The topic was intensely personal without being merely autobiographical.

By studying change across generations, he could show that Crow society had not simply “disappeared” under pressure.

It had adapted, resisted, absorbed certain outside practices, rejected others, and continually negotiated what survival meant.

This perspective was especially important during a period when federal policy repeatedly tried to define Native progress as movement away from Native identity.

Medicine Crow represented the opposite possibility.

He became highly educated without becoming less Crow.

He served in the U.S. military without becoming less aware of federal injustices against Native nations.

He could attend church and maintain Apsáalooke cultural commitments.

He could work with museums while challenging the stereotypes museums had helped create.

He could speak to schoolchildren, veterans, scholars, presidents, and elders without pretending that one audience was more legitimate than another.