Yellow Head (person)

There are several Anishinaabe peoples with the name "Yellow Head".

Yellow Head, the berdache

Ozaawindib ("Yellow Head" in English, recorded variously as Oza Windib, O-zaw-wen-dib, Ozawondib, etc.) was an Ojibwa warrior who lived in the 19th century and was described as an egwakwe ("agokwa" in liturature, literally meaning "genitaled-woman")—what a modern Ojibwa would describe as a niizh manidoowag (two-spirit).

Ozaawindib was the son of Wiishkobak ("Sweet" or "Le Sucre", recorded as "Wesh-ko-bug"), a chief of the Leech Lake Pillagers. As an egwakwe, Ozaawindib was described as a "man dressed in woman's clothing."

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, who knew Ozaawindib personally, reports that Ozaawindib was very courageous in battle. He also states:

At the mouth of River Broula I encountered Ozawondib, or Yellow Head, and Mainotagooz, or the Handsome Enunciator, two Chippewas from the Cassinian source of the Mississippi, being on their way to visit me at the seat of the agency. They reported that the Indians of Leech Lake had raised a war-party, and gone out against the Sioux of the Plains. Both these Indians returned with me to Cass Lake. The former afterward guided me from that remote point to the source of this river.

When John Tanner encamped on Red River of the North, he reports that he was the subject of interest of Ozaawindib. Tanner reported that after rejecting repeated advances by Ozaawindib, Ozaawindib was still determined to win Tanner's heart. Ozaawindib disappeared for a few days and returned to camp with much needed fresh meat. However, even after bringing much needed fresh meat to the camp, Ozaawindib was still rejected by Tanner. As a solution to his efforts, Ozaawindib became the third wife of chief Wenji-dotaagan.

Alexander Henry reproted from his Pembina Post in 1897 that when Ozaawindib was drunk, he was "not merely a nuisance but a bothersome man."

In the Anishinaabe language, Lake Plantagenet (Ozaawindibe-zaaga'igan) and Schoolcraft River (Ozaawindibe-ziibi) are both named after Ozaawindib.

Yellow Head, Lac Courte Oreilles Chief

Ozaawindib ("Yellow Head" in English, recorded as O-za-win-dib) was an Ojibwa chief for the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. He engaged in the Battle of Prairie Rice Lake. He was killed with "Wolf's Father" by a Dakota while hunting at the mouth of Hay River.

Yellow Head, Mille Lacs Indians Chief

Ozaawandib ("Yellow Head" in English, recorded as O-za-wan-dib) was an Ojibwa chief for the Mille Lacs Indians.

References

• Catlin, George. (1841) Letters and notes on the Manners, Customs and Condition of the Indians of North America, 1832-39. London: Tosswill and Myers.
• Coues, Elliott, ed. (1897) New Light on the Early History of the Greater Northwest: The Manuscript Journals of Alexander Henry and of David Thompson. New York: Francis P. Harper.
• Gilfillan, J. A. (1893) Manuscripts of Rev. J. A. Gilfillan. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press.
• James, Edwin, ed. (1830) Captivity of John Tanner. New York.
• Schooolcraft, Henry Rowe. (1834) Narrative of an Expedition Through the Upper Mississippi to Itasca Lake: The Actual Source of This River. New York: Harper & Brothers.
• Warren, William W. (1885, reprint 1984) History of the Ojibway People. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press.

Further readings

On Yellow Head, the berdache

• O'Meara, Walter. (1962) The Last Portage. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• Roscoe, Will. (1988) Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology. New York: St. Martin's Press.