Mark Soldier Wolf

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Mark Soldier Wolf

Mark Soldier Wolf (born 1927/1928[1] – died 2018)[2] was an Arapaho tribal elder and storyteller.[3]

Soldier Wolf was born in 1927 or 1928 to Scott Dewey.[4] He was raised on the Wind River Indian Reservation by his grandmother.[5] Soldier Wolf's great-grandmother was war chief Pretty Nose who participated in the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876.[4] In his youth, Soldier Wolf was forced to attend American Indian boarding schools. He stated that the memories of the boarding schools were "bad memories, dark stories. They didn't teach us, they trained us. They didn't teach us, they just kept us in line."[6] Years later, he was part of a tribal delegation that participated in the repatriation of the remains of three Native American children who had died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.[7]

Soldier Wolf was drafted in to the US Marine Corps in 1948. An accident in the Korean War ruptured his eardrum and he was discharged in 1952.[4] Soldier Wolf returned to Wind River where he worked with horses and sheepherding[5] and married Florita, daughter of Richard Brown.[4] Before the Northern Arapaho Tribe had an official historic preservation officer, Soldier Wolf acted as an informal historian for the group, assisted by his daughter Yufna who would later become the director of the Northern Arapaho Tribal Historic Preservation Office.[2] Soldier Wolf provides Arapaho names for people, including all of his grandchildren, which are revealed during the official naming ceremonies.[8]

In the documentary Wolf Nation produced by Victoria Costello, Soldier Wolf led the Arapaho members in a traditional wolf dance to welcome the return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park.[9] Soldier Wolf explains the significance of the wolf to Native American cultures in the 2003 documentary Wolf: An Ancient Spirit Returns.[10] He was also a performer in the documentary Celebration! : the Plains Indian Museum powwow.[11]

As one of the Arapaho representatives, Soldier Wolf signed an agreement with Arapahoe High School in Colorado that gave approval for the school to use the tribe's name, in exchange for the school promising to educate its students about the Arapaho people and culture. On NPR, Soldier Wolf explained "What makes it OK here, it helps advertise to the world who the Arapahoes are because there's hardly anything written about the Arapaho."[12]

References[]

  1. ^ Romancito, Rick (June 19, 1994). "Powwow tradition brings together Plains, southwest Indians in cultural celebrations". Windspeaker. Aboriginal Multi-Media Society.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Rogers, Alan (2020-08-10). "FIELD Training Profile: Yufna Soldier Wolf". Wyoming Outdoor Council. Archived from the original on 2020-09-26. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  3. ^ Bradley, Jeff (October 22, 1997). "Stories spice walkway's dedication". Denver Post.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Tristan Ahtone (September 28, 2014). "The Story of Soldier Wolf". Al Jazeera America. Archived from the original on October 1, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Shirk, Adrian. "Wyoming Stories: Mark Soldier Wolf Talks About Life on the Res". www.wyomingpublicmedia.org. Archived from the original on 2020-08-03. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  6. ^ Fox, Charles (August 13, 2017). "Sharp memories of a painful past". Philadelphia Inquirer.
  7. ^ Scolforo, Mark (August 8, 2017). "Team to exhume, return bodies of students who died 100 years ago". Republican Herald.
  8. ^ Wiles, Sara, 1948- (2011). Arapaho journeys : photographs and stories from the Wind River Reservation. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 170–172. ISBN 978-0-8061-8661-0. OCLC 815470922.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Huffman, Mark (September 13, 1995). "Arapahos welcome wolf back to the park". . p. 3. Archived from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  10. ^ McFarland, Melanie (October 24, 2003). "'Wolf' is a labor of love for local filmmakers". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. p. E1.
  11. ^ Johnson, Lawrence (2006), Celebration!: the Plains Indian Museum powwow, Cody, Wyo.: Buffalo Bill Historical Center, OCLC 123842544, archived from the original on 2020-09-26, retrieved 2020-09-25
  12. ^ Zwerdling, Daniel (April 11, 1999). "One Colorado High School Has Solved Problems with Having a Native American Mascot by Turning to the Arapaho Nation for Guidance". All Things Considered. NPR.

External links[]

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