Honored Leaders

Honored Leaders. . , Leadership in the American Indian culture is much different than the Euro-American views. Unlike the Euro-American concept of a formal majority vote to select a leader, American Indians were made leaders by those who simply chose to follow them. This individual would remain a leader as long as his decisions were accepted by the tribe. If he made unfavorable decisions, tribal members would ignore his advice and a new leader would emerge. If the group was mixed and some individuals still agreed with the leader's decisions, they might continue to recognize him as a leader or break away from the encampment and create their own bands. , This concept of voluntary leadership among Indian people helped to create numerous tribal nations across the country. Some tribal members might consider an individual a leader, while others did not. Some of the famous American Indian "leaders" of the past, were not considered leaders by all tribal members., Picture Caption , Sitting Bull drew this picture to act as his signature before he learned to write in English. In this image, Sitting Bull is roping and capturing a horse, as he did in Montana in 1866. A thin line connects his mouth to a "sitting bull buffalo," his namesake., Chief Gall. , Chief One Bull. , Chief John Grass. , Chief Mad Bear. , Chief Sitting Bull. , Chief Rain In The Face. , Chief Running Antelope. , The center piece of this United States 1899 silver certificate is a combination of two images, a photograph of Running Antelope by Alexander Gardner in 1872 and the 1899 photograph of a headdress taken by Tomas W. Smillie.