Youth Culture - Teddy Boys 1950s

Youth Culture - Teddy Boys 1950s

Image by brizzle born and bred
The Teddy Boys grew out of the 1950's when anything and everything had to do with America.

America was viewed as the nation to be. The cars were big and opulent and the austerity by which the English had previously led their lives was something the teenagers of the time were rebelling against.

Rising prosperity meant teenagers in work had more money to spend. The 50s saw the first youth cult, the Teddy Boys. Their outlandish style of dress combined with acts of violence shocked British society. The 50s was also the decade of American Rock’n'Roll. Young people in the latest fashions danced to music despised by their parents.

American influence on European teenagers was huge. Rock and Roll idols including Elvis Presley, Bill Hayley, Jerry Lee Lewis and film stars James Dean and Marlon Brando set fashions almost unwittingly. The main looks for teenagers were greasers and preppies.

Teddy Boys, quiffs, Brylcreem, poodle skirts and blue suede shoes.

Greasers followed the standard black leather and denim jeans look set by Marlon Brando in "The Wild One" (1953) and later emulated in the 1978 film called "Grease". They raced about town on motorbikes and were consider outrageous.

Preppie qualities were neatness, tidiness and grooming. Teen girls wore full dirndl or circular skirts with large appliqués on their clothing. Neat pleated skirts were also popular. The pleated skirts were made from a then new fabric called TERYLENE (polyester) which helped maintain razor sharp sunray pleating.

The skirts were supported by bouffant paper nylon or net petticoats. On top, teens wore scoop neck blouses, back to front cardigans, tight polo necks or three quarter sleeve white fitting shirts often with a scarf knotted cowboy fashion at the side neck. These teen clothing fashions that originated in America, filtered to Britain in watered down fashion.

The Teddyboy emerged in the 1950s as Britain was coming to the end of post-war austerity and represented the first face of British youth culture.

The consumer boom of the 1950s America did not reach Britain until the 1960s but nevertheless working class teenagers could for the first time afford good clothes, a bicycle or motorcycle and entertainment.

The clothing that the Teddyboys wore was designed to shock their parents' generation. It consisted of an Edwardian style drape jacket, much too 'camp' for a working class man, suede Gibson shoes with thick crepe soles, narrow 'drainpipe' trousers, a smart shirt and a loud tie - usually of the 'Slim Jim' or bootlace type.

The trademark drape jacket was not as impractical as it seems. Not only did it act as a badge of recognition but, as it was made of woollen cloth with lots of pockets, its kept it's owner warm as he hung around in the street and was also good at concealing weapons and alcohol.

Some carrying coshes, bicycle chains, razors and flick-knives beneath their fine Edwardian style clothes.

The Teddygirls adopted American fashions such as toreador pants and circle skirts, although they tended to wear low cut tops to make themselves look less prissy. Girls wore ponytails and the boys tried a number of experimental hairstyles, the most favourite being the overblown quiff with a DA (ducks arse) at the back.

The British Teddy Boy subculture is typified by young men wearing clothes that were partly inspired by the styles worn by dandies in the Edwardian period, styles which Savile Row tailors had attempted to re-introduce in Britain after World War II.

The subculture got its name from a 1953 newspaper headline which shortened Edward to Teddy and coined the term Teddy Boy (also known as Ted).

The subculture started in London in the 1950s, and rapidly spread across the UK, soon becoming strongly associated with American rock and roll music of the period.

Although there had been youth groups with their own dress codes called "Scuttlers" in 19th century Manchester and Liverpool, Teddy Boys were the first youth group in England to differentiate themselves as teenagers, helping create a youth market.

The US film Blackboard Jungle marked a watershed in the United Kingdom. When shown in Elephant and Castle, south London, in 1956 the teenage Teddy boy audience began to riot, tearing up seats and dancing in the cinema's aisles.

After that, riots took place around the country wherever the film was shown.

Some Teds formed gangs and gained notoriety following violent clashes with rival gangs which were often exaggerated by the popular press.

The most notable was the 1958 Notting Hill race riots, in which Teddy Boys were present in large numbers and were implicated in attacks on the West Indian community.

The violent lifestyle was also sensationalised in the pulp novel Teddy Boy by Ernest Ryman. The bound edition was first published in England in 1958, by Michael Joseph Limited, London, WC1 © 1958 by Ernest Ryman. The first Ace Books edition (H399) was printed 1960.

