Rolling Thunder aka John Pope, 1916–1996) was a
hippie
A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
spiritual leader who self-identified as a
Native American medicine man. He was raised in
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
and later moved to
Nevada.
[''Rolling Thunder Speaks''] He has been considered an example of a
plastic medicine man.
Controversy
Rolling Thunder worked for most of his life as a
brakeman under the name John Pope.
Going by his chosen name, Rolling Thunder, he appears in taped interviews with
John Trudell and Michael Chosa in which he discusses the contemporary treatment of Native Americans. At times he claimed to be part
Hopi
The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the Unite ...
, at times
Cherokee, and at other times
Shoshone
The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions:
* Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming
* Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho
* Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah
* Goshute: western Utah, easter ...
and that he could represent the Western Shoshone Nation.
[Rolling Thunder speaks : the Owyhee confrontation]
/ref> He never provided proof of any Native heritage, nor have any Native people claimed him. He has been cited as an example of a plastic medicine man.[Chidester, David, ''Authentic Fakes: Religion and American Popular Culture''. University of California Press; 2005; p.173: "Defenders of the integrity of indigenous religion have derided New Age shamans, as well as their indigenous collaborators, as 'plastic shaman' or 'plastic medicine men.'"] Rolling Thunder is mentioned in a number of books on the New Age, 1960s counterculture, cultural appropriation
Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from ...
, cultural imperialism, and neoshamanism.[''Dream Catchers: How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality'' By Philip Jenkins (2005) Oxford University Press . 2004.][G. Hobson, "The Rise of the White Shaman as a New Version of Cultural Imperialism." in: Hobson, Gary, ed. ''The Remembered Earth''. Albuquerque, NM: Red Earth Press; 1978: 100-108.]
Death
Rolling Thunder died in 1997 from complications associated with diabetes. He also suffered from emphysema in the later years of his life.
Legacy
In 1975 he and his wife Spotted Fawn founded a non-profit community on of land in north-eastern Nevada (just east of the town of Carlin) that they named Meta Tantay. It operated until 1985; visitors over the years included Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...
.Mickey Hart at Meta Tantay
/ref>
Bibliography
* ''Native Healer: Initiation Into an Ancient Art'' by Bobby Lake-Thom and Robert G. Lake – 1991 (Foreword by Rolling Thunder) Quest Books
* ''Rolling Thunder'' by Doug Boyd - 1982 (Foreword by Dee Brown) Bantam Doubleday Dell
Discography
* ''Rolling Thunder'' – Mickey Hart (1972)
* Rolling Thunder Speaks: the Owyhee Confrontation (Audio Book)
* From Alcatraz to Chicago - with John Trudell and Michael Chosa (Audio Book)
Filmography
* ''Rolling Thunder: Healer of Meta Tantay'' – UFO TV – DVD Release Date: February 22, 2005
Notes
External links
"The Plowboy Interview: Rolling Thunder", ''Mother Earth News'', July/August 1981
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolling Thunder
1916 births
1997 deaths
Deaths from diabetes
Hippies
New Age spiritual leaders
People from Nevada
American people who self-identify as being of Native American descent