Living History: Little Bighorn from a Cheyenne Perspective ((4 Credits))

Catalog description

In 1876, Cheyenne, Lakota, and Arapaho won the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand. After the battle, Cheyenne women took fabric from slain soldiers’ Army coats and made a dress. It holds special meaning since one of Custer’s strategies was to capture women, children, disabled, and elderly and use them as hostages/human shields. The dress was handed down from woman to woman and resides at the Northwest Indian Museum in Washington. It was presented at Little Bighorn Battlefield on the 140th anniversary of the battle by Cheyenne tribal member Cliff Eaglefeathers. Rather than the military engagement, we focus on peoples’ experiences of battle sites as locales that continue to breathe living history. This interdisciplinary study draws from History, Psychology, Archaeology, and Indigenous Studies to address Little Bighorn as an ongoing part of Cheyenne culture and includes on-site videos with Mr. Eaglefeathers and Cheyenne Elders. This course was previously HIS-244314.