Chief Jospeh, Nez Perce (1840 – 1904), birth name Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, was a leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa) band of Nez Perce, a Native American tribe of the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States in the latter half of the 19th century. He succeeded his father Tuekakas (Chief Joseph the Elder) in the early 1870s. Chief Joseph led the Nez Perce during the most tumultuous period in their history, when they were forcibly removed by the United States federal government from their ancestral lands in the Wallowa Valley of northeastern Oregon. Chief Joseph’s life remains iconic because of his passionate, principled resistance to his tribe’s forced removal, and his reputation as a peacemaker.
Quotes by Chief Joseph the Younger…
The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.
We may quarrel with men about things on Earth, but we never quarrel about the Great Spirit.
The Earth and myself are of one mind.
We were taught to believe that the Great Spirit sees and hears everything, and that he never forgets, that hereafter he will give every man a spirit home according to his deserts. This I believe, and all my people believe the same.