is life? It is a flash of a firefly in the night. It is a breath of a buffalo in winter time. It is as the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

Crowfoot

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of life Life

Speaker

Crowfoot

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1890 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Crowfoot. Farewell to his people. 25 Apr. 1890, Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, Alberta, Canada.

Once I moved about like the wind. Now I surrender to you and that is all.

Geronimo

Quoted in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown

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More information about this quote

Topic

US and Native American relations Native American life American West

Speaker

Geronimo

Author

Dee Brown

Source

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1886 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Geronimo. Surrending to General Crook. 27 Mar. 1886, Canon de los Embudos (Canyon of the Funnels), Mexico.

Current Citation

Geronimo. Quoted in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, written by Dee Brown. Picador, 2007, ch. 17.