Tȟáȟča Hušté John Fire Lame Deer | |
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| Born | Tȟáȟča Hušté (1903-03-17)March 17, 1903 |
| Died | December 14, 1976(1976-12-14) (aged 73) |
| Nationality | American Indian |
| Other names | John Fire |
| Children | Archie Fire Lame Deer |
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John Fire Lame Deer (inLakotaTȟáȟča Hušté; March 17, 1903[1] – December 14, 1976,[2] also known asLame Deer,John Fire andJohn (Fire) Lame Deer) was a Lakota holy man, member of theHeyoka society,[citation needed] grandson of theMiniconjou head manLame Deer, and father ofArchie Fire Lame Deer.
John Fire Lame Deer was a Mineconju-LakotaSioux born on theRosebud Indian Reservation. His father was Silas Fire Let-Them-Have-Enough. His mother was Sally Red Blanket. He lived with his maternal grandparents until he was 6 or 7, after which he was placed in a day school near the family until age 14. He was then sent to aboarding school, one of many run by theU.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs for Indian youth, which were designed to assimilateNative Americans into the dominant Euro-American culture after their forced settlement on reservations. He attended for six years without learning to read, write, or speak English.[3]
Lame Deer's mother died of tuberculosis when he was 17. His father moved north toStanding Rock Indian Reservation soon after and left Lame Deer with land and livestock, which Lame Deer quickly sold.[4]
At 16, Lame Deer participated in the vision-seeking ceremony orhanblechia, during which he decided to become amedicine man, or wičháša wakȟáŋ[5][1]. After four days and nights alone, he had a vision of his great-grandfather Chief Tahca Ushte (Lame Deer), and consequently took his name.
Lame Deer's life as a young man was rough and wild; he traveled therodeo circuit as a rider and later as arodeo clown. He was also a member of the peyote church and tribal policeman.[4] According to his personal account, he drank, gambled, womanized, and once went on a several-day-long car theft and drinking binge. He learned English during his wandering years, oroyumni.[6] This adventurous quality aligned with the Lakota sacred figure of theheyoka or "holy clown," who is able to embody the whole spectrum of things, both good and bad.[6]
Making his home at thePine Ridge Reservation and traveling around the country, Lame Deer became known both among the Lakota and to the American public at a time when Indigenous culture and spirituality were going through a period of rebirth and thepsychedelic movement of the 1960s had yet to disintegrate. He performed pipe ceremonies and often participated inAmerican Indian Movement activist events, includingsit-ins at theBlack Hills.[3] This land, sacred to the Lakota and a number of otherPlains tribes, was legally owned by the Lakota before theUnited States government illegally seized it without compensation after discoveringgold in the area.[7] TheU.S. Supreme Court found that the federal government "decided to abandon the Nation's treaty obligation to preserve the integrity of the Sioux territory"[8] and used military force to seize the Black Hills.[9] The Lakota continue to campaign for the return of the Black Hills. He was also present at the1973 occupation of Wounded Knee.[5]
In 1972, Simon and Schuster publishedLame Deer, Seeker of Visions, a collaboration between artist and authorRichard Erdoes and Lame Deer. Erdoes' recorded interviews with Lame Deer are part of the Richard Erdoes Papers at theBeinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,Yale University.
The book recounts Lame Deer's life and provides insight to his belief in the power of ritual in life - each experience or stage completing and beginning a new circle. During his journey to be a teacher and a healer, he believed a medicine man ought to experience the full breadth of human experience.[10] Erdoes writes of Lame Deer's opinions of Elk, Bear, Buffalo, Coyote, and Badger medicine,[10] and the importance Lakota ceremonial traditions played in his later life and eventual understanding of the world.[11]
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