When the two-hundredth anniversary of the signing of the
United States Declaration of Independence was celebrated nationwide in 1976, the
Montana Bicentennial Administration was charged with coordinating the event’s commemoration
at a state level. Over three hundred projects were considered by the
Bicentennial Administration in the years preceding the celebration, each with
its own unique narrative and set of requirements. One of the few organizations
to apply for motion picture funding was the Sun Foundation, a non-profit based
in rural Washburn, Illinois. Formed in 1973, the Sun Foundation’s mission has
been to “strengthen and advance the arts and environmental sciences in rural
and urban communities by providing quality and innovative programs, services,
publications, research, regranting financial support, and cooperative efforts
for the general public, underserved groups, schools, Illinois artists, and
local arts organizations.”[1] Founders Bob and Joan Root Ericksen approached
the Bicentennial Administration at the end of 1974 with a film about the Piegans
of northwestern Montana. Beginning as a slideshow with accompanying narration
and oral history interviews, the Sun Foundation hoped to expand the project
into a longer informational film about the Piegan tribe: “The purpose of this
project is to produce a film of historical relevance and authenticity for
educational use in curricular studies of American history, Native American
culture, and environmental arts. The film would utilize oral histories given by
elder members of the Pikuni-Blackfeet tribe of Montana, and present
documentation of the historical and religious heritage of Blackfeet tribal life
through the narrative of scholars.”[2]
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| Still image from The Sun Gave Man the Power (collection PAc 2018-16) |
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| Still image from The Sun Gave Man the Power (collection PAc 2018-16) |
Produced with partial grant assistance from the Montana
Bicentennial Administration, the Montana Arts Council, and the Illinois
Bicentennial Commission, “The Sun Gave Man the Power” was completed in 1975.
Promotional print materials described the 27-minute, 16mm film as “an oral
history given by elder members of the Pikuni-Blackfeet Indian tribe,” one in
which the “family structure of the Blackfeet, their use of materials and tools,
gathering of food and medicines and ecological orientation” allows the viewer
to witness the “intertwining of their spiritual beliefs into their daily
lives.”[3] Expanding on ideas put forward in their original project, the
Ericksens presented themes of ecology and tradition through a wider range photographs
and artwork pertaining to several tribes across North America. In addition to
the tribal histories and scholarly commentaries that provided audio for the
slideshow, the filmmakers also introduced an overarching narration and
commentary into the final edit of the motion picture.
Several notable figures lent their talents to the making of
“The Sun Gave Man the Power.” The film was narrated by famed Chicago author and
broadcaster Studs Terkel, with commentary by Salish Kootenai activist/anthropologist/educator
D’Arcy McNickle and scientist Dr. James Breeling. Still photographs were the
work of Walter McClintock and Edward Curtis, with paintings provided by such
Native American artists as John Bear Medicine and Victor Pepion (Blackfoot),
Doc Tate Nevaquaya (Comanche), White Buffalo (Kiowa), Dick West (Southern Cheyenne).
Old West artists Charles M. Russell and O.C. Seltzer provided additional
paintings, and the traditional music for the film was created by John Bear
Medicine and Doc Tate Nevaquaya.[4]
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| Still image from The Sun Gave Man the Power (collection PAc 2018-16) |
After the film was completed, the Sun Foundation presented
“The Sun Gave Man the Power” to various scholars to evalute the appropriateness
of the subject matter. D’Arcy McNickle was an obvious choice from the Native
American community in Montana, as was Earl Barlow of the Blackfoot tribe.
Barlow was serving as the Superintendent of Public Schools on the Blackfeet
Reservation in Browning and would go on to be the director of the Office of
Indian Education for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington D.C. from 1979
to 1981. Father Peter Powell, founder and first director of St. Augustine’s
Center for American Indians in Chicago would also serve on the evaluation
committee. Superintendent of Glacier National Park, Mr. Phillip Iverson
(1974-1980), and Mr. Ed Rothfuss, the Chief Naturalist at Glacier rounded out
the list of scholars to review the film before its 1975 release.[5]
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| Film order form and proposal cover page (collection RS 142) |
Over the course of its 45-year lifespan, the Sun Foundation has
continued to “research, design, produce, and disseminate educational materials
that advance and develop integrative and interdisciplinary studies between
artists and scientists and the understanding thereof, to enable humankind to
live in harmony with nature, by securing a quality environment for all life,
thereby enriching the human condition.”[4] To learn
more about the past and current endeavors of the Sun Foundation, please visit
their website at http://sunfoundation.org/sun2/.
The Montana Historical Society has recently digitized its excellent 16mm print
of ”The Sun Gave Man the Power,” and the film can be found on our Moving Image
Archives YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p67he6X_kqQ.
[1]
The Sun Foundation website: http://sunfoundation.org/sun2/.
[2]
Montana Bicentennial Administration papers. Montana Historical Society Archives,
collection RS 142.
[3]
Ibid.
[4]
Ibid.
[5]
Ibid.
[6]
The Sun Foundation website.
