White Shield Painting

A portrait of Chief White Shield. He was my grandmother’s grandfather. The overall mood of the portrait is one of quiet strength and unwavering resolve. Arikara Chief White Shield refused to be a party to a lie. When pressured to sign for supplies the tribe never received, he stood firm, his integrity unshakeable. This angered the Indian agent, who, in a cruel attempt to silence him, stripped White Shield of his chieftainship and withheld his rightful annuity. But White Shield remained undeterred. Though labeled "old" and a "fool” by the agent, he defiantly declared "I am old it is true. But not so old as not to see things as they are and even if, as you say, I were only an old fool, I would prefer a hundred times to be an honest red fool than a stealing white rascal like you." (de Trobriand, Army Life).