Blackfeet (Native Americans of the Great Plains)

The Blackfeet are a confederacy of three closely related Plains tribes. These include the Pikuni (Piegan, known as Peigan in Canada), meaning "small robes" or "poorly dressed robes"; the Kainah, "Blood" or "many chiefs"; and the Siksika, the Blackfeet proper. Siksika, a Cree word meaning "Blackfoot People," may have referred to their moccasins, blackened by dye or by the ashes of prairie fires. All three tribes were called the Sakoyitapix, "Prairie People," or the Nitsitapix, "Real People." The Piegan were further divided into northern and southern branches. The Blackfeet Confederacy also included the Sarcees and, until 1861, the Gros Ventres.

Location Around 1800, the Blackfeet proper and the Bloods lived around the Saskatchewan, Battle, and Bow Rivers (Alberta), and the Piegan claimed the area south of the Marais River (Rocky Mountain foothills of north-central Montana). Today, Blackfeet live in northwestern Montana as well as in southern Alberta.

Population The Blackfeet Confederacy in 1780 numbered around 15,000 people. In 1993 the tribe had over 13,000 members.

Language The Blackfeet groups spoke Algonquian languages.

Historical Information

History The Blackfeet people may have originated in the Great Lakes region but had migrated to between the Bow and North Saskatchewan Rivers well before the seventeenth century. During the eighteenth century they completed their move southward into Montana, displacing the Shoshones.


Like many peoples, the Blackfeet were transformed by the horse and the gun, both of which they acquired during the early to mid-eighteenth century. One result was that they had surplus buffalo products to offer for trade. Raiding, especially for horses, became an important activity. They joined in alliance with the Assiniboine, Arapaho, and Gros Ventre and were frequently at war during the historic period.

Blackfeet people first felt the influence of non-Indians in the seventeenth century. By the late eighteenth century they were engaged in the fur trade and were known as shrewd traders, playing American and British interests off against each other. The people experienced severe epidemics in 1781-1782, 1837, 1864, and 1869-1870. After one of their number was killed by a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804, the Blackfeet fought all Americans whenever possible until they began trading with them again in 1831.

The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty gave the Blackfeet lands south of the Missouri River, although their traditional lands had all been north of the Missouri. Still, in various treaties between 1851 and 1878 they ceded land to the United States and Canada. Epidemics, the decline of the buffalo, and, later, whiskey hurt the Blackfeet more than anything, although in 1870 they were the victims of a U.S. Army massacre in which 173 peaceful Indians, mostly women and children, were killed.

The Blackfeet Reservation was established in 1855 in northern Montana. In exchange for the northern Montana plains, the Southern Piegan received fixed hunting grounds bordered by the Canadian, Missouri, and Musselshell Rivers and the Rocky Mountains; they also received promises of payments and annuities. Other Blackfeet groups considered themselves to be British and did not treat with the Americans.

From the 1870s into the 1890s, the United States took away much of the huge Blackfeet Reservation. In Treaty Number 7 (1877), the Blackfeet (and others) ceded much of southern Alberta for a number of small reserves. Roughly 600 Blackfeet, mostly Southern Piegan, died of starvation in 1883 after the last great buffalo herd was destroyed.

After a farming experiment failed, Piegans began a program of stock raising around 1890, on land individually assigned by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. A few Indians became prosperous, but the majority leased their land to non-Indians, who often did not pay. A combination of events in 1919 left the people in dire poverty and dependent on government rations. During this period, over 200,000 acres of Indian land were lost through nonpayment of taxes and allotments that were sold to fend off starvation. Blackfeet on both sides of the border were also subject to having their children kidnapped and sent to missionary boarding schools. Log houses replaced tipis during this time. Most Canadian Blackfeet lost large portions of their reserves from 1907 to 1921.

Stock raising returned during the 1920s, accompanied by grain farming and some subsistence gardening. U.S. Blackfeet adopted an Indian Reorganization Act constitution in 1930s. Income rose, as the government provided credit for ranching enterprises. After World War II, up to one-third of the population was living off-reservation. Conditions on the reservations began to improve at that time, a trend that accelerated during the 1960s. Among most people, English replaced Blackfeet as the daily language in the 1970s. At the same time, many traditions severely declined.

