Many of us have grandparents who can tell us stories about the old days, the “old days” usually being the 1930s, maybe the ‘20s.
But imagine being able to sit down with an old relative who could tell you firsthand about General George Custer, or even Lewis and Clark.
For several decades, starting in the 1940s, Joe Medicine Crow was the historian of the Crow Indian tribe. And much of the history he wrote down came from those aging family members he had known.
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His step-grandfather, for example. Known as White Man Runs Him, he was a scout for General Custer, and as such was an eyewitness to the Battle of Little Bighorn.
But Medicine Crow had many stories of his very own to tell. He was a noted scholar, World War Two hero, and Native American leader. He was, in fact, the last war chief of the Crow tribe.
I met him in 1993, when, just shy of age 80, he published the first of what would be several books about the Crow tribe. The book was called From The Heart of The Crow Country.
So here now, from 1993, Joe Medicine Crow.
Joe Medicine Crow was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
He died 23 years after our interview, in 2016, at age 102.