Native American Chief Standing Bear is honored on postage stamp

Chief Standing Bear, whose 1879 trial and celebrated “I Am a Man” speech in the courtroom led to the recognition of Native Americans’ legal rights, was honored Friday with a Forever stamp featuring his portrait.

Chief Standing Bear, a leader of the small Ponca tribe of northeastern Nebraska, successfully fought in court to ensure that Native Americans in the United States are regarded as having the same rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as other Americans – and not as government guardians.

The illustrated portrait Chief Standing Bear’s on the stamp was based on a black and white photograph taken in 1877. He is depicted on the stamp wearing a bold blue shirt and gold medallion with a background of soft orange hues faintly streaked like a sunset.

In the spring of 1877, when the wars between the United States and various Plains tribes over their lands ended and Indians were driven onto reservations, the U.S. military forcibly removed Chief Standing Bear and about 700 Ponca members from the Niobrara River Valley in what is now northeastern Nebraska.

During the roughly 600-mile journey to what is now Oklahoma, more than 100 people died, most of them from disease and starvation, including Chief Standing Bear’s only son.

Devastated by the loss of his child, Chief Standing Bear attempted to bury his son in their homeland. In 1879, he and 29 other Ponca members traveled back to Nebraska, where they were arrested by the army and imprisoned at Fort Omaha.

His imprisonment was the catalyst for his lawsuit, Standing Bear v. Crook, which argued for his freedom. George Crook was the general who ordered the arrest of Chief Standing Bear and his followers.

Chief Standing Bear’s allies had filed a writ of habeas corpus requesting his release, but prosecutors argued that Native Americans were not “persons” under federal law and not eligible for a writ of habeas corpus, according to to courts in the United States.

After a two-day trial, Judge Joseph F. Bataillon of the Nebraska U.S. District Court gave Chief Standing Bear the floor.

The chief slowly got up from his chair, held out his hand and said through an interpreter: “My hand is not the color of yours, but if I put it in, I will feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you will also feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be the same color as yours. The same god made us both.”

He stood in the courtroom, a chain of bear claws wrapped around his neck, an eagle feather in his braided hair, and concluded his speech with four striking words: “I am a man.”

The judge agreed with that statement and issued a landmark ruling: that a Native American was a person with inherent rights under the law. Chief Standing Bear’s speech was printed in newspapers across the country, generating support for the idea that Native Americans deserved the same legal protection as other Americans.

Chief Standing Bear finally managed to bury his son next to his ancestors near the Niobrara River.

Candace Schmidtthe president of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, said in a statement that the tribe was “delighted that this stamp will illustrate its story of justice and triumph, which is also our story.”

She added that the stamp served as a “symbol of the pride and perseverance for all our members past, present and future.”

Since 2007, Forever stamps, which remain valid regardless of price increases, have honored important figures in the country whose significance has ranged from the scientific and artistic to the political and historical.

Past accolades include former President Ronald Reagan, former Representative Barbara Jordan, the actor Gregory Peck, the singer Selena and, more recently, Toni Morrison, the acclaimed author who became the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Chief Standing Bear’s profile has grown in recent years as several statues of him have been erected, including one in 2019 at Statuary Hall in Washington.

Judi M. gaiashkibosexecutive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, said in a statement that the chief’s struggle and triumph “is truly and necessarily an American story.”

“This stamp further etches his legacy into our national consciousness,” she said, “provoking necessary conversations about race, sovereignty and equality in the United States.”