During the 1970s, rockabilly music enjoyed a renewed period of popularity and saw a resurgence of interest in Teddy Boy fashions; the look was taken up by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren through their shop Let it Rock on London's King's Road.

This new generation of Teds adopted some aspects of the 1950s but with a large glam rock influence, including louder colours for drape jackets, brothel creepers and socks.

Additionally, rather than grease to style their hair, they were more likely to use hairspray. In the later 1970s, the new generation became the enemies of the Westwood and Sex Pistol-inspired punk rockers.

The early 1990s saw a revival of original Teddy Boy style by a group known as The Edwardian Drape Society (T.E.D.S). Based in the Tottenham area of north London, they were concerned with reclaiming the style they felt had become bastardised by pop/glam bands such as Showaddywaddy and Mud in the 1970s.

They were the subject of a short film, The Teddy Boys, by Bruce Weber, at the Cambridge Film Festival in July 2006.

Were you a Teddy Boy? Do you have any stories from that era?

See My Other Youth Culture Links Below

www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/4082458089/

www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/5130733677/

www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/5130851019/

www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/5131064113/

Teddy Boys on Video

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uji9wdkydxo

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBdbwnfRmsM

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx4EyJbS9J4&feature=related

Aflicktion: Letters to Cyberspace

Image by ocean.flynn
The fireplace is casting a blanket of warmth through our cottage home but I still feel chilled. The small lake is as clear as a mirror today, leaves reflected in and floating on the surface burn with rich colours but I can’t really enjoy them today.

It was October 2002 and the cottage was on Bell Lake in the Gatineau Hills of Quebec. I had just spent three weeks in Iqaluit, Nunavut getting the academic year's courses underway. Within a few days of my return to the Ottawa area the youth suicide epidemic struck again. I wrote this letter to cyberspace but I really did not expect any response.

Yesterday my urban Inuit students in their course on Inuit art, spoke of death --- too many deaths, too many funerals and fresh graves in small communities where almost no one is left untouched. Another youth, Jimmy took his life last weekend in Iqaluit, Nunavut. The suicide rate in North America’s far north has no equal anywhere on our globe. We couldn't just talk about sculpture, prints and drawings. I strained to hear not just to listen . . . to force time to slow down. I was out of sync with the cadence of their voices. These are supposed to be the learners but I am learning from them. They were grappling with the loss of someone who was a real embodied presence throughout their youth and childhood. I needed them to help me understand. I speak too fast with too many words.

Seventeen hours later after trying to watch brain candy or tranquilize my mind with the hues and saturations of the lake leaves, I am still unable to settle in to my real world obligations. So I am writing letters to cyberspace addressing them to journalists. We are connected. NYT journalists do not simply produce our news stories, they construct our communal archives. The political philosophies that appear in the Times columns inform conversations internationally. Decisions made, policies enacted, interventions, transactions and agreements undertaken in New York, California, Washington, Kyoto, Rio Janeiro, The Hague, Tel Aviv, Baghdad, Beijing, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Toronto have as much --- if not more --- impact than conversations and consultations held in Nunavut. Assumptions and debates about the market, big or small government, direct democracy, policing, racial profiling, drugs, welfare, poverty, taxes that are covered in the pages of the New York Times impact far beyond the space on the grid of a New York mile and the time contained in a New York minute.

This is not Jimmy’s story. Inuit have tried hard to teach me that I cannot tell their stories. I can only tell my story through my eyes and my experience. Jimmy used to live in Iqaluit, Nunavut. He had a good construction job and his friends knew him as a young man who had a lot to live for.

Construction in Nunavut is booming. Entrepreneurs come north for several years or decades and legally amass fortunes as they rush ahead to improve southern Canada’s GNP by building, renting and leasing northern dwellings at prices several times the cost of a similar dwelling in the south. This is a boon to government workers and the upper middle class both Inuit and non-Inuit. According to the logic of the marketplace, this will eventually trickle down to the Inuit who are the most disadvantaged in the North in regards to underemployment, access to education, health and housing. But the youth are dying so quickly I don’t know how many will be there to benefit when help finally does arrive. In the midst of this construction boom many Inuit are still living in overcrowding conditions shockingly comparable to the Third World. Nunavut is a conflicted region of great promise after negotiating a more equitable relationship to the rest of Canada but it is also a region of ever-deepening despair. Extremes of wealth and poverty co-exist with intimacy that is too close for comfort.

