Reuben Alvis Snake, Jr. (1937–1993) was an American

Ho-Chunk The Ho-Chunk, also known as Hoocągra or Winnebago (referred to as ''Hotúŋe'' in the neighboring indigenous Iowa-Otoe language), are a Siouan-speaking Native American people whose historic territory includes parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Io ...

(Winnebago) activist, educator, spiritual leader, and tribal leader. He served as a leader within the

American Indian Movement The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a Native American grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination, and police br ...

(AIM) in the 1970s, and in the

National Congress of American Indians The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is an American Indian and Alaska Native rights organization. It was founded in 1944 to represent the tribes and resist federal government pressure for termination of tribal rights and assimilat ...

in the 1980s. Snake worked towards the establishment of the

American Indian Religious Freedom Act The American Indian Religious Freedom Act, Public Law No. 95–341, 92 Stat. 469 (Aug. 11, 1978) (commonly abbreviated to AIRFA), codified at , is a United States federal law, enacted by joint resolution of the Congress in 1978. Prior to the a ...

, which passed after his death in 1994. He advocated for the use of religious, ceremonial

peyote The peyote (; ''Lophophora williamsii'' ) is a small, spineless cactus which contains psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline. ''Peyote'' is a Spanish word derived from the Nahuatl (), meaning "caterpillar cocoon", from a root , "to g ...

Early life and education

Reuben Alvis Snake, Jr. was born on January 12, 1937, on the

Winnebago Indian Reservation The Winnebago Reservation of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska is located in Thurston County, Nebraska, United States. The tribal council offices are located in the town of Winnebago. The villages of Emerson, south of First Street, as well as Thur ...

in Thurston County, Nebraska. His parents were Reuben Harold and Virginia Greyhair Snake. His parents divorced and he experienced many instabilities in his childhood. In 1950, he briefly attended the Haskell Institute (now

Haskell Indian Nations University Haskell Indian Nations University is a public tribal land-grant university in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1884 as a residential boarding school for American Indian children, the school has developed into a university operated by t ...

). During this time period he had struggled with

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomina ...

. After dropping out of college he joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

from 1956 to 1958 and was honorably discharged.

Career

In August 1970, he participated in the Native American occupation of

Mount Rushmore Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore ( Lakota: ''Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe'', or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dako ...

(i.e. "Mount Crazy Horse"). In 1972, he became the national chairman of the American Indian Movement (AIM), a civil rights organization focused on Native Americans. He worked as a leader during the

Trail of Broken Treaties The Trail of Broken Treaties (also known as the Trail of Broken Treaties Caravan and the Pan American Native Quest for Justice) was a 1972 cross-country caravan of American Indian and First Nations organizations that started on the West Coast of ...

in 1972. Snake served as a spiritual leader and roadman (a peyote leader) within the

Native American Church The Native American Church (NAC), also known as Peyotism and Peyote Religion, is a Native American religion that teaches a combination of traditional Native American beliefs and Christianity, with sacramental use of the entheogen peyote. The re ...

starting in 1974. In 1975, Snake was appointed chairman of the Winnebago tribe. From 1985 until 1987, Snake was the president of the National Congress of American Indians. While working for the National Congress of American Indians, Snake made buttons that read, "your humble servant". He later went by the nickname, "Your Humble Serpent". Snake taught culture courses at the

Institute of American Indian Arts The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a public tribal land-grant college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The college focuses on Native American art. It operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), which is housed in the historic ...

(IAIA). Snake had fought the overturn of ''

Employment Division v. Smith ''Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith'', 494 U.S. 872 (1990), is a United States Supreme Court case that held that the state could deny unemployment benefits to a person fired for violating a state prohibition on t ...

'' (1990) in the

Religious Freedom Restoration Act The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, Pub. L. No. 103-141, 107 Stat. 1488 (November 16, 1993), codified at through (also known as RFRA, pronounced "rifra"), is a 1993 United States federal law that "ensures that interests in religio ...

. He had organized the Native American Religious Freedom Project in order to lobby for national legislation, and the passage of 1994 amendment, American Indian Religious Freedom Act.

Death and legacy

By the age of 40 he had already suffered from two heart attacks and diabetes. Snake died on June 28, 1993, at the age of 56. A year after his death, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act was amended by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...

under the name the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, which allowed for the use of peyote in religious ceremony. He was the subject of the posthumous biography, ''Your Humble Serpent: The Wisdom of Reuben Snake'' (1995; Clear Light Books; written by Jay Fikes) and a documentary film of the same title (1996; Peacedream Productions; by film director Gary Rhine). His archive is located in the

National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

in Washington, D.C.

Michael Pollan Michael Kevin Pollan (; born February 6, 1955) is an American author and journalist, who is currently Professor of the Practice Non-Fiction and the first Lewis K. Chan Arts Lecturer at Harvard University. Concurrently, he is the Knight Professo ...

wrote the book '' How to Change Your Mind'' (2018), which became a Netflix

docuseries Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

in 2022 of the same name and featured a segment on Native American use of peyote (mescaline) and mentions Snake's legal battle (season 1, episode 4).

Publications

* *

References

External links

Reuben Snake papers
at the National Museum of the American Indian * {{DEFAULTSORT:Snake, Reuben 1937 births 1993 deaths Ho-Chunk people Institute of American Indian Arts faculty Native American religion Native American activists Native American leaders Members of the American Indian Movement Indigenous American traditional healers People from Thurston County, Nebraska United States Army soldiers