Chief Illiniwek Essay Research Paper Are you

Chief Illiniwek Essay, Research Paper

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Are you anti-Chief or pro-Chief? Before I answered that inquiry I decided to educate myself on the subject and saw this research paper as the perfect chance. What I wanted to cognize was when was the Chief Illiniwek introduce, what the trade is with the dance, and who and why did this anti-Chief motion start.

The tradition of Chief Illiniwek was started on October 30, 1926, during a football game against the University of Pennslyvania. Raymond Dvorak, who was the Marching Illini manager of the clip, chose the individual, Lester Leutweiler, who portrayed the first Chief Illiniwek. Lester Leutweiler, a Caucasic, was chosen because he had studied Native American dance and leather work as a Boy Scout. Leutweiler made the first Chief Illiniwek usage and created the first dance. Another University of Illinois pupil who was dressed up as the University of Pennsylvania Quaker joined Lester, in the first dance. During the public presentation, both came out on the field together. After they each puffed on a peace pipe briefly, Lester performed the dance for the first clip. ( Beckham 3 ) . Since Lester Leutweiler, there have been 33 pupils to portray Chief Illiniwek, one of which was a female pupil. ( Beckham 8 ) .

The 2nd pupil who portrayed Chief Illiniwek was Webber Borchers. Borchers was the first pupil, who portrayed Chief Illiniwek, to have on an reliable Native American outfit. He traveled to a South Dakota reserve, where he stayed for a couple months, and an aged Native American adult female and her learner handcrafted the outfit for him.

On September 25, 1982, Sioux Chief Frank Fools Crow traveled to the University of Illinois with fellow Sioux seniors Anthony Whirlwind Horse and Joe American Horse. ( Chief Illiniwek 5 ) Chief Frank Fools Crow was considered the greatest Native American religious leader of the nineteenth century. ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.chief.uiuc.edu/FoolsCrow/frank.htm ) . During halftime ceremonial, Chief Fools Crow gave the University of Illinois the regalia that are presently worn by Chief Illiniwek. ( Chief Illiniwek ) . The regalia were Chief Fools Crow? s own, which was handcrafted by his married woman. Many say Chief Fools Crow was proud to show the University of Illinois with the gift because his work and his married woman? s would be shared and be seen by many. ? The power and the ways are given to us to be passed on to others. To believe anything else is pure selfishness. We get more by giving them off, and if we do non give them off, we lose them. ? -Fools Crow ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.chief.uiuc.edu/FoolsCrow/frank.htm ) . Sadly adequate Chief Frank Fools Crow passed off in 1989.

The dance Chief Illiniwek performs during halftime is a pow-wow dance, which is a manner of meeting together, to fall in in dance, vocalizing, sing, regenerating old friendly relationships and doing new 1s. ( Deleary and Dashner 4 ) . More specifically Chief Illiniwek is a type of Oglala-Lakota Sioux dance called Fancy dance, which is celebratory in nature, has no spiritual, war or ceremonial significance. ( Tice 14 ) . The beginning of Pow Wow ( fancy dance ) is believed to be the societies of the Poncha and other Southern Plains folks. These dances may hold had different significance in the yesteryear but today they are societal dances. Although dance manners and content have changed, their significance and importance has non. ( Deleary and Dashner 4 ) . The dance consists of two chief parts, the downfield dance and the solo dance. The Chief performs the dance with the Marching Illini during what is called the Three in One. The Three in One consists of three

traditional University of Illinois vocals ; & # 8220 ; Pride of the Illini & # 8221 ; , & # 8220 ; March of the Illini & # 8221 ; , and & # 8220 ; Hail to the

Orange” . This famed tradition has been performed at the decision of every halftime show in Memorial Stadium for about 75 old ages. ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.chief.uiuc.edu/tradition/performance/dance.htm ) . The public presentation begins as the set gathers in the centre of the field. Marching toward the north endzone in block set formation, set members sing “Pride of the Illini” as 1000s of looker-ons

bang in beat to the meter of the trap membranophone. As the Marching Illini nears the North endzone, the Chief appears, explosions through the block set, and dances downfield toward the South endzone. After the Chief reaches the south endzone, he returns to the centre of the field for the Alma Mater. During the downfield part of the dance, the Marching Illini, which has been processing in block set formation towards the North endzone, performs a hard countermarch manoeuvre and Marches back towards the centre of the field spelling & # 8220 ; ILLINI & # 8221 ; . As the set coatings spelling & # 8220 ; ILLINI & # 8221 ; , the Chief returns to the centre of the field. The downfield part of the dance is now complete. ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.chief.uiuc.edu/tradition/performance/dance.htm ) .

On October 16,1998 I heard Charlene Teters, laminitis of anti-Chief motion, speak at the University YMCA. The bulk of those who intended were white males and Latinos. She was one of three Native American pupils recruited to the University of Illinois, to prosecute her unmarried man? s grade in art, from the Art Institute of Native American. She is the female parent of two kids, a married woman, Senior Editor for Indian Artist Magazine and a Spokane Indian.

When she foremost arrived to the University of Illinois, she and the other two Native Americans recruited walked around campus. What she, along with the other two pupils, discovered was that the campus was insensitive to Native American pupils. They found degrading images of the Chief ; such as a saloon, which was called place of the Drinking Illini, with a falling drunk Indian, toilet paper with the Chief? s face on every sheet, and a door mat with the Chief? s face on it which was worn out. But at the clip they had no support system to protest against the issue.

The ground she started the anti-Chief motion was for her childs. She did non state in what twelvemonth, but she took her two childs to a hoops game and during the halftime show she noticed her childs slouch into their chair like they wanted to vanish. What they saw was the Chief, which they had ever been taught to keep in high award, doing a sap of himself and therefore abashing Native Americans. At the undermentioned place game she, by herself, decided to protest and she was treated without any regard. Peoples spit on her, kicked her, and the media tried to roast her. All this backfired and she won support that she needed to get down and go on to contend against the Chief.

Attractive, articulate and facile Ms. Teters is really frequently on-camera, depicting

limpidly how and why she and many others feel that the Illiniwek type of activities, symbols, Sons, regalia, mascots & # 8211 ; plus many inauthenticities & # 8211 ; are blows to Indian pride and self-esteem since they constitute non-respect of of import rites. ( hypertext transfer protocol: //fantasia.ncsa.uiuc.edu/~jayr/NG.HTML ) . Another manner she protests against Chief Illiniwek is through her art and educating other about the cons- of Chief Illiniwek. The most interesting signifier of her protest was through her art. For illustration, she has drawn a imitation of Abraham Lincoln, which wholly ridicules him, but she calls it a symbol of pride honouring him? since we are in the Land of Lincoln. ? So fundamentally she uses it as a comparing to the manner the anti-Chief protagonists view the Chief.

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