Kiowa

Kiowa
Name	Kiowa
Caption	Kiowa leaders, 1890
Regions	Southern Plains, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas
Religions	Traditional beliefs, Peyotism, Christianity
Languages	Kiowa, English
Related	Tanoan, Comanche, Plains Apache

Kiowa The Kiowa are a Native American people historically associated with the Southern Plains, notably active in the 18th and 19th centuries across present-day Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. Prominent in intertribal diplomacy, raiding, and alliances, they engaged with United States authorities, Mexican authorities, and neighboring nations including the Comanche, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. Kiowa leaders negotiated treaties and participated in resistance during the Plains Indian Wars, confronting figures such as George Armstrong Custer, Philip Sheridan, Sheridan's winter campaign, and Ranald S. Mackenzie.

Name and Etymology

The ethnonym used in English derives from neighboring Siouan and Uto-Aztecan exonyms and 19th-century ethnographic sources produced by scholars working with George Catlin, John C. Fremont, and Francis Parkman. Early references appear in accounts by Anthony S. Tillman and in military reports from the United States Army under commanders like William T. Sherman and Zachary Taylor. Missionary records from Bureau of Indian Affairs agents such as Thomas Fitzpatrick and scholars including James Mooney influenced transliteration conventions used in ethnographies by Edward S. Curtis and linguists like Franz Boas.

History

Kiowa oral traditions recount migration from the western mountains; ethnographers compared narratives to movements of Plains peoples during the 18th century described in works by Francis Parkman and Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. By the early 1700s the Kiowa formed alliances with the Comanche and shared horse-based nomadism documented in reports by J. R. Walker and Reginald Horsman. During the 19th century the Kiowa participated in major conflicts of the Plains, including clashes associated with the Red River War, the Battle of Adobe Walls, and the Battle of the Washita River—engaging U.S. forces led by officers such as George Crook, Philip Sheridan, and Ranald S. Mackenzie. Postwar policy shifted with treaties like the Treaty of Medicine Lodge and federal actions by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, culminating in relocation to reservation land within the Indian Territory and later Oklahoma Territory overseen by agents including Ely S. Parker and superintendents connected to the Indian Agency system. Kiowa figures such as chiefs Satanta, Guipago (Lone Wolf), Big Tree, Kicking Bird, and Tohauson (Chief Dohasan) figured prominently in resistance, legal trials, and negotiations involving jurists and politicians like Lewis Cass and President Ulysses S. Grant.

Culture and Society

Kiowa social organization combined clan-like structures with age-grade associations; ethnologists like A. Irving Hallowell and Paul Radin documented kinship, camp-living patterns, and winter-sun ceremonial cycles paralleling neighboring Cheyenne and Arapaho practices. Political leadership featured headmen and war chiefs; ceremonial leadership intersected with societies such as the Okla Tīwahǫ and warrior societies comparable to those of the Comanche and Pawnee. Gender roles reflected Plains patterns described in fieldwork by Franz Boas and Martha Knack, with women central to tipi economy, hide processing, and domestic crafts noted by explorers like Stephen H. Long and John Charles Frémont. Intertribal diplomacy and trade connected Kiowa communities to merchants from Santa Fe Trail networks, military forts like Fort Sill and Fort Richardson, and traders such as Charles Bent and William Bent.

Language

The Kiowa language belongs to the Tanoan (Tano) family as analyzed by comparative linguists including George L. Trager, Stella K. Roca, and Regina A. O’Meara. Documentation includes descriptive grammars and lexicons produced in collaboration with native speakers and linguists such as John P. Harrington and Morris Swadesh. The language exhibits polysynthetic morphology and tonal features studied alongside Tewa and other Tanoan languages by researchers like Ken Hale and William Poser. Language revitalization efforts mirror initiatives seen with tribes like the Navajo Nation and Cherokee Nation, employing immersion schools, curricula developed with universities (e.g., University of Oklahoma), and programs funded through agencies including the Administration for Native Americans.

Art, Music, and Oral Traditions

Kiowa artistic expression spans ledger art, beadwork, quillwork, and ceremonial regalia; collectors and scholars such as George Catlin, Edward S. Curtis, and Lewis H. Morgan documented visual traditions. Kiowa ledger artists like Silver Horn and Spotted Wolf produced narrative drawings comparable to Plains artists Howling Wolf and Bear's Heart; their work is in collections at institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Archives, and regional museums like the Gilcrease Museum. Music and song traditions include honor songs, peyote songs tied to the Native American Church, and powwow forms studied by ethnomusicologists such as Frances Densmore. Oral literature encompasses migration narratives, trickster tales, and historical accounts preserved by storytellers documented by J. Owen Dorsey, Alice Cunningham Fletcher, and contemporary folklorists collaborating with tribal elders.

Reservation and Contemporary Issues

Contemporary Kiowa communities are centered in southwestern Oklahoma with institutions such as the Kiowa Tribal Council, cultural programs collaborating with the Smithsonian Institution and universities like the University of Oklahoma, and economic enterprises paralleling other tribal developments involving gaming, agriculture, and cultural heritage tourism. Legal and political issues have involved treaty rights, land claims litigated in courts including the United States Court of Claims and policies enacted under legislation like the Indian Reorganization Act and the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act; civic leaders have engaged with federal entities including the Bureau of Indian Affairs and presidential administrations. Contemporary Kiowa leaders, artists, and scholars interact with national organizations such as the National Congress of American Indians and preservation initiatives at institutions including the National Park Service to protect sacred sites, repatriate ancestral remains under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and sustain language programs supported by foundations like the Ford Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities.

Category:Plains tribes Category:Native American tribes in Oklahoma