Lakota Ledger Book

This autograph book of colored pencil drawings is attributed to Kangi Sunka (Crow Dog), a Sičánğú Lakota leader who, in 1881, admitted to killing chief Sinté Glešká (Spotted Tail) in Dakota Territory. Although traditional Lakota justice had settled the dispute with payment to Spotted Tail’s family, Euro-American settlers jailed Crow Dog in Deadwood, SD, put him on trial, and sentenced him to death. In 1883, Crow Dog was freed on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously that the Territorial Court did not have jurisdiction over Native American citizens on tribal land.



The late 19th-century commercially produced book became a pictographic history of the artist, a customary practice of among Plains Nations in the late 1800s. In graphite drawings colored with red-orange and blue pencil, Crow Dog likely portrays events from his own life as well as those of relatives and comrades. Figures ride horses, confronting foes in battle with lances and firearms. Enemies often have details that mark them as members of the rival Pawnee tribe: pompadour hairstyles, loop necklaces, and red face paint.