The Amazing Death of Calf Shirt and Other Blackfoot stories: Three Hundred Years of Blackfoot History

by Hugh A. Dempsey

The result of more than forty years of research, The Amazing Death of Calf Shirt and Other Blackfoot Stories is a unique oral history spanning three hundred years of the Blackfoot people. Dating back as far as 1690, the stories collected here by Hugh Dempsey tell of renowned Blackfoot warriors such as Calf Shirt and Low Horn, of those who tried to adapt to a changing world, and of others who rebelled against the government's attempts to control their lives. These stories are factual, based on extensive interviews with Blackfoot elders as well as research into government documents, accounts of early travelers, and records kept by missionaries, Indian Department officials, and the Mounted Police. Once free and independent buffalo hunters, the members of the Blackfoot Nation - the Blood, Blackfoot, and Peigan - were forced onto reserves in the 1880s. These stories portray the problems and traumas accompanying those the clash of Native and white cultures and the hardships the Blackfoot endured through years of poverty on their new reserves. The elders' tales are reminiscences on buffalo hunts, exciting raids on enemy camps, and the freedom of wandering the prairies. Good and evil spirits being an everyday reality of Blackfoot life, the stories also explore the supernatural.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

250 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1995

About the author

Hugh Aylmer Dempsey is a well known Canadian historian and writer who has authored twelve books and numerous articles. He is an honorary chief of the Blood Tribe and was the chief curator of the Glenbow Museum. Among the many awards he has received for his writing are the Award for Outstanding Contribution to Alberta History and Award of Merit, Local History Section, Canadian Historical Association. He lives in Calgary.

Reviews

[Julie Richert-Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, a great deal of respect is due for such a carefully compiled history, reaching out to every type of first person source for accuracy, context and perspective. The author makes his objective plain: to pass on these stories without commentary, interpretation or implied judgement. One feels him very carefully holding true to that center as he labors to offer up a sweeping history of the Blackfoot Nation in their own voice. These stories, myths and deeply religious ceremonies reminded me powerfully of the folly of attempting to impose my own relationship to the Plains and Mountains of the West upon theirs. Also, of the gross oversimplification in our endorsed "histories" of the consequences of Empire Building on their communities, culture and spirituality.
Much of this material is quite shocking. One sees the seeds of hatred and misunderstanding being sown between tribes and the military and the expansionists. But there was much hatred and conflict already, between the tribes themselves; in histories that go back even farther than this one. (eg: tribes celebrating the devastation of an enemy tribe by smallpox or elaborately staging insincere peace treaties as a vehicle for slaughter and assassination). The action flows back and forth between Montana and Canada, as most of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Blackfeet, Bloods, Piikani, Siksika) did at the time and encompasses all the stages of Indian Removal.
There is no cheerful optimism or glossing over. But the authenticity and inherent respect of the author's efforts are notable.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

i am loving this book...