OSEU Six: Vernon Ashley–Boarding School, Oceti Sakowin & The Wheeler Howard Act

My father went and sent to Hampton and came back, of course, he married, and somehow he must have got some progressive ideas at Hampton, and so he was successful. And he was elected, that's when the Oceti Sakowin was probably the last year's one, and I want to show you that picture that's hanging on that wall. That picture, it was taken in Rapid City, and it's probably one of the last things, this was in the 1930s. And then I got another picture, it was taken in Washington, D.C., where my grandfather's brother and their cousin, Mary's got that picture. Then we'll put this here, now this is a picture in Washington, D.C., the names of the people all on the bottom, and the tribes. This is probably a time when the Oceti Sakowin was really strong, and you'll see up here Bowed Head and White Ghost and other tribal leaders, and it's all explained at the bottom of this picture. But that, I want to tell you, is probably the fading away. Now, what made the Oceti Sakowin fade away, as you see that big picture, and then this other one, what changed this was the Wheeler-Howard Act, and it's called the New Deal. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was establishing written bylaws, the Constitution, the bylaws. Those bylaws are still in use today for each of the tribes. But each reservation was separate, you see. And you could take Sisseton and Yankton, Lower Brule, Cheyenne River, Standing Rock, Pine Ridge, they're all separate governments. That is when the Oceti Sakowin faded away. And this picture in Rapid City is probably the last time, because they were talking about the New Deal. And in this picture, you'll see my father. You can picture, look at the picture, and you'll see, if you see a white head like mine, that's my father. And their names are on the bottom, too. And there's Crow Creek, is the Crow Creek sign there? Oh, Crow Creek, yep, I see the Crow Creek sign. But that's, that was probably the last gathering, large gathering of Indian people. That's all tribes. Could you share a little about that? Could you share a little bit about why they gathered, what they did when they gathered? Oh, why they gathered, of course, the one in Rapid City was discussing this New Deal, the Wheeler-Howard Act. And then, and you know, at that time, Ben Rifle was a college-educated Indian and was fluent in the language. So the government, the Bureau of Indian Affairs hired him to go to each reservation to explain what the New Deal would do for them. And so that's what he did. And so when it came to Crow Creek, my father was on the, was the governing body. And so after Ben was talking to them, all the things that would benefit the tribe and everything else, and so they, in the evening, there was, you know, Fort Thompson was a bustling community. I got a special film on that, too. And so when they ended their meeting, the tribal leaders came and sat in front of the Wendt's store, grocery store, that was just a big park, you know, bench, and so then when Ben finished his supper and he came over there and he continued to talk about the New Deal. And my dad said, when he got done, he said, Hoh, Hetchetooktishnee. No, that's not the way it'll be. And that's what the tribe decided, they did not accept the New Deal. So the Crow Creek, and I think it's Yankton, is the two tribes that never accepted the New Deal. And so I can, I tell the modern day councilmen, we are still a treaty tribe, and we know directly the Congress has a responsibility to deal directly.

How my father got his name changed, when he was a young man they were sending young Indian men and women back east to school to Carlisle, Pennsylvania and Hampton, Virginia. And my father was sent to Hampton, Virginia. Now I've got records and all you'd have to do is to contact Hampton and you'll see. And my father only went to school maybe a little over two years, close to three years because his father was ailing. My grandfather, his name was Sinkpay. And he had a brother, Bowdhead, Pow Koodye Bowdhead and Sinkpay is a muskrat. And I've only got one picture of my grandfather because the one lady that interviewed I said, you must remember cameras, you had nothing like this. And so cameras or pictures are hard to get.