Last week Jimmy was part of the boom. He was one of the fortunate Inuit who had found a job. The friends who introduced me to Jimmy through their memories of him, described a young man full of promise. The cadence of the conversations yesterday, like many kitchen table conversations with First Nations, Inuit and Metis friends resonates with the dialogue and silences that narrate the ‘long take’ vistas of a Zach Kunuk video. One of the students from the Igloolik area --- where Atanarjuat was filmed --- spent yesterday afternoon tracing intricate trails in red on a university photocopy of a 1-125,000 map of the islands, waterways and mainland that he knew intimately from his years of traveling with his grandfather. As he traced the pathways, he meticulously wrote the names of familiar places in red syllabics. From time to time he would explain the meaning of these coded words. Each place name described the physical space so accurately it was as though he succeeded in breaking the code that unlocked Borges’ ‘Art of Cartography.’ As he spoke, Julia whispered warnings about imposed flag post place names like Fury Strait. He created a virtual image for me --- and anyone else in the room who strained to listen. The images, sounds and smells he evoked were themselves Hauntings. As he traced and retraced these red pathways that barely covered inches on the photocopied map --- I, the cyborg collector of digital archives, could take a Janet Cardiff’s Wanås Walk… three-hour hikes… seven-hour hikes to his favourite places… seeing panoramas vicariously through his eyes… hearing silence and the wind, tasting… smelling. The place names acknowledged the super natural market of food supplies available to travelers who had local knowledge. He indicated and word painted the tiny island called Tern Island where his father was born.

He fingered the miniscule unmarked place on the map haunted by the toxicity of the abandoned Dew Line site that is socially, historically, politically, emotionally and physically charged. These stories of these sites, like the stories of the many suicide martyrs, have been erased from communal memory. But the threat of their toxins is a constant reminder of the fragility of the micro ecosystem of this unique place.

The island of Igloolik --- the place of many dwellings --- is where the family of my guide on my vicarious journey, returned for generations. Centuries of overlapping circular trails could be traced on this map in sharp contrast to the grid-like pattern of modernity cut into a New York mile of urban architectural spaces. The layered trails would represent countless seasonal journeys from hunting camp to fishing camp traveling on foot, by dogsled, kayak, Peterhead, snow machine or by foot. Like so many isolated places in the North --- Igloolik --- has been inhabited by the semi-nomadic Inuit for centuries if not millennia. Travelers walking on the land still come across centuries-old natural museums, archives and caches that should have been forgotten. Because the archives are not written, there is an assumption that they do not exist. But the tundra itself has written the story of the early travelers in vivid colours on ancient abandoned sites. Tiny resistant plants that flourished on organic accumulative remains unlock the entrance to the site of ancient bones and tusks. Discarded objects and ancient bones tell stories of those who traveled before.

How far can you go in a New York minute? How many miles are encompassed in the Wall Street grid? How much widescreen and close-up geography can be covered in the longue duree, the ‘long take’, the extended view that echoes natural time. Jimmy’s identity was a personal geography he inhabited, composed of endlessly repeated everyday habits haunted by a communal history that resists the forced act of forgetting.

This week Jimmy’s life and story is beginning a process of being wiped out, completely erased, deleted from communal memory. In an everyday life process his image is beginning already to move from opacity to transparency in the painful but unspoken process of total erasure from a community’s memory. Once the local memory is completely gone, the tiny byte of time and place that he once occupied will be irretrievable from the meta files of data being processed in this the age of the great flood of the archives. If he had children they will never know their father’s story. His image will not be found in photo albums nor will laughter at his exploits be shared around kitchen tables. His name --- if it ever does come up again --- will be spoken only in whispers. Jimmy is not being cruelly punished for dying young. His memory, his life is doubly and triply erased in a desperate attempt to save the youth around him. In Iqaluit, Nunavut there is still nowhere for those youth-at-risk to go for help. They are living and dying through the worst epidemic of suicide on the planet.

When my granddaughters are reading the socio-economic, cultural and political histories of North America several decades from now, how will the story be told? How can and will the bones of this entire generation of our youth be explained and justified? These are our youth. They are not Canadian or American. They are North American.


