Brulé

This article is about the Lakota sub-tribe. For the musical group, see Brulé (band). For Métis people, see Bois-Brûlés. For other uses, see Brule.

Janeen Antoine (Sicangu Lakota), curator, educator, and director of American Indian Contemporary Arts

The Brulé are one of the seven branches or bands (sometimes called "sub-tribes") of the Teton (Titonwan) Lakota American Indian nation. They are known as Sičháŋǧu Oyáte (in Lakota), or "Burnt Thighs Nation," and so, were called Brulé (lit. "burnt") by the French. The name may have derived from an incident where they were fleeing through a grass fire on the plains.

Many Sicangu people live on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota, where they are federally recognized as the Rosebud Sioux Tribe or Sicangu Oyate. A smaller population lives on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation, on the west bank of the Missouri River in central South Dakota. The two tribes are politically completely independent of each other.

Historic Brulé Tiyošpaye or bands

Together with the Oglala Lakota, who are based at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, they are often called Southern Lakota. They were divided in three great regional tribal divisions:

• Upper Brulé (Heyata Wicasa Oyate)
• Lower Brulé (Kul Wicasa Oyate)
• Brulé of the Platte River

According to the Brulé Medicine Bull (Tatánka Wakan), the people were highly decentralized, identifying mostly with the following tiyošpaye or bands, which collected in various local tiwahe (engl. Camps oder family circle):

• Iyakoza
• Chokatowela
• Shiyolanka
• Kanghi yuha
• Pispiza wichasha
• Waleghaunwohan
• Wacheunpa
• Shawala
• Ihanktonwan
• Nakhpakhpa
• Apewantanka

Notable Sicangu (Brulé)

Chief Iron Nation

• Iron Nation, chief
• Iron Shell, chief
• Hollow Horn Bear, chief
• Two Strike, chief
• Mary Brave Bird, author
• Arnold Short Bull, a well-known Sicangu holy man, who brought the Ghost Dance to the Lakota in South Dakota in 1890
• Spotted Tail or "Sinte Gleska", 19th-century chief
• Standing Elk, 19th-century chief (to be distinguished from Standing Elk (Cheyenne))
• Moses Stranger Horse, artist
• Michael Spears, actor
• Eddie Spears, actor
• Albert White Hat, Lakota language teacher
• Chauncey Yellow Robe, educator, lecturer and activist
• Rosebud Yellow Robe, folklorist, educator and author
• Leonard Crow Dog, spiritual leader, American Indian Movement activist
• Paul Eagle Star (1866- 24 August 1891), performer with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. He had attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School, enrolling in November 1882. After returning to the reservation, in early 1891, he was recruited as a free man under contract to perform with Cody, and went on a traveling tour to England. He died there in Sheffield of tetanus, about 10 days after his horse fell on him during a performance, dislocating and breaking his ankle. His leg was amputated, but the tetanus was fatal. Interment was at West Brompton's cemetery in London, where Surrounded by the Enemy had been buried after dying on an earlier tour. Eagle Star was survived by his wife and child. Eagle Star's remains were exhumed in March of 1999 and transported to the United States. Paul's two grandchildren, Moses and Lucy Eagle Star, accompanied the repatriation of his remains, along with Philip James. The reburial took place in Rosebud's Lakota cemetery two months later.

See also

• Bois-Brûlés

External links

• Official website of the Sicangu Oyate, Rosebud Sioux Tribe
• Indian genealogy
• Official website of the Kul Wicasa Oyate (Lower Brule)