Plate 635: Agichide-Assiniboin

No image available

1926

Edward S. Curtis

(American, 1868–1952)

Culture

America

Medium

glass interpositive plate

Measurements

Overall: 43.2 x 35.6 cm (17 x 14 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Dr. Terence and Joyce Isakov 2022.298

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Edward S. Curtis wrote that an Agichide was part of a group of special medicine men who maintained order in the tribe and from whom chiefs were chosen.

Description

Contemporary scholars tracing the path to tribal leadership explain that when a male had been successful at war, he was deemed an Agichida, or warrior, and could be inducted into a warrior societies. The leaders of those societies, when they reached middle age, might be chosen as a Little Chief. The Little Chiefs, led by a single Chief, comprised the tribe’s leadership council.