BLACKFEET CRAFTS WORKERS SAVE THE BLACKFEET CHILDREN

In 1934 only 138 Blackfeet families were self-supporting and 747 families had to be assisted through relief and distribution of rations while a whooping cough epidemic and measles killed many children. Jessie Donaldson Schultz, wife of James Willard Schultz, who had remarried after his Blackfoot wife Natahki  passed away. Jessie Schultz was an employee of the Civil Works Administration as a social worker assigned to the Blackfeet Reservation. She reported, "My first visit was to a family of twelve at Starr School. Several of the children were ill and two of the babies had died. So I entered that home with beautiful parents, fine people who had just lost two children. That was the beginning of my welfare work on the Blackfeet Reservation. These people did not want to accept relief. They were so willing to work, to do something they could do to make an income. This was the beginning of our crafts program." The Blackfeet Indians formed a cooperative crafts association, and a board of directors who would examine the craft work to test it for authenticity, perfectly made according to the Blackfoot traditions. When their work was accepted , the women were paid by checks. The crafts were done with native materials-natural dyestuffs, quill work, leather work, bead work, sculpting in wood carving, dolls, and sweet grass sold to tourists at the Museum of the Plains Indian in Browning and a log building at St. Mary. They set up a little village of teepees with perfect replicas of old time lodges and charged tourists to go through the lodges and see how the Indians lived in the old way." The Blackfeet Indians involved in making a success of the Blackfeet Arts & Crafts Association are Mary Little Bull, Agnes Chief All Over, Judith Sanderville, Leona Sanderville, Maggie Shoo Cat, Julia Iron Pipe, Delores Calf Tail, Millie Hall, Maggie Marceau, Angeline Williamson, Rosie Grant, Nellie Buel, Angeline Wells, Mary Little Plume, Annie Potts, Annie Calf Looking, Maggie Found A Gun, Annie Flat Tail, Rosie Big Beaver, Cecile Tail Feathers,  Louise Berry Child, Nora Spanish, Suzie Red Horn, Albert Racine, Isabell McKay, Stanley Croft, Victor Pepion, Insimaki Yellow Kidney, Cecile Black Boy. I got statistics from Glacier Park tourists that showed 1.355,000 tourists drove past the tribal hotel and casino and did not stop, and 897,000 tourists drove over Logan Pass to enter the reservation at St. Mary Village and spent $85,000,000 in June, July and August. Our ancestors showed us the way to become self-supporting by selling crafts and entertaining tourists! Imagine if we banded together and built Blackfeet Culture Center in Browning and a Culture Center at St. Mary Village, we could end tribal poverty if we "own" the enterprise through the Blackfeet Arts & Crafts Cooperative originated by the above named Blackfeet traditional people. If not we will be corporate slaves of Sayeh or a white owned tourist enterprise dancing for minimum wages like the tribal council did a few years ago. It was a success until the greedy council got their hands in it. I can help to write grants and do the research but only the traditional Blackfeet can lead this effort. I live in Missoula so I have access to a loan program that will give us a loan to do a business plan to get a small business loan to build the culture center. Where is Ed Spotted Eagle? Call me and I will help. (406) 493-0894. Bob Juneau Sr.