He gave public talks.

He appeared in documentaries.

He wrote books.

He told the Little Bighorn story from a perspective inherited from Crow participants rather than filtered solely through cavalry mythology.

His oral storytelling style also mattered.

Medicine Crow understood that history becomes durable when people can remember it.

A list of dates may be accurate and still disappear from memory.

A story about a young soldier colliding with a German around a corner, choosing not to kill him, and later sharing a cigarette can stay with a listener for decades.

A story about slipping into a German position before dawn and riding away with enemy horses can carry cultural meaning in a way that an abstract lecture on continuity cannot.

Medicine Crow knew how to use those stories without allowing them to become mere entertainment.