Earth Guardians Native

09/08/2025

Hopi Mirror. Pool near Walpi, Arizona. Early 1900s. Photo by Carl Moon.

09/08/2025

Garnet, an Oglala Sioux man. 1877. Photo by C.M. Bell.

09/08/2025

StarEagle joins the Space Force

Space Force just welcomed its first female Native American intelligence officer.

09/08/2025

Hopi girl and the photographer Sumner Matteson. 1899-1900. Source - Denver Public Library.

09/08/2025

Shoshoni women and child. 1878

09/08/2025

Thunder tipi with Lookout Butte in background. Blackfeet. Montana. Early 1900s. Glass lantern slide by Walter McClintock. Source - Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

09/08/2025

Principal Female Shaman of the Hupa. 1923. Photo by Edward S. Curtis. Source - Museum of Photographic Arts.

09/08/2025

Long Otter. Crow. Early 1900s. Photo by Richard Throssel. Source - University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center.

08/08/2025

Cowboy Ben Pickett. 1910-1930. Photo by Ralph Russell Doubleday. The photo is labeled as Bill Pickett but it"s actually his brother Ben. There was a famous snafu with the stamp of Bill Pickett that you can read about here -- it was based on this photo -- Bill or Willie M. Pickett (December 5, 1870 – April 2, 1932) was an African American cowboy, rodeo performer, and actor. In 1972, he was the first African American man inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame. In 1989, Pickett was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.

He invented the technique of bulldogging, the skill of grabbing cattle by the horns and wrestling them to the ground. It was known among cattlemen that, with the help of a trained bulldog, a stray steer could be caught. Bill Pickett had seen this happen on many occasions. He also thought that if a bulldog could do this feat, so could he. Pickett practiced his stunt by riding hard, springing from his horse, and wrestling the steer to the ground. Pickett"s method for bulldogging was biting a cow on the lip and then falling backward. He also helped cowboys with bulldogging. This method eventually lost popularity as the sport morphed into the steer wrestling that is practiced in rodeos.

Pickett soon became known for his tricks and stunts at local country fairs. With his four brothers, he established The Pickett Brothers Bronco Busters and Rough Riders Association. The name Bill Pickett soon became synonymous with successful rodeos. He did his bulldogging act, traveling about in Texas, Arizona, Wyoming, and Oklahoma.

In 1905, Pickett joined the 101 Ranch Wild West Show that featured the likes of Buffalo Bill, Will Rogers, Tom Mix, Bee Ho Gray, and Zach and Lucille Mulhall; he performed under the name "The Dusky Demon."Pickett was soon a popular performer who toured around the world and appeared in early motion pictures, such as a movie created by Richard E. Norman. Pickett"s ethnicity resulted in his not being able to appear at many rodeos, so he often was forced to claim that he was of Comanche heritage in order to perform. In 1921, he appeared in the films The Bull-Dogger and The Crimson Skull.

08/08/2025

A Cherokee woman and baby. Oklahoma. 1920s or "30s?

08/08/2025

Lucy Nicolar (aka Wahtawaso, aka Princess Wahtawaso, aka Bright Star) the daughter of Joseph Nicolar - Penobscot - 1884. Photo by Randolph M. Howe

08/08/2025

Chief Red Cloud and son Jack Red Cloud. Oglala Lakota. circa 1900