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LIVING HISTORY: LITTLE BIGHORN FROM A CHEYENNE PERSPECTIVE (HIS-244314)

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Course Description:


In 1876, Cheyenne, Lakota, and Arapaho joined forces to win the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand. After the battle, Cheyenne women took fabric from slain soldiers’ Army coats and made a dress. The dress holds special meaning since one of Custer's favored strategies was to capture women, children, disabled and elderly and use them as hostages / human shields to gain a military advantage. The dress was handed down from woman to woman and is currently at the Northwest Indian Museum in Washington. It was presented at Little Bighorn Battlefield on the Crow Reservation through the efforts of Cheyenne tribal member Clifford Eaglefeathers on June 25-26, 2016, the 140th anniversary of the battle.

Little is known of this dress, since Cheyenne Elders determined that the battle should not be spoken of for one hundred years; now the silence has been broken and stories of Little Bighorn are being told from a Cheyenne perspective. Rather than the military engagement itself, this eight week course will focus on peoples’ stories and address how battle sites, as locales, continue to breathe living history. The course includes oral history videos with Mr. Eaglefeathers and Cheyenne Elders.

This course fully meets the General Education requirement for American History and Other World Civilizations.


This online course is offered through Online Learning. You can take this as an individual course or as part of an online degree program, with term starts in March, May, September, November and January. View current term offerings and all online courses. Click here to register for online courses.

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Liberal Study
Upper Level
Credits: 4
Meets General Education Requirement In: American History-Full;Other World Civilizations-Full

Term(s) Offered (Subject to Change) : Spring 1. Fall 1.

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