History of the Kyiyo Powwow

The Annual Kyiyo Powwow Celebration at the University of Montana is a competition powwow celebrating the heritage of Native American nations in Montana, the United States, and Canada. The Kyiyo Native American Student Association, a student organization of the University of Montana (UM), has hosted this event since the 1968-1969 school year, inviting tribes from across the country to participate in dancing, singing, and storytelling. The celebration is the oldest, continuously-running powwow in the country, boasting over 5,000 attendees in 2017. The Kyiyo powwow illustrates Kyiyo’s support for Native peoples at UM and throughout the country.

2018 marks the 50th anniversary of both the powwow and the Kyiyo Native American Student Association. To celebrate this milestone, the University of Montana’s Mansfield Library created this online exhibit about Kyiyo’s first powwow. The materials presented in this exhibit are held by the library’s Archives and Special Collections.

Kyiyo’s Beginnings

“I am who I am… because of the people I came from.”
Kenneth Ryan, first Kyiyo president
Native American Studies Newsletter, 2003

The Kyiyo Native American Student Association at UM predates 1960, when it was referred to as “the Indian club”. Kyiyo was formally recognized as an official UM club during the 1968-1969 school year. The name Kyiyo (kiááyo), meaning bear in Blackfoot, was chosen because of its ease of pronunciation and its reference to the university’s grizzly bear mascot.

Man painting sign for Kyiyo Youth Conference

Student volunteer Albert Fisher paints a sign for Kyi-Yo Indian Days, Montana Kaimin, May 1, 1969

The formation of the club began in 1968 when a number of Native and non-native students began meeting at the Lodge (now the Emma Lommasson Center). UM Indian Community Action Program (ICAP) trainees Roy Small, Tom Plouffe, and Louis Headley were also in attendance. ICAP was supported by the Office of Economic Opportunities, a former federal agency that funded programs designed to support Native American self-determination. Founding Kyiyo student organization members include Patrick Weasel Head, Lorraine Edmo, Rodney Miller, Kenneth Ryan, Lloyd Coon, Harold Gray, Chris Roberts, and Rex Svoboda.

 

Kyiyo’s First Powwow

Newspaper article titled

“UM Indian Meet To Begin Today,” Montana Kaimin, May 1, 1969

The 1968-1969 powwow was called Kyi-Yo Indian Days, and it was a predecessor to the current Annual Kyiyo Powwow Celebration. The three-day event included a banquet, discussions, speeches, panels, an art exhibition, awards, the crowning of Miss Kyi-Yo, a parade down Higgins Avenue in Missoula, and a powwow. The theme of the first conference and powwow was “Understanding.” Funding for the powwow was obtained through the Indian Community Action Program.

Photo of three women in Native American dress

Miss Kyi-Yo contestants Helen Daniels, Darnell Davis, and Marlene Allen await judging, Montana Kaimin, May 1, 1969

Photo of woman in Native American dress

Miss Kyi-Yo 1969, Mansfield Library Archives, Photo number 69142-24

The original club members secured guests and speakers including Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett, actor Jay Silverheels, pianist Edward Wapp, Jr., tribal leaders and social pioneers Susie Yellowtail and Iliff Mckay, seven other tribal leaders representing Montana tribal nations, and Congressman Arnold Olsen. Conference panels focused on topics such as Native American history, education, civil rights, and social issues, as well as tribal leadership and relationships between minority groups.

Child dressed in Native American dress

Child dancing at Kyi-Yo Indian Days, Montana Kaimin, May 2, 1969

Details of the Event

Photo of a group of men playing a drum

Starr School Drum Group with Chris Roberts, Al Spang and Gabe “Sam” Grant, Chris Roberts Photographs, 1969

The powwow event occurred on Saturday, May 2, 1969. Tribal leaders, dancers from all seven Native American reservations in Montana, and guests from Wyoming, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Idaho attended. Dancers performed the Owl Dance, the Friendship Dance, the Fancy Dance, and the Round Dance, along with a number of war dances such as the Grass Dance.  This event marked the conclusion of Kyiyo’s first youth conference and set the stage for the conference and powwow to become an annual event.

Man wearing Native American dress

Dancer at Kyi-Yo Indian Days, Montana Kaimin, May 2, 1969

Group of men playing a drum

Drummers at Kyi-Yo Indian Days, Montana Kaimin, May 2, 1969

Photo of dancers wearing Native American dress

Dancers at Kyi-Yo Indian Days, Montana Kaimin, May 2, 1969

 

Kyiyo’s Legacy

Since the 1969-1969 school year, Kyiyo’s youth conference and powwow has attracted Native Americans from across the country, featured important speakers, and increased its attendance from several hundred to over 5,000. The tradition of the youth conference faded in the 1990s, but in 2018 it was revived under the leadership of 2017-2018 Kyiyo President Danielle Vazquez and Dr. Theodore Van Alst, 2017-2018 Chair of the UM Native American Studies Department.

In 2015, Kyiyo changed the spelling of its name from Kyi-Yo to Kyiyo. According to Kyiyo advisor Wilena Old Person, the Sacred Roots Language Society, a UM student organization, requested that the hyphen be removed to more closely reflect the language from which the word derives.

Bibliography and Credits
Photographs

Hahots Shebala, 2016 Kyiyo Powwow, Chris Roberts Photographs.

Fancy Dance Lineup, 2009 Kyiyo Powwow, Chris Roberts Photographs.

Kellen Joseph, 2009 Kyiyo Powwow, Chris Roberts Photographs.

Traditional Boys Dance, 2013 Kyiyo Powwow, Chris Roberts Photographs.

Devan Kicknosway, 2016 Kyiyo Powwow, Chris Roberts Photographs.

Starr School Drum Group 1969 Kyiyo Powwow, Chris Roberts Photographs.

Miss Kyiyo 1969, UM Photos by Subject, Photo number 69142-24,
Archives and Special Collections, University of Montana-Missoula.

The Chris Roberts Photographs are held by the Mansfield Library’s Archives and Special Collections.

Publications

“UM Aids Indians Through ICAP,” Montana Kaimin, November 15, 1968.

“UM Indian Meet to Begin Today,” Montana Kaimin, May 1, 1969.

“Indian Days Itinerary,” Montana Kaimin, May 2, 1969.

“Kyi-Yo Indian Days Youth Conference,” Montana Kaimin, May 9, 1969.

Native American Studies Newsletter, 2003,
Archives and Special Collections, University of Montana-Missoula.

More information about the history of Kyiyo can be found in the Carling I. Malouf Papers, Mss 640, and the Kyiyo Native American Student Association History Collection, Mss 710, at the Mansfield Library’s Archives and Special Collections.

This exhibit was created by Kain Brauneis and Hannah Soukup of the University of Montana’s Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and features materials from its Archives and Special Collections. Thank you to Kyiyo Native American Student Association members for their assistance and to founding Kyiyo member Chris Roberts for donating photographs of past Kyiyo powwows. For additional information about the Kyiyo Native American Student Association or the Annual Kyiyo Powwow Celebration, visit the Kyiyo Native American Student Association website.