Rolling Thunder (person)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
September 10, 1916
Rolling Thunder | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Pope September 10, 1916 Stamps, Arkansas, US |
| Died | January 23, 1997 (aged 80) Elko, Nevada, US |
| Citizenship | American |
| Known for | New Age spiritualist |
| Spouses | |
| Children |
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Rolling Thunder aka John Pope (1916–1997) was a hippie spiritual leader who self-identified as a Native American medicine man. He was raised in Oklahoma and later moved to Nevada.[3][better source needed]
Rolling Thunder has been considered an example of a plastic medicine man, with little or no genuine connection to the culture or religion he claimed to represent or study. He is mentioned in a number of books on the New Age, 1960s counterculture, cultural appropriation, cultural imperialism, and neoshamanism.[4][page needed][5]
Rolling Thunder died in 1997 from complications associated with diabetes. He also suffered from emphysema in the later years of his life.[3][better source needed]
Controversy
Rolling Thunder worked for most of his life as a brakeman under the name John Pope.[6] Going by his chosen name, Rolling Thunder, he appears in taped interviews with Native American author and activist John Trudell, and Michael Chosa in which he discusses the contemporary treatment of Native Americans.[7][failed verification] At times he claimed to be part Hopi, at times Cherokee,[3][page needed] and at other times Shoshone and that he could represent the Western Shoshone Nation.[8] He has been cited as an example of a plastic medicine man.[9][10]
Legacy
In 1975 he and his wife Spotted Fawn founded a non-profit community on 262 acres (1.06 km2) 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, a drummer with the Grateful Dead.[11]
Bibliography
- Boyd, Doug (1974). Rolling Thunder: An Exploration into the Powers of an American Indian Medicine Man. Random House / Robert Briggs Associates. ISBN 9780394488868. — Foreword by Dee Brown
- Lake-Thom, Bobby; Lake, Robert G. (1991). Native Healer: Initiation Into an Ancient Art. Quest Books. ISBN 978-0-8356-0667-7. — Foreword by Rolling Thunder
Discography
- Rolling Thunder – Mickey Hart (1972)
- Rolling Thunder Speaks: the Owyhee Confrontation. Los Angeles: Pacifica Tape Library. 1969. (audiobook) — also contains a preliminary list of grievances by the Native Americans Oscar Johnny and Craig Carpenter.
- From Alcatraz to Chicago. (audiobook) - with John Trudell and Michael Chosa