Maureen Flynn-Burhoe
October, 2003
Bell Lake, Quebec, Canada

I had just returned from Iqaluit, Nunavut where I had set up two courses. I had developed a northern-centred course on Human Rights that was I was teaching along with the Introduction to Sociology I had taught from January to June in 2002. I didn't really want to return to Nunavut but the Director and administrators of the Centre for Initiatives in Education really wanted me to go again. Last term was such a success they had signed an agreement with Nunavut Arctic College President, McClenning. But the Inuit Art Foundation in Ottawa wanted me to teach their courses again as well. So I was commuting between Iqaluit and Ottawa. My own PhD was moving too slowly.


Email correspondence in response to letter


Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 16:01:08 -0400
Subject: Re: An Epidemic of Youth Suicide
To: Maureen Flynn-Burhoe

From a friend and mother who works in education in Iqaluit, Nunavut

Thank you for your for sensitive insights and for taking action. Your letter is very eloquent and persuasive. I am at my wits end with the number of deaths as it impacts so terribly on the youth left behind. I had to get my x out of town once again at the end of August after a friend died in a wasteful and tragic car accident. x stayed out visiting family and friends, then joined x and I for Thanksgiving in our x house. It was so peaceful and sane. We all returned on Sunday. The very first phone call to x was from a friend informing x of Jimmy's suicide. x had worked with Jimmy last summer at x. x just collapsed and all the healing seems for nought. Yet x went to the funeral yesterday, but today x hasn't really risen from bed. And at lunch today, I heard that x's step son (really her grand son) died last night, a possible suicide, but we won't know until the autopsy is completed. He was only 19. I think we may have to move away, just in order to keep our x healthy and optimistic about life and youth. Again, though you letter so beautifully articulated the problem. I hope they respond.

From a friend, an anthropologist in Israel working with an off-campus Social Work program for Bedouin women:

Your letter arrived just in the right time to strengthen my belief that, after all, we are connected by some sort of a great path leading us to the same places, meeting us at some crossroads. In two days I am about to start a new course named "Inter-cultural Training in Human Services". Your letter will certainly be shared with the students at the beginning of the course, used as a starting point. I thank you so much for letting me be part of your healing -I consider it as our mutual need for healing. I know from very close the feelings of self-devastation, just from hearing about the silent violence in their lives. But we need to heal ourselves so we can continue hearing the stories and expand the message as far as we can, to as many ears we can, especially to those who can make changes. The act of hearing itself is, I believe, a direct healing process, a humanizing process, we experience with the direct victims of the community, all hurt by the violence. Be strong and courageous to go on in this painful task and remember to take care of yourself. I am always here for you (despite the distance) very close to you in my thoughts and feelings. wish you all the best and warm hugs to x, x

From a university student

Your story was emotionally moving. It is truly unfortunate how there are not enough articles that try and explain the truth, that will attempt to reveal an alternate side to what is actually going on. The newspaper is a valuable source of information, however if we cannot rely on it to report factual accounts than how are we to remain informed? I find that in today’s society it is getting harder and harder to experience true reality. Organizations that are supposed to relay news to us (the individuals) such as CNN, The New York Times, The Ottawa Sun, etc… seem to always have an incredibly bias view on things. It is unfortunate that instances like these occur yet; it seems that if they were to print the truth they would have too much to lose thus, resulting in uninformed patrons, such as yourself and others like me. The account you heard about Jimmy, appears to be a common story in native life these days, and it makes me sore inside. This summer on my way to Vancouver I had the pleasure of being seated next to a lovely young girl named Suzie. She was a young lady from Coral harbor – a small island off the coast of Hudson Bay in Nunavut. As we flew I found out many interesting things about the life she lived. The way hers differed from mine was substantially significant. She told me about her life up north, how she witness first hand a good friend of hers commit suicide, she experienced her brother take his own life, and even her local high school, it seemed like there was another case of suicide every other week. She was flying back to Victoria where she attended a fashion design school. Talking to her really opened my eyes up as I am sure your students opened yours. It was wonderful to see how far she had come along; taking into account the experiences she had gone through.

I believe part of the problem these youth face is the way in which society “has” regarded them. In the past native people have always been looked down upon and have been pushed around physically and mentally. There have been many repercussions created to alleviate the Native community, however many of these things have come a little too late. Obviously the argument can be made stating that these repercussions are better than nothing, yet it still doesn’t account for the losses native youth will suffer.

