Quanah Parker - Notable Native Americans
Quanah Parker was a war leader of the Quahadi band of the Comanche Nation. He was the son of Cynthia Ann Parker - an Anglo-American who had been abducted as a nine-year-old child and assimilated into the Nokoni tribe -and Peta Nokona, a Comanche chief. During the 1870's Quanah became a skilled warrior, commanding warriors in multiple battles in which the Nʉmʉnʉʉ defeated the U.S. military and which also spanned into Mexico. In 1875 his band surrendered and settled on the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Reservation in southwestern Indian Territory. Quanah Parker maintained a traditional Comanche worldview and life but also assimilated from a warrior life to a cattle rancher, helping ensure that the Comanches received fair payment for non-Comanche cattle grazing. He was one of the founders of the Native American Church. He spent most of his reservation life giving away his wealth to Comanche people in need. He is revered as one of the preeminent Chiefs of the Plains Indian Wars and an advocate for his People.
“White man goes into his churches to talk ABOUT Jesus, the Indian into his Tepee to talk TO Jesus.”
