He had been born only twenty-three years after the massacre at Wounded Knee.

He had known elders whose lives reached back before the reservation era.

He had listened to direct memories of the Little Bighorn.

He had gone from a child struggling with English in school to a graduate student at one of the nation’s major universities.

He had crossed Europe in an American uniform.

He had returned home as a Crow war chief.

He had spent decades preserving history that many Americans barely knew existed.

Now a president of the United States was honoring him with the nation’s highest civilian award.

The symbolism was difficult to ignore.

President Barack Obama presented Medicine Crow with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of his service, scholarship, and contributions to Native American history.