In order to understand what is actually going on in places such as Iqaluit there needs to be a proper healing process. Having stories printed in newspapers about those who have suffered are only the beginning of the healing process. Marilyn Manson, a famous musician was asked what he would have done to prevent the shooting that occurred at Columbine High School. He said “I wouldn’t have said anything to them; I would have listened to them, and what they had to say.” This is an attitude that should be adopted by many more school officials that deal with students and stressful environments. The youth of Iqaulit not only deserve someone to direct them in correct directions they NEED someone who is willing to listen and to understand their problems. Peter Tenute


Labels: benign colonialism, inuit social history, RCAP, youth suicide

Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma Seal

Image by Native American Seals/Logos
PROFILE AND CULTURE

Before the Kiowa people signed the Medicine Lodge Treaty and moved to the reservation, they; were grouped into two local divisions known as "To-kinah-yup" or "Men of the Cold," and "Gwa-kelega", in their association with the Comanches. These two names were local differentiation's equivalent to the northern and southern division Kiowas. The northern division ranged along the Arkansas River and the Kansas frontier. Among the Kiowas, there were six sub-tribes, which formed the camp circle. The sub-tribes were based on extended family divisions, each having its own leader. Each divisional leader and his followers had their own particular dialect and special religious ceremonies.

The Kiowa camp circle faced east with each sub-tribe located in a clock-wise position around the circle in order of rank and importance. The first position was occupied by the largest and most important division of the tribe, which was assigned the task of providing the bison for the annual Sun Dance. The second position comprised a division comprised a division who led the war ceremonies. Next were the Kiowa proper, believed to be the original nuclei of the Kiowa tribe, who were the keepers of the Tai-me and were charge of the priest's tipi at the Sun Dance ceremony. The forebears of the Kiowa-Apache formed the fourth position. A group named after a Kiowa mythical character held the fifth place. Occupying the last place in the circle was a division who was annihilated by the Dakota tribes in the late 1700's in Kiowa history.

Status within the Kiowa tribe was ranked by a series of social classes with the wealthy families functioning as an aristocracy. A person could earn the right to move up in society if he or she acquired the abilities and skills meriting respect and honor required for achieving a higher rank. There were many instances of people rising to eminence from poor and unfavorable beginnings. There were also cases of status being lost as result of a dishonorable deed.

The bison played a significant role in the life of the Kiowa as the major source of food and raw materials for all living necessities. Although the bison was plentiful the Kiowa never killed the animals wantonly, or for sport. Bison were killed only out of necessity, whenever food, clothing or shelters were needed.

Generally speaking, Kiowa tribal society was male-oriented. Women gained prestige through the achievements of their husbands, sons, and fathers. Personal glory for women came through attractive appearance and diligence in learning skills such as tanning, skin sewing and beadworking.

There was another side of Plains American Indian life that was less frequently told. This was the women side; the side of the persons who get the warriors s ready for their expeditions. A Kiowa woman was in charge of everything and everyone in and around her tipi. Kiowa Men were in charge of everything else away from the tipi. Statistically, females form fifty-two percent of the American Indian population group. They probably comprised a higher percentage in most Plains American Indian tribes, for we know that polygamy was an economic necessity to them. The surplus of women and children in a fighting, hunting population must be cared for.

The Kiowa woman, or indeed the woman of any other Plains tribes, was a strong personality in her own right. A weak woman could not have lived with men as strong as those of the Plains, at any time. The Plains American Indian woman exercised absolute control within her home, and a considerable amounts outside it, and still does so today.

Of course a Kiowa lady did not push herself forward, raise her voice, or make a scene, any more than did her Victorian contemporary and counterpart. A wise Kiowa woman got her way and kept her household together as a wise woman does anywhere, by not asserting herself until such action was necessary by circumstances. But she got her way, and held her household together into her own old age, nevertheless.

The children raised in this culture-reflected behavior learned from each parent. Boys were left with their mothers and sisters until they were ten or twelve years old. Then, directed by older youths, they began to herd the family horses; take them to pasture and water in the mornings, and return them to camp at night. Gradually, imperceptibly, the boys moved out of the tipi world into the men's. From herding they graduated to horsebreaking; then to buffalo hunting, and finally they were permitted to accompany raiding parties as horseholders and cooks. Like mediaeval pages and squires, they were learning a man's responsibilities and attitudes by acting-out.

