Dr Medicine Crow on political objectives of missions & the co-existence of religions on reservations

Chief Joe Medicine Crow explains early U.S. government objectives for religious missions establishing themselves on reservations. He also describes the Indian attitude toward the numerous missionary Christian sects that came to the Crow reservation, as well as how traditional Indian religion interacted with this other religion. Joe Medicine Crow (1913-2016) was the Crow Tribal Historian and a revered elder of the Crow tribe. In 1939, he was the first member of the Crow tribe to obtain a master’s degree. His Master’s thesis, “The Effects of European Culture Contact upon the Economic, Social, and Religious Life of the Crow Indians,” remains the most widely read source on Crow culture. He received honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Southern California and Rocky Mountain College. Medicine Crow was the last traditional Plains war chief, having achieved the war deeds necessary to be declared a “chief” during World War II.