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November 2005
 John
Trudell (Santee Sioux) is a performer of spoken word
poetry fused with blues, rock, and traditional Native American
music. He has released albums since 1982 with a number of collaborators,
including the Bad Dog band, Graffiti Man, and Jackson Browne.
Trudell is also an actor, with memorable roles such as radio announcer
Randy Peone in Smoke Signals, Jimmy Looks Twice in Thunderheart,
and the trickster Coyote in Dreamkeeper. He was a leader
of the Red Power movement during the occupation of Alcatraz Island
from 1969-1971 and the Trail of Broken Treaties march on Washington
in 1972. He was chairman of the American Indian Movement (AIM)
from 1973-1979, leaving after his wife and children died in a
suspicious fire on the Duck Valley Reservation in Nevada. Trudell
grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and on the Santee Sioux reservation.
Screened by NMAI
Selected Discography
- Bone Days (2001)
- Descendant Now Ancestor (2001)
- Blue Indians (1999)
- Johnny Damas & Me (1994)
- Child's Voice: Children of the Earth (1992)
- Fables and Other Realities (1991)
- AKA Graffiti Man (1986)
- Tribal Voice (1982)
Image credit:
Trudell - photograph by Gregory Bayne
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