American Indian activist and icon Vine Deloria, Jr. was remembered Wednesday, Nov. 15, as students, faculty and community members gathered in Sacramento State’s Hinde Auditorium in the University Union.

Collaboratively hosted by Sac State’s Native American Studies Program and UC Davis’ Native American Studies Department, the evening included American Indian music, readings and personal tributes to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Deloria, Jr.’s death on Nov. 13, 2005. Attendees were also invited to bring along “Vineisms,” brief stories about Deloria, Jr. and his work, to share.

Annette Reed, the director of the Native American Studies Department who helped organize the event, said that Deloria, Jr.’s first publication, “Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto,” released in 1969, greatly influenced her life.

“When I first started my education in the 1980s, it was the first book I read,” Reed said, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Native American studies. “It was really a groundbreaking book. He stayed with me through my education.”

Deloria, Jr., who graduated from Iowa State University in 1958, the Lutheran School of Theology in 1963 and the University of Colorado School of Law in 1970, taught at Western Washington University, UCLA, the Pacific School of Religion, Colorado College, University of Arizona and University of Colorado. But beyond his work as a Native American scholar, Deloria, Jr. was also a family man who was “always kidding around, making jokes,” Reed said.

American Indian musician Floyd Red Crow Westerman, who has appeared in films including Oliver Stone’s “The Doors” and “Dances with Wolves” and television shows such as “Northern Exposure” and “The X-Files,” made a surprise visit to also pay tribute to his friend and fellow Native American rights activist. The event at Sac State marked Westerman’s third commemoration for Deloria, Jr. in the past four days.

“I’m honored to be here for Vine,” Westerman said, taking the stage.

Westerman praised Deloria, Jr.’s contribution to American Indian culture, which he remarked “is very different from the European way of thinking,” before playing some of his well-known country-western songs. The American Indian view, Westerman added, believes in the holiness of Mother Earth, a perspective which Deloria, Jr. sought to preserve.

“He was writing for the survival of the Indian culture,” Westerman said. “He was a theologian, philosopher, writer ?” an intellect of a special kind.” Even a year after his death, Westerman said the American Indian community continues to miss him.

“You can’t replace Vine,” Westerman said. “There’s a big vacuum in my feelings tonight when I think of him.”

Deloria, Jr. was born in Martin, S.D., on March 26, 1933 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1954 to 1956 and was a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. He is survived by his wife Barb, their three children and seven grandchildren.

Megan Chuchmach can be reached at [email protected]