Frank Fools Crow, ceremonial chieftan of the Teton Sioux was born in 1890 in South Dakota. He was a Lakota Holy Man. He worked hard for his people until his death in 1969.
Fools Crow believed that the only way to save humanity was for people of all races to work together. He was very respected among the traditional Lakota on his reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and was the person who went to AIM, the American Indian Movement in the early 70s to ask their help in fighting the corrupt tribal government. He was also one of the occupiers at Wounded Knee later in that same conflict. He was a spiritual healer who believed that his power was not his own, but only passed through him; a concept he explained as being a "hollow bone". Fools Crow was also instrumental in making the Sun Dance, an important ceremony to the Sioux, legal once more.
Thomas Mails wrote two books based on interviews with Fools Crow. The first, Fools Crow, tells Frank Fool Crows life story, while the second Fools Crow:Wisdom and Power delves more into the spiritual beliefs and ceremonies that Fools Crow was involved with.
In 1975, Frank Fools Crow gave this prayer in front of the United States Senate:
In the presence of this house,
Grandfather, Wakan-Tanka,
and from the directions where the sun sets,
and from the direction of cleansing power,
and from the direction of the rising,
and from the direction of the middle of the day.
Grandfather, Wakan-Tanka,
Grandmother, the Earth who hears everything,
Grandmother, because you are woman,
for this reason you are kind, I come to you this day.
To tell you to love the red men, and watch over them,
and give these young men the understanding because, Grandmother,
from you comes the good things,
good things that are beyond our eyes to see
have been blessed in our midst
for this reason I make my supplication known to you again.
Give us a blessing so that our words and actions be one in unity,
and that we be able to listen to each other,
in so doing, we shall with good heart walk hand in hand to face the future.
In the presence of the outside, we are thankful for many blessings.
I make my prayer for all people, the children, the women and the men.
I pray that no harm will come to them,
and that on the great island, there be no war,
that there be no ill feelings among us
From this day on may we walk hand in hand
So be it.