Women played a vital role in Indian society, exercising a measure of autonomy, and even authority. While polygamy was practiced in many tribes, so too was monogamous marriage and close family ties were common. Indeed, women from one tribe might marry into another to establish a trade relationship. Yet as in 19th century white society, each sex had its own special sphere of activity and responsibility. Indian men were the hunters and warriors while Indian women cared for the home and raised children. But women had other duties as well. During buffalo hunts, Plains Indian women followed the hunters to skin the slain animals and cut, dry and smoke the meat. They also scraped and cured the hides for tipis, which they themselves constructed, owned, put up, took down, and moved from camp to camp. In the agricultural tribes of the Southwest, the task of sowing, cultivating and harvesting crops was almost exclusively the function of women, in part because of the belief that the earth was more fruitful when planted by the sex believed to control reproduction. Some Indian women became successful healers and herbalists, others achieved notoriety as sorcerers. And much of Indian artistic achievement was the work of women, including Navajo weavers, Pueblo potters, and Apache and Washoe basketmakers.

Tags: healers, herbalists, Indian Women