The Sioux

1
The Sioux

• They called themselves Dakotas, meaning allies
  or friends.

By Denise
2
Homes and Villages

• In the winter, there was a fire in the floors
  center to provide warmth and heat for cooking.
  During summer, the lower section of the covering
  was rolled up to let air enter and circulate.

3
Food

• Buffalo meat was a big part of the Siouxs diet.
  The tribe roasted the meat and sometimes ate it
  raw. The leftover was cured and dried on the
  racks. Later, it was cut into strips called
  jerky.

4
Food

• Jerky was made by women from dried buffalo meat.
  They pounded the buffalo meat into a powder.
  Instead of calling dried buffalo meat jerky,
  they called it pemmican. Amazingly, it could be
  stored for many years.

5
Food

• Sioux Indians not only ate meat, but they also
  ate fruits and vegetables.

6
Food

• Sioux Indians ate buffalo meat in many different
  ways. One of them was to cut the meat into thin
  strips and hang them on frames to dry. It became
  hard in a few days. It could be eaten plain or
  boiled.

7
Food

• Pemmican was made of pounded buffalo meat, fat,
  and wild berries. It could be easily carried and
  eaten on the trail.

8
Clothing

• Buffalo skin was what the Sioux mostly used for
  clothing. Leggings and shirts was what the men
  wore. Women wore dresses. Both genders wore
  moccasins.

9
Clothing

• Most often, deer and antelope skin were used for
  clothing. Moccasins, long leggings which reached
  to their hips, a loincloth, and a belt was what
  men wore.

10
Clothing

• Sioux Indians had many talents, including tanning
  buffalo hides to soften them. It helped them make
  moccasins, leggings, shirts, gloves, jackets,
  vests, and dresses for themselves.

11
Location and Environment

• Now, the Sioux live on reservations. Sioux
  reservations were in Minnesota, Nebraska, North
  Dakota, and South Dakota.

12
Location and Environment

• Sioux Indians once lived on the Great Plains.
  Some lived along the Mississippi river and some
  in southern Manitoba, Canada. The Plains extended
  from Minnesota to the Dakotas and Wisconsin.

13
Weapons for Hunting and Fighting

• The Sioux carried rawhide shields before horses
  came. They were covered with buckskin and were 3
  feet wide.

14
Weapons for Hunting and Fighting

• Wooden bows were 3 feet long , arrows were 16
  inches long and were made from flint or steel
  heads and eagle or hawk feathers.

15
Customs, Beliefs, and Religion

• Sioux Indians respected Sacred Pipe ceremonies.
  They held powwows, a gathering for Native
  Americans.

16
Customs, Beliefs, and Religion

• The Sioux God was the Great Spirit. White Buffalo
  Calf Woman was also a spirit the Sioux believed
  in.

17
Roles of Men

• Older men taught boys to hunt.
• The men hunted. They tracked deer and caught fish
  in the streams and lakes.

18
Roles of Women

• Women taught girls to cook and make clothes.
• Women often worked in canoes gathering wild rice.

19
Roles of Women

• Packing and moving the tipi was the womens job.
  To complete this task, several women worked
  together to set up or take down a tipi.

20
Leadership and Government

• Long ago, Sioux Indians lived in villages that
  were ruled by a chief. Because he was a strong
  leader, he was chosen to take this job. He helped
  the village to make important decisions.

21
Leadership and Government

• When he earned his reputation as a military
  genius among the Sioux, Crazy Horse was a young
  man. He had no intention of yielding to the white
  men when he stayed out in the buffalo country to
  the west.

22
Leadership and Government

• One great leader of the Sioux history is Sitting
  Bull. Sitting Bull was a medicine man with great
  influence and excellent abilities at planning and
  organization. He performed the Sun Dance and
  allowed himself to be tortured to gain a vision
  of what lay ahead for his people in June, 1876.

23
Leadership and Government

• A bill was passed in Congress authorizing new
  routes to the west through the great Teton
  buffalo ranges in 1865. Red Cloud, a warrior,
  emerged as a spokesman for the Sioux. As a
  powerful leader, he protested the building of new
  roads and military posts.

24
Arts and Crafts

• Colored with natural vegetable dyes, porcupine
  quills were used to make intricate patterns.
  Later, white men introduced glass beads. Ever
  since, beadwork became a highly developed craft.

25
Arts and Crafts

• Sioux made star quilts. It is often thick and
  padded. Quilts remind the Sioux how a community
  works. To make a whole quilt, each piece is
  necessary.

26
Arts and Crafts

• Both Sioux genders were artistic. Women made lots
  of crafts. Some of these are beautiful and
  elaborate ceremonial clothing. Sioux Indians were
  so artistic that everyday objects, such as a
  babys cradleboard and storage boxes, were
  decorated.

27
Interactions with Europeans

• White soldiers sometimes crept on Sioux camps and
  opened fire without warning. As they sailed
  through the air, rifle bullets tore open the
  buffalo skin tipi covers.

28
Interactions with Europeans

• Sioux often had brutal and enduring wars with
  white men. What the white men wanted was the
  Indians land for farming, to graze their sheep
  and cattle, and to mine.

29
Interactions with Europeans

• White settlers didnt get along with Sioux
  Indians and they were anxious to take their land.
  The Indians were savages who did not work the
  land to its fullest advantage. This is what white
  settlers thought of them.

30
Interactions with Europeans

• The encroaching white settlers became a
  destructive force that had to be dealt with if
  the Sioux were to survive as a people.

31
Bibliography

• Bleeker, Sonia. The Sioux Indians. New York, New
  York William Morrow Company, 1962
• Brooks, Barbara. The Sioux. Vero Beach, Florida
  Rourke Publications, Inc., 1989

32
Bibliography

• Lund, Bill. The Sioux Indians. Mankato,
  Minnesota Capstone Press, 1998.
• Landau, Elaine. The Sioux. New York, New York
  Franklin Watts,1989.

33
Bibliography

• Dr. Taylor, Colin. What do we Know About the
  Plains Indians? New York, New York Peter Bedrick
  Books, 1993.

34

• Today, many Sioux Indians live like most other
  North Americans. In the past, they practiced a
  different way of life. Their food, homes, and
  clothing helped make them special.

By Denise