Medicine Crow was born on October 27, 1913, near Lodge Grass. The decorated WWII veteran and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom attended the University of Southern California where he earned a degree in anthropology in 1939. He is the first member of the Crow tribe to obtain a master’s degree.
Earlier this year, Billings school officials named the new middle school in the Heights “Medicine Crow Middle School,” which is currently under construction on the corner of Bench Boulevard and Barret Road.
Crow is a frequent guest speaker at Little Big Horn College and Little Big Horn Battlefield Museum, and has appeared in several documentaries about the battle.
He is also a historian and author of several books, and is best known for his writings and lectures concerning the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Born October 27, 1913 near Lodge Grass, Montana, Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow is the last living person with a direct oral history from a participant of the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.
His grandfather, White Man Runs Him was a scout with General Custer and died in 1925 when Medicine Crow was 11 years old.
Dr. Medicine Crow’s grandparents lived before the United States Government sent Indians to a reservation in 1884. His father was a boyhood friend of Chief Plenty Coups and had advised Plenty Coups to go to the nation’s capital to present the Indians cases for preserving their ancestral land.
Joe Medicine Crow’s grandfather Chief Medicine Crow
It was on the European battlefields Medicine Crow completed all of the four tasks needed to become a Crow War Chief. As a scout he led several successful war parties deep behind enemy lines; he stole German horses; he disarmed an enemy; and he touched an enemy (counted coup) without killing him.
This is information that I never got in public school. Thanks
ReplyDeleteWe will now cause public school has just come to the internet.
ReplyDelete