Religion The Blackfeet envisioned a world inhabited by spirits, some good and some evil. Deities included sun and thunder as well as all animals. Religious feelings and practice were pervasive. Prayers were offered regularly throughout the day.

Some people had visions to benefit the tribe as a whole. They became holy men, or medicine pipe men, because their medicine bundle was particularly sacred. Such bundles, including scared pipes, were owned by individuals, societies, and bands. They were thought to ensure a long, happy, successful life and thus could be quite valuable if sold.

Ceremonies included the Sun Dance, probably acquired from the Arapaho or the Gros Ventres around the mid-eighteenth century. Unlike most Plains tribes, women participated in the Blackfeet Sun Dance. Religious societies were responsible for healing and curing. Individual religious activity focused on the acquisition of guardian spirits through prayerful vision quests in remote places. Guardian spirits would bring various forms of luck and/or skills.

Sweating was considered a religious activity as well as a preparation for ceremonials. Women were generally not permitted access to the sweat lodge. Sacred bundles were also smudged or smoked in the sweat lodge.

Government The constituent tribes of the confederacy were completely autonomous, although all were closely related and occasionally acted in concert. The tribes were in turn organized into autonomous bands of between 20 and 30 families (200 people) before the early eighteenth century.

Each band had a civil headman, or chief, chosen on the basis of acts of bravery and generosity. The chief had the most influence regarding the band’s movements and also acted as judge. Each band also had a war chief, who exerted power only during military situations. All headmen constituted a tribal council, which in turn selected a temporary tribal chief when the bands came together. All decisions were taken by consensus.

Customs The bands lived separately in winter but came together in summer to hunt buffalo and observe their ceremonies. They generally followed the buffalo in all seasons save winter. Originally egalitarian, levels of social prestige based on horse ownership emerged after the mid-eighteenth century.

Men were members of one of seven age-graded military societies. In addition, men and women could belong to numerous other religious, dance, and social societies, each with its own symbols and ceremonies. There was also a society exclusively for women. Membership in all societies was drawn from all bands and functioned mainly when the tribe came together in summer.

These Blackfeet blow eagle-bone whistles as part of a Sun Dance ritual to ensure good weather during the ceremony. Unlike most Plains tribes, women also participated in the Blackfeet Sun Dance.

These Blackfeet blow eagle-bone whistles as part of a Sun Dance ritual to ensure good weather during the ceremony. Unlike most Plains tribes, women also participated in the Blackfeet Sun Dance.

Virginity in women was held in high esteem. Depending on his wealth, a man might have more than one wife. Residence after marriage was generally patrilocal. Wedding formalities centered on gift giving. There was a mother-in-law taboo but none for a wife and her father-in-law. Divorce was possible on the grounds of laziness or infidelity (men) or cruelty or neglect (women).

Names were sometimes given by the mother but more often by a male family member based on his war experiences. Boys usually earned a new name around adolescence. Despite beliefs about the danger of contact with menstruating women, there was no particular ceremony when a girl reached puberty.

Public ridicule was generally an effective deterrent to socially unacceptable behavior. Winter nights might be filled with storytelling, gambling, or all-night smokes during which people sang their religious songs. Childrens’ games included hide and seek, archery and other contests, throwing balls, playing with toys, or sledding.

The dead were placed on scaffolds in trees or in tipis if death took place there; horses were generally killed to help in the journey to the next world. Women mourners cut their hair, wailed ritualistically, and slashed their limbs. Men cut their hair and left the band for a while.

Dwellings Women constructed tipis from 12 to 14 buffalo skins over as many as 23 pine poles. There was a basic foundation of four poles upon which the others were laid. Tipis always faced east. Larger tipis, of up to 30 buffalo skins, were a sign of wealth. Tipis were smaller when dogs pulled the travois.

Diet Food was generally abundant, although droughts or blizzards could bring hunger or even starvation. Plains Blackfeet ate mostly buffalo but also other large as well as small game. Buffalo were driven over cliffs, surrounded on foot and shot, communally hunted with bow and arrow (most common after the Blackfeet acquired horses), and individually stalked. The Indians also ate waterfowl and their eggs. They did not eat fish or dog.

In addition to the usual wild fruits, nuts, and berries, Blackfeet women gathered camas roots, which they steamed in an underground oven. Some tobacco was grown for ceremonial purposes.