In the same way, girls drew back into the tipi world. They no longer fished in mud holes for crayfish, or twisted sticks into prairie dogs fur to draw the rodents out of their holes. Instead of carrying shawl-wrapped puppies on their backs, they slung small sisters or brothers between their shoulders. The first fumbling stitches with awl and sinew, which had produced a girl's workbag and needle case, were tightened and perfected until she was skilled enough to make moccasins.

The same virtues were held up before both boys and girls. Speak quietly. Don't hurry. Wake early so the sun will not see a lazy child. Remember to say your prayers and wash your face at night and morning. Always be respectful to the old people, and go out of your way to help them, for they are your memory and your conscience.

Ideal behavior was not the same as real behavior, naturally. But the ideals existed plainly for anyone to emulate. Even today, Kiowa parents hush their children when older people are speaking, and expect them to do a share of housework and work around the home.

Plains American Indian women were the day-to-day craftworkers of their people. A Kiowa woman made her home (and owned it); she was dressmaker, tailor, carpenter, cobbler, grocer, and cook for here family. She worked steadily and with pride in here achievements, day after day, year after year.

At the age of eight to ten years, Kiowa boys were called upon to perform the Rabbit Dance of their special society. After their initiation into the first society, the youngsters advanced through the following orders of military societies depending on their sub-tribe or family: "Adal-toyui", or "Young Wild Mountain Sheep", named for the daring and aggressive deeds of the young warriors in battle; "Tsain-tanmo", or "Horse Headdresses," were comprised of five warrior societies; the Wild Horse, the Black Horse, the White Horse, the Buckskin Horse and the Wise Horse Society which usually indicated men who were considered strong in the ways of the Wise Horse or physically and mentally mature. The Tiah-peah", or "Gourd Clan"; the "Tone-kone-gya" or "Black Leggings" and the Eagle Shields comprised the top military societies. The highest-ranking society was the "Koi-eet-sen-ko" or "Kiowa Dog Soldiers"; comprised of ten men picked for outstanding bravery. These men acted as camp police and leaders in tribal ceremonies with the distinction of taking first position in hunts and in battle. The Omaha Tribe gave the Oh-ho-ma Society to the Kiowas in the late 19th century.

Warfare required utilization of shields painted with individual emblems of protection. Women, because they had their own special powers, were not allowed to touch the shields and special covers were fashioned to protect the shield from view.

Among the early Kiowa people, Although clothing was simply made and decorated, the Kiowa, like other tribes, had their own designs that identified them. The specific style of dress carried through the cut of shirts, leggings, and moccasins. For example, the Kiowa man's shirt consisted of a slipover garment fringed along the shoulders and decorated with a minimal amount of beaded or fringed designs. Kiowa men had a distinctive moccasin style with full-flowing fringes applied down the center of the moccasin. Women's leggings or boots had small individual designs and no fringes. Boots were worn during the winter months while moccasins were worn during summer. Women's clothing consisted of a skirt and pullover blouse made of soft buckskin. Women wore their hair in braids and, on special occasions, painted the part of their hair as an added adornment. Pride in the care and length of one's hair was foremost in personal vanity. During mourning, the mother or wife of the deceased cut her hair to a very short and unattractive length as personal sacrifice for the loss of a loved one.

In accordance with early customs, Kiowa men also had a unique hairstyle. The hair on the right side was cut short on a level with the base of the ear, leaving the left side to grow to a full flowing length that was braided and often wrapped in otter fur. Hairstyle was a means of identifying themselves as Kiowa people to other tribes. This was also accomplished through sign language, using a quick motion of the right hand close to the right side of the face with the back of the hand down, fingers closed and slightly curved, moving the hand in a quick, circular motion from the wrist away from the cheek.

The manner in which children received names are one interesting aspect of Kiowa culture. Names given newborn babies might be acquired several ways. A name could be given as a result of a certain deed or act performed by the father. Sometimes, a notable occurrence at the time of birth, or the first thing either of the parents saw after the birth, gave them an idea for the child's name. In certain instances, an older tribal member gave names to a younger person as a means of honoring a respected name.

Linguistic similarities between the Kiowa language and that of other tribes; have never been fully established. The failure to establish linguistic relationships may be partly due to the fact that their last known homeland of the Kiowa was in the north around the British Columbia area. Migrating southward in their nomadic wanderings, the Kiowa brought with them an unknown language. Another reason for difficulty in pinpointing the linguistic origin of the Kiowa from everyday language, was the taboo against saying any word that might suggest the name of a deceased person. Because of this taboo, another word, substituted for the offending word, introduced a new combination of the existing roots.

