Hawk Littlejohn (1941 – December 14, 2000)[3] was an American musician and carver of Native American flutes.
Hawk Littlejohn | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1941[3] |
| Died | December 14, 2000 (aged 58–59)[3] |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Flute maker, medicine man, adjunct professor |
He worked as an adjunct professor in Social and Administrative Medicine from 1982 to 1983 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [1]
Background
editHawk Littlejohn's given name was Larry Snyder,[1] and he was born in Ohio[2] in 1941.[3] His mother was Garnette A. Snyder (1918–1998) from Milledgeville, Ohio, and his father was Lawrence H. Snyder (died 1993).[4]
In 1972 Littlejohn's official biography said he was born on a reservation in North Carolina.[5] The Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is actually a land trust rather than a reservation. A 1975 essay that Littlejohn wrote for the Appalachian Journal states that "Hawk Littlejohn was born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and is a member of the Western Band of Cherokees."[6]
The Tennessee Valley Authority requested that the FBI investigate Littlejohn's background. The FBI did not confirm or deny this investigation, but the investigation was widely leaked and fueled many rumors.[7] These included that Hawk Littlejohn was not Native American and was born in Akron, Ohio.[7]
Activism
editIn 1972, Littlejohn publicly opposed the flooding of historic Cherokee sites by the construction of the Tellico Dam.[5]
Consultancy and writing
editThe Smithsonian Institution and the North Carolina Museum of History both consulted with him.[3] He published a column "Good Medicine" in the Katuah Journal.[3] He published an essay "The Reawakening of the Cherokees" in the Appalachian Journal in 1975.[6] Littlejohn was a friend and advisor to Barbara Duncan, the education director of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian[8] in Cherokee, North Carolina.
Littlejohn and his student David Winston led sweat lodge ceremonies for the Friends General Conference, a Quaker gathering, that was held in Boone, North Carolina in 1988. George Price, a Quaker who went on to develop the Quaker Sweat ceremony,[9] described Littlejohn as "the last traditionally trained Eastern Cherokee medicine man."[10]
Personal
editLittlejohn married a nurse from a Knoxville hospital.[7] Later he married Geri Littlejohn, who apprenticed with him learning to carve flutes.[11]
Films
edit- Songkeepers (1999, 48 min.). Directed by Bob Hercules and Bob Jackson. Produced by Dan King. Lake Forest, Illinois: America's Flute Productions. Five distinguished traditional flute artists - Tom Mauchahty-Ware, Sonny Nevaquaya, R. Carlos Nakai, Hawk Littlejohn, Kevin Locke – talk about their instrument and their songs and the role of the flute and its music in their tribes.[12]
Death
editAt the time of his death, Littlejohn was living in Old Fort, North Carolina.
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ a b "Duncan v. Duncan". Casetext. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ a b c Gilmer, Robert A. (May 2011). "In the Shadow of Removal: Historical Memory, Indianness, and the Tellico Dam Project". University of Minnesota. p. 166. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g Miller, Marcianne (24 January 2001). "A prayer for Hawk LittleJohn". Mountain Xpress. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- ^ "Garnette A. Snyder". Chillicothe Gazette. January 26, 1998. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ a b Wheeler and McDonald, TVA and the Tellico Dam, p. 152.
- ^ a b Littlejohn, Hawk (Summer 1975). "The Reawakening of the Cherokees". Appalachian Journal. 2 (4): 276–79. JSTOR 40932061.
- ^ a b c Wheeler and McDonald, TVA and the Tellico Dam, p. 153.
- ^ Weiser, Kimberly G. (2017). Back to the Blanket. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 49. ISBN 9780806161464.
- ^ Aldred, Benjamin Gratham. "'Quaker Sweat' as Intangible Heritage". International Journal of Intangible Heritage. 6: 72–83. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- ^ Price, George (1 February 2002). "The Quaker Sweat Lodge". Friends Journal. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- ^ "Geri Littlejohn, Season 3". A Craftsman's Legacy. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- ^ Joyce-Grendahl, Kathleen. "Songkeepers: A Video Review". worldflutes.org. Suffolk: International Native American Flute Association. Archived from the original on 2006-03-03. Retrieved 2010-08-13. And: National Museum of the American Indian. Archived September 1, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
References
edit- Wheeler, William Bruce; McDonald, Michael J. (2004). TVA and the Tellico Dam: A Bureaucratic Crisis. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 9781572333703.