American Experience

White Buffalo Calf Woman’s story serves as a blueprint : Native Daughters She brought the sacred pipe. She brought meaning, essence, life, spirituality. She brought hope. To Philomine Lakota, language teacher at Red Cloud High School on Pine Ridge, White Buffalo Calf Woman is more than just a story. White Buffalo Calf Woman’s actions and words serve as a blueprint for how Pine Ridge Lakotas should live. When Debra Whiteplume, an environmentalist, mentions White Buffalo Calf Woman, she quickly rises to find sage to burn. Theresa Two Bulls, president of the Oglala Sioux tribe, has a passage of White Buffalo Calf Woman’s wisdom on the walls of her office, reminding that “When one sits in the Hoop of the People, one must be responsible, because all of Creation is related, and the hurt of one is the hurt of all, and the honor of one is the honor of all.” For many Lakota women, the story represents the solidarity of the culture as its foundation point, but also shows the fluidity of storytelling itself. No definitive version of the story exists.

Native American Constitution and Law Digitization Project