Not so long ago, as well as here and now, the Plains American Indians have always been people to appeal to the imagination. Say "Indian" to the average American, and certainly to the average European, and the picture you conjure is that of wild, red-painted warriors, mounted on frantic, flashing horses; men and mounts alike adorned with eagle feathers and the colors of quills, beads, painted buckskin, crimson and navy trade cloth, and the dull sheen of German silver. This would be a good description of the Kiowas.

You know, everything had to begin, and this is how it was: The Kiowa Tribe was bound together in its legendary beginnings, when the earth was empty of people. Saynday, known to American Indians as Trickster, wandered alone on the sunless earth until he discovered the Kiowas living underground. He enabled the people, as ants, to crawl upward through a hollow cottonwood tree and pulled them through an owl hole upon the surface of the earth. They were many more than now, but not all of them got out. There was woman whose body was swollen up with child, and she got stuck in the log. After that, no one could get through, and that is why the Kiowas are a small tribe in number. They looked all around and saw the world. It made them glad to see so many things. They called themselves Kwu-da, "coming out." Saynday spoke in a language understood by animals and by people. No distinction existed between the Kiowas and other living creatures. All are of nature's whole, part of the earth maker's creation. When a Kiowa says "Behold, I stand in good relation to all things," he reflects his feeling of oneness with the universe.

The Kiowa, in later years, have also referred to themselves by the name "Kom-pa-bianta", or people of the "large tipi flaps", a distinguishing feature of their tipis. This name was known among the tribes long before their affiliation with the Southern Plains tribes. Today, they call themselves "Koi-gwu" which identifies them as a tribe. A Band of Apaches, later called the Kiowa Apaches joined up with the Kiowas, nobody knows when, and have been with the Kiowas ever since.

The earliest historic knowledge of the Kiowa Tribe tells of them as living along and around the upper Columbia River in the Kootenay Region of British Columbia, Canada. They lived where the springs flowed westward. Up to this time, the Kiowa had no horses and they used only dogs and the travois for travel. Later they acquired horses, which revolutionized their lifestyle. The traders of Canada's British Columbia gave the first written account of the Kiowa in that area in the 17th Century.

They migrated from the Arrow Lakes area in the late 1600's to the Upper Yellowstone in an area described as a region of great cold and deep snow. The mountains in the area, which is now western Montana, are to this day called Koi-kope, or "Mountains of the Kiowa", by the Kiowa people. In this part of the country a decisive dispute between two Kiowa chiefs over a mountain goat killed during a hunt resulted in one chief withdrawing his band to the northwest. These lost people are called "A-az-tan-hap", or "those who went away suspiciously."

The other chief and his followers traveled to the southeast and, for the first time, met the Crow tribe. The Kiowa from the Crow during this alliance acquired the present Tai-me or Sun Dance medicine and the sacred arrow lance. During this time the Kiowa also acquired horses. While in the vicinity of the Missouri River, the Kiowa also became friendly with the Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa. After obtaining permission from the Crow people, the Kiowa group settled east of them, then on into the Black Hills about 1780. It was here that the Lewis and Clark Expedition came across large Kiowa encampments. During this time, they came to know the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and later, Dakota tribes invaded the area.

The Kiowa continued downward through Nebraska and Kansas to Oklahoma and Texas. In moving into the Southern Plains area, the Kiowa became allied with the Comanche tribe, and together they became the dominant inhabitants of the Southern Plains. The Kiowa made long expeditions into Mexico, establishing headquarters in the Sierra Madre, from which they made trips all directions, even as far south as Oxaca, Chiapas and even to Guatemala. Some of these journeys are known to have taken as long as two years.

The Kiowas were fierce warriors and are credited with stopping the progress of the Pacific Railroads westward for 40 years. They are also credited with killing more U.S. Soldiers than any other tribe. The Kiowas and Comanches stopped the northern expansion of Spain, France, Mexico and the Republic of Texas at the Red River. The Kiowas started with good relations with the U.S. in the late 18th century until later in the 19th century when greedy special interest groups bankrolling corrupt politicians in state and federal governments began double dealing and passing laws to steal Kiowa rights as a sovereign nation, lands and money that started the conflicts, treaties and legal battles that still continue to this very day.

