On Being

Program Details

• » Books + Music
• » Krista's Journal
• » Transcript
• » Credits

Unheard Cuts

Unedited interviews with:
» Ernie LaPointe
(mp3, 2:03:54)
» Cedric Good House
(mp3, 22:52)
» Carole Barrett
(mp3, 51:36)

Hear the Music

Three Lakota songs performed by the Good House family.

» Sitting Bull's Song
(mp3, 2:25)
Rick Good House sings a traditional song that "the people sang for him."

» Song at Fort Buford
(mp3, 2:13)
After the "surrender" at Fort Buford, Sitting Bull sang this song to remind his people of their way of living.

» The Cricket Song
(mp3, 2:04)
Sissy Good House sings a tune inspired by a "spiritual experience."

» Show Playlist ¦ listen to full-length tracks of each song played in the program

About the Image

"One Bison, Horizon Cloud" (photo: Jim Brandenburg)

Special Funding

Funding provided in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities

SoundSeen (our multimedia stories)

» Pictographs by Sitting Bull's Hand: A Smithsonian Perspective
[video, 7:28]

A closer look at the Lakota leader's 22 drawings reveals important details the contemporary observer might miss. Candace Greene, an ethnographer from the Smithsonian, describes what to focus on and gives fascinating context to these autobiographical portraits.

» In the Room with Ernie LaPointe
[video, 120:20]

We traveled to the home of Sitting Bull's great-grandson — in the heart of the Paha Sapa, the Black Hills of South Dakota, to speak with him in person.

» Pictographs by Sitting Bull's Hand: Captions Included
[slideshow, 4:00]

Learn more about Sitting Bull's actual descriptions of the 22 drawings — currently archived at the Smithsonian — he created while in captivity at Fort Randall, Dakota Territory in 1882.

Spread the Word

Continue the Conversation

» Discussion Guide (pdf)
Talk about "Tatanka Iyotake" with friends, your book group, or class?

Voices on the Radio

Ernie LaPointe
LaPointe is Sitting Bull's great-grandson and author of Sitting Bull: His Life and Legacy.

Cedric Good House
Good House is an addictions counselor who lives in Fort Yates, North Dakota on the Standing Rock Reservation.