Key Technology Early, pre-Plains Blackfeet may have made pottery. The buffalo provided more than 60 material items. Various skin containers were often decorated with painted designs. Musical instruments included a rattle of skin around wood as well as a flageolet (flute). The people also used stone pounding mauls and war clubs attached to wooden handles, chipped stone knives, and brushes of porcupine bristles or horsehair bound with rawhide. They also made backrests of willow sticks tied with sinew and supported by a tripod.

Trade The Blackfeet traded as far south as Mexico in all seasons save winter.

Notable Arts Men painted tipis and other leather items with stars and designs such as battle events. Women made beaded quillwork, usually on clothing. In general, the people were known for the high quality of everyday items such as clothing, tools, tipis, and headdresses.

Transportation Dogs pulled the travois until horses arrived in the early to mid-eighteenth century. Temporary hide rafts, towed by swimmers, were used to cross deep streams.

Dress Women wore long, one-piece skin dresses, later fringed and beaded, and buffalo robes in winter. They wore their hair long and loose. Men dressed in skin shirts, leggings, and moccasins, as well as buffalo robes in winter. Men also wore their hair long down the back, with a lock of hair down their foreheads to their noses, and they plucked their faces. Young men might also paint their faces. Caps were made of bird or weasel skins.

War and Weapons All men were members of age-graded military societies known as All Comrades. Although they were generally allied with the Gros Ventre and Sarcee, the Blackfeet fought most other Plains and Plateau tribes, including Salish/Flathead, Nez Perce, Kootenai, Assiniboine (after the nineteenth century), Shoshone, Crow, and Cree. Blackfeet Indians were considered among the best fighters, hunters, and raiders. Although the three divisions were politically autonomous, they acted in unison to fight their enemies.

Blackfeet women constructed tip is from 12 to 14 buffalo skins over as many as 23 pine poles. Larger tipis, of up to 30 buffalo skins, were a sign of wealth.

Blackfeet women constructed tip is from 12 to 14 buffalo skins over as many as 23 pine poles. Larger tipis, of up to 30 buffalo skins, were a sign of wealth.

Weapons included three-foot horn, sinew-backed bows, stone clubs, arrows (held in otter-skin quivers), and decorated buffalo-hide shields. Rather than counting coup with a stick, Blackfeet warriors gathered high war honors by wresting a gun or other weapon from an enemy. Taking a horse or a scalp merited honors but of relatively low caliber.

Contemporary Information

Government/Reservations The Blackfeet Reservation (Glacier and Pondera Counties, Montana), established in 1855, consists of roughly two million acres, of which the tribe owns about 70 percent individually or in common. The 1990 Indian population was 7,025. The reservation is governed by a tribal business council.

On all three Canadian reserves—Siksika, Blood, and Peigan—decisions of the tribal councils must be approved by the government, but this is considered a mere formality.

Economy The Blackfeet Tribe owns Blackfeet National Bank and a pencil and pen company as well as grazing and mineral leases. The tribe received a settlement of $29 million in 1982 as compensation for unsound federal accounting practices over the years. Their unemployment rate remains generally above 50 percent (nearer 80 percent in Canada). Most businesses and services are owned by non-Indians in the reservation town of Browning

In Canada, Indian-run businesses on the Siksika Reserve include a cafeteria, supermarket, video store, and furniture store. The Blood Reserve has a small mall and several service stations. There are several small stores and a crafts shop on the Peigan Reserve.

Legal Status The Blackfeet Tribe is a federally recognized tribal entity.

In Canada, the Blackfeet Tribe has changed its name to the Siksika Nation, and the Peigans are called both the Peigan Nation and the Pikuni Nation.

Daily Life Many Blackfeet have intermarried with non-Blackfeet or non-Indians, and many have adopted Christian religions. Still, the Sun Dance is maintained, as are medicine bundle, sweat lodge, and guardian spirit traditions. Language classes are in place to keep the language alive. Blackfeet Indians are better educated and have more and better jobs than ever before. Nevertheless, the unemployment rate remains high, with attendant social problems. The Museum of the Plains Indian as well as Blackfeet Community College (established 1976) is located on the reservation. There is an annual Medicine Lodge ceremony and Sun Dance in July.

Canadian Bloods operate Red Crow College, and a local college offers courses on the Siksika Reserve. The University of Lethbridge has a Native Studies program based mostly on Blackfeet culture.

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