Here’s more on last week’s mysterious death in Glacier National Park of Clinton Croff, a well-known Blackfeet traditional singer and dancer.

Friends of Croff tell Michael Jamison, in this Missoulian story, that they’ve been told Croff committed suicide inside his car, by way of multiple self-inflicted stab wounds, but park officials would not confirm those details. The FBI’s Debbie Bertram says the Park Service has requested a review by the agency.

Mostly, though, people talked to Jamison about how Croff lived, remembering him as a keeper of Blackfeet culture:

Clinton Croff (Legacy.com photo)

“That’s how I will remember him,” said Maynard Kicking Woman, “as a dancer, a singer, an eagle-bone whistle carrier. From the day he was born, Clinton was connected to this culture. He’s going to be missed in Indian Country, because a lot of people knew him.” …

Kicking Woman is well-known on the traditional powwow trail, and among Native American drumming and singing groups. Currently, he serves as cultural coordinator for the Blackfeet Manpower One-Stop Center.

Croff’s extended family used to travel the dancing and singing circuit with Kicking Woman, “and we were pretty much a family,” Kicking Woman said. “He traveled with us even when he was a very small boy.”

Croff was only 30 years old. You can read his obituary on Legacy.com.

Gwen Florio

School can’t oust Lipan Apache boy over braids
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Needville (Texas) Independent School District can’t punish a Lipan Apache boy for wearing his hair in braids. Kenney Arocha and Michelle Betenbaugh had argued that their son’s hair, which has never been cut, conforms to their Native American religious beliefs, according to the Houston Chronicle, here.

Federal disaster declaration for Rocky Boy’s Reservation
President Barack Obama yesterday declared the Rocky Boy’s Reservation a disaster area, making it eligible for federal money for repairs. Flooding on the reservation broke water lines, leaving hundreds of members of the Chippewa Cree tribe without water for two weeks and causing millions of dollars in damage, according to this Associated Press story.

Navajo Nation Supreme Court says no third term for president
The Navajo Supreme Court has denied President Joe Shirley Jr.’s quest for a third consecutive term, the AP reports here. “I respect the decision of our Supreme Court justices,” Shirley said. “They had the final say. They decided and now I know that this is the end of it.”

Report details abuse of indigenous people in Peru
A report by the Missionary Indigenous Council takes a look at the treatment of indigenous people in Brazil. The report shows they are dealt abuse by police and landowners, lack proper nutrition and health care, and crowded out of their homelands by vast public works such as the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the state of Para. Read more in this Agence France-Presse story.

New Nez Perce National Historic Trail map released
A new map of the Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail is now available at Forest Service and National Park Service offices and online through Discover Your Northwest, the National Forest Store and the USGS Store, according to the Char-Koosta News, here. The map details locations along the 1,170 mile trail. Or, you can see it online here.

Aboriginal warrior’s remains, once displayed in museum, are reburied
A 19th century Aboriginal warrior named Yagan whose severed head once was displayed in British museum, has been reburied with proper ceremony in western Australia. The Associated Press reports here that the private ceremony was held yesterday by the Noongar Tribe, and coincides with the opening of the Yagan Memorial Park outside of Perth.

Gwen Florio

Angela Hill’s 4-year-old daughter, Melci Smith, wears a beaded headband. (James Woodcock/Billings Gazette)

Each row of tiny beads that Angela Hill painstakingly stitches onto leather carries a piece of her heart.

Generations from now, her children’s children and their grandchildren will marvel at the intricate patterns and precise lines of hundreds of thousands of beads she has lovingly fashioned into traditional Crow regalia for her family.

“My mother, Mary Bear Cloud, taught me,” Hill said at her Billings home as she sewed beads the size of the head of a pin onto a pipe bag for a relative participating in a Sun Dance later this month.

“All my family are beaders,” she said. “My mother is 80 and she still beads for her grandson.”

And Hill wants her 16-year-old daughter, Elonna Stewart, to carry the tradition forward.

“I don’t think she’s very interested yet,” Hill said, shrugging. “I want her to help me make her outfit. She has a jingle dress, moccasins and leggings. She wants fully beaded leggings now. We’re going to do that, too.”

She’s not pushing the pretty teenager too hard. Hill didn’t take up the art until she was in her mid-20s. Now she is one of the premier beaders in a tribe known for its skilled artisans.

