Journey Toward Forgiveness

Lawrence Hart:
Biography

Lawrence Hart is a Cheyenne tribal member enrolled with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. He and his wife Betty live in Clinton and both operate the Cheyenne Cultural Center of 2250 NE Route 66. Lawrence serves as the Executive Director. They have three children and two grandchildren.

Mr. Hart is one of the traditional Cheyenne peace chiefs. He took the place of his grandfather John P. Hart in the Council of Forty Four, including one of the principal chief positions. His grandfather was born in 1871 to Afraid of Beavers and Walking Woman, three years after the attack at the Washita. Afraid of Beavers was in the group who searched for and found the bodies of Black Kettle and his wife, Medicine Woman, later in the afternoon of November 27, 1868. Medicine Woman Later, the sister of Afraid of Beavers, had survived nine bullet wounds at the Sand Creek Massacre.

Lawrence has become an authority on Cheyenne history and culture. He lectures widely. He has lectured twice at Oklahoma City's National Cowboy Hall of Fame; the Denver Historical Society; and the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis. He has made numerous other presentations at historical society gatherings and university settings. He has been featured in television documentaries involving Native American programs and has focused on the Cheyenne Indian people.

He authored "Legacies of the Massacre and Battles at the Washita" published in the June 1999 issue of Oklahoma Today. His speech on "Cheyenne Warriors and Cheyenne Peace Chiefs" opened the November 1998 Symposium on the Washita. His keynote addresss, delivered at the Susan Ferrell Memorial Luncheon, St. Thomas University School of Law, Miami, Florida, was published in the St. Thomas University Law Review in 1997. His keynote address delivered at the 1996 joint conference of the Mountain-Plains Museums Association and the Oklahoma Museums Association was published in Oklahoma Musenews in 1997.

Mr. Hart is one of the Directors of the American Indian Museums Program and a Council member of the American Association for State and Local History. He serves on the Review Committee of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, appointed by the Department of Interior Secretary, Bruce Babbit.

Mr. Hart testified for HB 1099, "The Washita Battlefield National Historic Act of 1996", now Public Law 104-333.