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Crow

Information about the Crow

The Crow, also called the Absaroka or Aps�alooke, are a tribe of Native Americans who historically lived in the Yellowstone river valley and now live on a reservation south of Billings, Montana. The current chairman of the tribal council is Carl Venne. Noted writer Joe Medicine Crow is tribal historian. The tribal headquarters are located at Crow Agency, Montana. The tribe hosts a large Dance Celebration, rodeo, and parade annually; the 87th Crow Fair was held at Crow Agency from August 18 - August 22, 2005.

The Crow language is a member of the Missouri Valley Siouan languages. They split from the Hidatsa tribe in present-day North Dakota either around 1400 to 1500 CE (according to cultural anthropologists) or 900 to 1000 CE (according to linguistic anthropologists).

The traditional shelters of the Crow are tepees made with buffalo skins and wooden poles. They are known to contruct some of the largest tepees. Inside they have mattresses to sleep on along the borders of their shelters, and a fire place, which the smoke escapes from through a hole in the top of the tepee. Many Crow families still own and use the tepee, especially when traveling. Crow Fair has been described as the largest gathering of tepees in the world.

Traditional clothing the Crow wore depended on gender. Women wouldn't dress very fancy because they were mostly around their shelters. They wore dresses made of mountain sheep or deer skins, decorated with elk teeth. They would cover their legs with leggings and their feet with moccasins. Crow women had short hair, unlike the men. The men dressed differently, with a shirt, trimmed leggings with a belt, a robe, and moccasins on their feet. Their hair was actually long, in some cases reaching or even dragging the ground, and sometimes decorated with certain items.

The Crow were a matrilineal (decent through the maternal line), matrilocal (husband moves in with wife's family), and matriarchal tribe (females obtaining high status, even chief). Women held a very significant role within the tribe.

Crow kinship is a kinship system used to define family. Identified by Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Crow system is one of the six major kinship systems (Eskimo, Hawaiian, Iroquois, Crow, Omaha, and Sudanese).

Crow Scouts

On June 25, 1876, George Armstrong Custer, Commander of the US Seventh Calvary led his troops to complete annihilation at the hands of Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. The site today, near Crow Agency, is marked as the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. The Crow Nation was recruited to serve in the U.S. Army as Indian scouts. White Man Runs Him, Curley, Hairy Moccasin, and Goes Ahead were with Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry in the Battle of the Little Big Horn, or Custer�s Last Stand. The Scout's only duties were to find the Indian encampments. Such was the case with Lt. Colonel Custer as he dismissed his Crow and Arikara Indian scouts.

Government

Prior to the 2001 Constitution, the Crow Nation was governed by a 1948 Constitution. The former constitution organized the tribe as a General Council (Tribal Council). The General Council in essence held the executive, legislative, and judicial powers of the government. The General Council was comprised of all enrolled members of the Crow Nation, provided that females 18 years or older and males 21 or older. The General Council was a direct democracy, which was last seen in Ancient Greece.

The Crow Nation, or Crow Tribe of Indians, established a three branch government at a 2001 Council Meeting. The new government is known as the 2001 Constitution. The General Council remains the governing body of the tribe, however, the powers were distributed to a three branch government. In theory, the General Council is still the governing body of the Crow Nation. However, in reality, the General Council has not convened since the establishment of the 2001 constitution.

The Executive Branch has four officials known as the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, and Vice-Secretary. The Executive Branch officials are also the officials within the Crow Tribal General Council, which has not met since July 15, 2001 that established the 2001 Constitution.

The Legislative Branch consists of a Legislature. The Legislature has three members from each district on the Crow Indian Reservation. The Crow Indian Reservation is divided into six districts known as The Valley of the Chiefs, Reno, Black Lodge, Mighty Few, Big Horn, and Pryor Districts. The Valley of the Chiefs District is the largest district by population.

The Judicial Branch consists of a Chief Justice. The acting Chief Justice of the Crow Nation is Angela Russell.

The above includes excerpts from Wikipedia.org, the free encyclopedia:






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