Sign language is often attributed as an invention by the Kiowas for trade, and spread among the Plains Tribes. The further away from the Kiowas you go, the less Sign language is used or is unknown among some American Indians.

Currently tribal records show that there are approximately 11,500 enrolled members of the Kiowa tribe and still growing strong. While a majority of the people still lives in the vicinity of their original land allotments in western Oklahoma, many Kiowas left the state in search of employment under Federal relocation programs to the major cities during the 50's and 60's.

Many Kiowa people are extremely skilled in making a wide variety of arts and crafts products that provide their family with supplemental income. Documentation of the history and development of contemporary Kiowa art formulates one of the most unique records in American Indian culture. As early as 1891, Kiowa artists were being commissioned to produce works for display at international expositions. In 1918, a selected group of young Kiowas were given formal art instruction through the auspices of a mentor, Mrs. Susan Peters, who later would be instrumental in seeing the same group enrolled as special students at the University of Oklahoma's school of Art. This group which included Spencer Asah, Stephen Mopope, Jack Hokeah, James Auchiah and Monroe Tsatoke, became known as the "Five Kiowa Artists," a term which has remained popular use to this day. The "Five Kiowa Artists" were the first American Indian artists to receive international recognition for their work. The influence of this group upon succeeding generations of American Indian artists, not only among the Kiowa, but among their fellow Southern Plains American Indian tribesmen as well, has been of inestimable importance.

Traditional craft skills are not lost among the Kiowa people today, many of whom are extremely talented craftsmen working in a variety of media including buckskin, beads, featherwork, and German (nickel) silver. The quantity and quality of craftwork produced by Kiowa people places them solidly in the foreground of American Indian arts and crafts today. As a result of the steady production of fine arts and crafts products by Kiowa people, a highly successful enterprise, the Oklahoma Indian Arts and Crafts Cooperative has flourished during its 20-year existence. The Cooperative, an American Indian owned an operated crafts enterprise housed in the Southern Plains Indian Museum and Crafts Center, draws approximately one-third of its membership from the Kiowa tribe.

In addition to their achievements in the fine arts, Kiowas are gifted musicians and dancers. Noted among Kiowa composers of contemporary music include the Cozad family, noted for their contributions to American Indian culture. The Kiowas have always had their traditional style of war dance, call the Straight Dance. Although the fancy war dance did not originate among the Kiowas, Kiowa dancers must be credited with many refinements in dance steps and costume embellishment.

In 1968, the Kiowa Tribal Council was organized to govern tribal affairs in specific areas such as health, education and economic development. In order to alleviate the problems of inadequate and outdated tribal housing, a Kiowa Housing Authority was organized with tribal members serving as a governing board. Many Kiowa people qualified for the housing program and today are living in new homes provided by the Kiowa Housing Authority. However, their are still many, especially the elderly, who need new housing and live in old structures dating back to territorial days because of lack of funding because of cutbacks, despite the housing provisions promised in the Medicine Lodge Treaty and Government Trust Relationship, "as long as the grass grows and the water flows".

Other advancements have been made in higher education with an increasing number of Kiowa students attending colleges and universities under Federal grant programs. Having taken advantage of the educational opportunities provided to them, many Kiowa young people are today preparing themselves for professional careers. With the higher education of young Kiowa tribal members lies the prospect of the bright future of accomplishments and advances for the entire tribe as it continues to grow and thrive into the 21st century.

Today the Kiowas are openly giving recognition to their traditions. There are many Kiowa champion drum groups and traditional dancers in the Pow Wow world. In the 1950s the Kiowas revived two of their old warrior dancing societies - the Kiowa Black Leggings (Ton-kon-ga) and the Kiowa Gourd Clan (Tia-Piah). By the late 1970s the O-Ho-Mah Society showed signs of new life. All three organizations have revived their traditional ceremonial dances with the ancient songs and rituals. The growing strength of the Kiowa Native American Church with its traditional ceremony now protected by the Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1994 also reinforces the resurgent enthusiasm in continuing religious traditions.

Although the tribal members have established their roots in Kiowa traditions, they have not ignored the present. Kiowas can be found today in all walks of life and around the world. As revealed through language, dance and song, Kiowa culture is healthily growing in the present while tenaciously preserving the culture for the future.