That is why she is among the artists and craftsmen who have been asked to participate July 9-10 in the first Crow Skills and Trade Fair at Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area headquarters in Lovell, Wyo.

For more of the stories and also more photos about the Hills, as well as the fair schedule, click here.

Gwen Florio

A couple of the larger Navajo rugs cover a number of seats during the rug preview for the rug auction at the Museum of Northern Arizona on Saturday. (Rick Wacha/Arizona Daily Sun)

She describes the crowd roaring in appreciation as each of the 300 rugs made its appearance at the event held twice yearly and sponsored by the Flagstaff Cultural Partners and the Coconino Center for the Arts. And she gives readers who might not be familiar with the tradition some background information:

Concentrated in the Four Corners region of the Rez in places with names like Teec Nos Pos, Ganado, Klagetoh, Shiprock, Two Grey Hills, Ye’ii, hundreds of Navajo women are at home, tediously weaving rugs out of the landscape. These women are also weaving pieces of themselves into long-lasting tradition.

Originally, Navajo weavings were forged mainly for utilitarian purposes. The wool for these rugs was hand-carded, hand-spun, hand-dyed and woven into something useful and durable, like a saddle blanket or sitting pad.

If a woman spun her own yarn, she would also most likely hand-dye it using organic pigments from whatever she could find that would stay color-fast. These “vegetal” dyes are preferred by purists — they are made from Navajo tea for a rust color, sagebrush and plant roots for greens and berries for shades of blue.

Jennifer McLerran, an art history and museum studies professor at Northern Arizona University, says that “you can tell one style from the other by the designs, quality of yarn and color patterns. The look of each piece is influenced by its area of origin, the personal touches of the designer and the interests of the trader.”

Gwen Florio

A 9-foot tall sculpture of a Chickasaw Warrior, inspired by nspired by the great Piomingo, will great visitors to the cultural center. (Chickasaw Nation)

Tetona Dunlap is a graduate student in journalism at the University of Montana. She is an enrolled member of the Eastern Shoshone tribe from the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming.

Tetona Dunlap

Tribal members played a large part in how the center should showcase their culture. In 2000, more than 1,200 members filled out a survey that asked for comments and suggestions regarding the center. The most popular suggestions were exhibits regarding language, beliefs, ceremonies, history, customs, art, music, food, medicine and prominent Chickasaw women and men. Members also suggested incorporating live performances, technologically advanced multimedia exhibits and galleries, as well as utilizing natural outdoor spaces.

“Chickasaws of all ages and from all walks of life contributed to the development of the center and the programming that will be available,” said Gov. Bill Anoatubby of the Chickasaw Nation on the tribal website. “It is beautiful and provides an opportunity for us to tell the remarkable history of Chickasaw people.”

The Chickasaw Cultural Center is located next to the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, known for its natural springs, streams and lakes. The center utilizes the natural surrounding landscape as well as advanced technology to illustrate the Chickasaw culture. Some unique aspects of the center include an honor garden that features traditional landscaping and swirling walls with laser-cut photos of all Chickasaw Nation Hall of Fame inductees. Also inside the complex will be a Center for the Study of Chickasaw History and Culture. This center will house high-tech services such as artifacts storage, cold storage, an intake/decontamination room, rare book collection and photo archive.

“We want to not only preserve our history, but recognize that we have a living, thriving, growing culture to share with others,” said Anoatubby.

The grand opening of the center for the public is on July 24, 2010.

Here‘s a heartwarming story about Four Rivers Drum, and their experiences when they were asked to be the drop-in drum at the Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation Powwow, which attracts about 10,000 people.

Vince Schilling, Indian Country Today correspondent, explains the group thusly:

Four Rivers Native American Drum started in the mid 1990s with just four drummers and singers and has grown to 19 members. The group played without a name at their first five powwows and locals referred to them as the “no-name drum.” They eventually named themselves Four Rivers because of their location on the Virginia Peninsula. In order for members to perform at an event, they must cross one of the four rivers that surround them.

Michael Cloud-Butler, Ojibwe, second singer and drummer, says the powwow has been held since the 1990s and has helped Virginia Beach understand Native culture.

“When the city started, they knew very little about Native American culture – it takes several years to learn everything,” he says.

But with the most recent powwow, he says, “It was a comfortable feeling today – and to have visited several times as a drum group – it is like a hometown powwow because we live here.”