John Two Guns White Calf
John Two Guns White Calf (also known as John Two Guns and John Whitecalf Two Guns[1]) (1872–1934[2][3]) was a chief of the Piegan Blackfeet in Montana. He was born near Fort Benton, Montana, and was the adopted son of Chief White Calf.[1] After the elder White Calf died in 1903, while a guest of President T. Roosevelt in Washington, D.C., White Calf became the last chief of the Blackfoot Tribe.[2] He died at Blackfeet Indian hospital, of attack of flu according to the Choteau Acantha, however the Indian agency said pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 63 and is buried in a Catholic cemetery in Browning, Montana.[2][1]
Promotional career
[edit]He became famous for his work promoting the Glacier National Park for the Great Northern Railway.[1][2][4]: 222 In 1912, he travelled with several other Blackfeet to the 1912 United States Land Show in Chicago to make what was possibly the first publicity trip for the tribe.[5] He also claimed to be the model for the profile on the Indian head nickel. The sculptor, James Earle Fraser, said that the image he used was a composite of several people.[1]: 141 [6]
Washington Redskins
[edit]In 1971, Walter "Blackie" Wetzel, a Blackfeet tribal council member, created the Washington Redskins logo.[7][8][9] He used Two Guns White Calf's image as the basis for the logo. Concerns caused the team to change the logo in 2020.[10][8] The team officially changed their name to The Washington Commanders in 2022.[11]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Bates, Erica Margaret (1999). The Encyclopedia of Native American Economic History. Greenwood Press. p. 141. ISBN 9780313306235.
- ^ a b c d Estes, Roberta (May 21, 2012). "John Two Guns White Calf". Native Heritage Project. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
- ^ "Battle for the Blackfeet". Flathead Beacon. October 23, 2013. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
- ^ Andrew R. Graybill (2013), The Red and the White: A Family Saga of the American West, W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 9780871404459
- ^ Beck, David R. M.; LaPier, Rosalyn R. (May 2015). City Indian: Native American Activism in Chicago, 1893-1934. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803278486.
- ^ VanRyzin, Robert R. (October 2009). Fascinating Facts, Mysteries and Myths About U.S. Coins. F+W Media. ISBN 978-1440225376.
- ^ Connell, Ryan. "The man behind the logo: The story of Walter "Blackie" Wetzel". ABC FOX Montana. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
- ^ a b BLASCO 406mtsports.com, JASON. "Washington Redskins logo has deep connection to Blackfeet reservation, Wetzel family". 406 MT SPORTS. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Ross, Kelley L. (2024). "Sports Teams and Identity Ownership". Political Economy.
As it happens, the Washington Redskin logo was based on an image of Blackfoot Chief John Two Guns White Calf (1872–1934). The complaint, of course, is that 'retiring' the logo and its identity means erasing John White Calf from history. And his image was not picked at random to be a token Indian. John White Calf was a public personality and a friend of Calvin Coolidge, who, of course, frequently vacationed in South Dakota and knew the West.
- ^ "Native American son of Redskins logo designer says it's not offensive, calls the change 'hard'". wusa9.com. July 13, 2020. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
- ^ Bowman, Emma (February 6, 2022). "For many Native Americans, the Washington Commanders' new name offers some closure". NPR News.
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