Americans here. It is very appropriate that we sort of begin with the contemporary. Im standing here right next to a magnificent piece of sculpture mighty noted artist, alan houser, who was a patchy. He was born in oklahoma. He was a descendant of drama was banned we moved to oklahoma after toronto and his band were captured. He later became a terrific artist geronamo as you can see this particular piece is a negative native american on horseback. That is truly the story of native americans in the Southern Plains region and in the panhandle, especially. Once forces became available to them, in the 16 hundreds, particularly the command cheese and some of the apache people, they were able to obtain horses from traders and santa fe, stealing some of them as well. They were able to then utilize the environment in a much more efficient manner because they could cover longer distances. The bye isnt hunting culture really became the strong suit, the highlight of the area, and it became a culture of building. What i want to share with you today are some of the objects associated with that mobility. Objects such as clothing, beaded with glass beads that came through trade. I would like to start out by looking at moccasins. Because moccasins are really a diagnostic feature of plains indian people and everyone understands, youve got to wear something on your feet. Each tribe throughout the planes in the historic period, and by that i mean the 1800s until the early 1900s, every tribal group had its own distinctive style of moccasins. Be it the way they were cut or shaped or decorated. Some folks would bead them completely on the top. Others would incorporate porcupine quill work. On the Southern Plains, quite frequently you can see on this particular pair, either comanche or kiowa, they were partially beaded, but also decorated with green paint and then the wonderful tin cones that would make a pleasant sound as you were walking. On the heel there was sometimes a little fringe. People would say, oh, this is to obscure the tracks as they are walking but that is not necessarily the case. These people did not spend much time walking. They were on horseback. That fringe was decorative to hang up the back of the moccasin wally person was on horseback or to flitter off as they were galloping on horseback. It was a purely aesthetic kind of thing. What i would like to do is move on and show you specific kinds of things that were common to Southern Plains folks like the kiowa, like the comanche. The moccasins we were looking at a moment ago were made for men. For women it was generally boots. You had the moccasins with leggings on them. Sometimes they were all made in one piece. In this particular instance it is two pieces. You can see the wonderful geometric designs to the bead work, and then the reddish purple, the maroon color things, those are actual moscow beans, that were used for decorative purposes as well. These glass beads on the Southern Plains for the east to comanche and the kiowa, they really took bead work to an enormously fine art, and oftentimes it showed up in the objects that were associated with the native american church. Here are some of these kinds of things. The little pouch there with asked to the figure in the center of it, very tiny beads. Each one last two of its, very tiny beads. Center of it, very tiny beads. The fans that people carried into the tipi teepees during the ceremonies. Each one of those handles is wonderfully beaded. Although in some, as we see there, it was just wrapped with thread instead of beadwork. They were adapting all of the different materials they had with them. On the planes, in this area of the planes, what we have is a great deal of veneration for children. Not only do we see these toys, the small cradles there, but instructional toys. They were teaching young girls how to care for their own young when that time came and, then, of course, this magnificent kiowa cradle we see here. This is a fullsize cradle, fully beaded. Its interesting to note that oftentimes with kiowa cradles, there would be a completely different design from one side to another. Even the color, the complete shift in color and designs, this is very typical of the late 1800s, early 1900s for kiowa comanche cradles. They had wooden frames. Sometimes painted. This one had elaborate decorations in terms of tax that are at it as well. What i would like to also do is to show you our most significant object. In our native american collection. It is a head dress that belonged to the comanche chief quanah parker. He was the son of a white captive. He rose through command chief society to ultimately become the leading chief. He was involved with the red river war along this area against the United States government as the native people he was considered to be a great leader. He was also involved with battles and the deal be walls in 1864 and again in 1874, and he would live well into the 20th century. He ultimately became an incredible advocate for the command she people and their tribes. He was an early leader of the native american church. This is a photograph of him taken around 1900 or so. You can see his full glory as an adult wearing his finest clothing. The headdress behind us is really a remarkable example of these kinds of objects that were worn by men of high ranking. Hi status. The golden eagle feathers were topped with horsehair. The red will in cap and the wonderful sort of metallic rick rack along the brow. For many of the people of the comanche nation, a full trader this would have signified great importance. High, high ranking status for anyone who had the opportunity to obtain one, to only one and earn the right to also wear it. So this truly is one of the great pieces that we have in the collection here at the historical museum. We are very grateful to the families of east to quantum parker who have continued to visit and examine these pieces as part of their family have heritage. We are trying to do is not only educate the public about historic native american arts and culture, but we are also reaching out and working with contemporary native people to help i educate us even more about traditional native american heritage. Particularly here on the panhandle, specifically looking towards our eye kiowa and comanche friends for that. Created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Our featured contender this week as eugene debs. At the turn of the 20th century a fivetime candidate and the nations most celebrated world war i protester. This december 1921 footage captures debs on his return to the hometown of tara hot, indiana, following his release from prison by president warren
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