Blackfeet Nation (Siksika)

The Blackfeet Nation (Blackfoot: Aamsskáápipikani, Pikuni), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana,[4] is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Montana. Tribal members primarily belong to the Piegan Blackfeet (Ampskapi Piikani) band of the larger Blackfoot Confederacy that spans Canada and the United States.

The tribe has an oral history of 10,000 years in this region that recounts the sacred nature of their central place, the Badger-Two Medicine area, known as their site of creation and origin.[9][10]

History

The Blackfoot Confederacy was a Military alliance originating in the Northeastern United States.

Membership

• Kainai Nation
• Piegan Blackfeet
• Piikani Nation
• Siksika Nation
• Official language Blackfoot language

Today, three Blackfoot First Nation band governments (the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani Nations) reside in the Canadian province of Alberta, while the Blackfeet Nation is a federally recognized Native American tribe of Southern Piikani in Montana, United States. Additionally, the Gros Ventre are members of the federally recognized Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana in the United States and the Tsuutʼina Nation is a First Nation band government in Alberta, Canada.

Please use Geni naming conventions - native Americans for Geni profiles.

Notable people

• Gordon Belcourt (1945–2013), Executive Director of the Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council[18]
• Black Lodge Singers, powwow singers and drum group
• Elouise P. Cobell (1945–2011), tribal treasurer and founder of Blackfeet Nation Bank. She identified mismanagement of trust land fees by the departments of Interior and Treasury, and sought corrections in Washington. In 1996 she filed a class-action suit against the government in what is known as Cobell v. Salazar, settled by the federal government for $3.4 billion in 2009. The settlement provides for payment to potentially more than 250,000 plaintiffs, repurchase of lands across the country for transfer to tribal management, and a scholarship fund for Native American and Alaskan Native students.
• Lily Gladstone (born 1986), actress (Killers of the Flower Moon)
• Richie Havens (1941–2013), singer-songwriter and guitarist
• Joe Hipp (born 1962), professional boxer
• Donna Hutchinson (born 1949), elected as member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from Bella Vista, Arkansas, served from 2007 to 2013
• Mountain Chief (1848–1942)
• Earl Old Person (1929-2021), tribal chief and political leader
• Steve Reevis (1962–2017), actor (Geronimo: An American Legend, The Missing, Fargo)
• Misty Upham (1982–2014), actor[19]
• Stephen Graham Jones (born 1972), author
• Rickey Medlocke (born 1950), guitarist for Blackfoot and Lynyrd Skynyrd bands
• Ronnie Radke (born 1983), vocalist and founding member of metalcore band Falling in Reverse
• Running Eagle (birth unknown, died somewhere after 1878), notable female warrior

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Relationship of the National Park and the reservation

References

1. Wikipedia contributors, "Blackfeet Nation," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, < link > accessed February 11, 2024).
2. Wikipedia contributors, "Blackfoot Confederacy," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, < link > (accessed February 11, 2024).
3. “Wandering Warriors: The History of the Blackfeet Tribe.” < link >
4. Blackfeet Reservation Timeline Blackfeet Tribe (2017) < PDF >