Darrell Robes Kipp (

Blackfeet The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Monta ...

, 23 October 1944 - 21 November 2013) was a Native American educator, documentary filmmaker, and historian. Kipp was an enrolled member of the

Blackfeet Nation The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Monta ...

in Montana and was instrumental in teaching and preserving the

Blackfoot language The Blackfoot language, also called Siksiká (its denomination in ISO 639-3, ; Siksiká ik͡siká syllabics ), often anglicised as ', is an Algonquian language spoken by the Blackfoot or ''Niitsitapi'' people, who currently live in the nort ...

as the director of the Piegan Institute.

Biography

Darrell Kipp was born into the

Browning, Montana Browning is a town in Glacier County, Montana, United States. It is the headquarters for the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and the only incorporated town on the Reservation. The population was 1,018 at the 2020 census. The town was named in 188 ...

, the site of their tribal headquarters. He graduated from Browning High School in 1962. During the Vietnam War era, he served as a Sergeant in B Company, 51st Signal Battalion

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

in Korea, along the Korean DMZ. He attended

Eastern Montana College Montana State University Billings (or MSU Billings) is a public university in Billings, Montana. It is the state's third largest university. Its campus is located on 110 acres in downtown Billings. Formerly Eastern Montana Normal School at its ...

. He later earned two master's degrees, an Ed.M from the

Harvard Graduate School of Education The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is the education school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first Harvard school ...

in 1975 and an MFA from

Vermont College Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) is a private graduate-level art school in Montpelier, Vermont. It offers Master's degrees in low-residency and residential programs. Its faculty includes Pulitzer Prize finalists, National Book Award winners, ...

. After working as a technical writer, in the early 1980s, Kipp returned to the

Blackfeet reservation The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Monta ...

to study Piegan, the Blackfoot language. Learning that its practice had declined and many native speakers were elders, he and a small group of friends began to work on language revitalization. They first organized the Piegan Institute, a nonprofit devoted to the restoration and preservation of Native American languages. To develop fluent speakers, they also organized a center for language immersion studies, opening it in 1995 as the privately funded ''Nizipuhwahsin'' (or Real Speak) Center. It originally taught students in grades from kindergarten through eighth grade. With the institute, Kipp ultimately developed two immersion schools for teaching the Blackfoot language: Moccasin Flat School and Cuts Wood School. He served on the board of the

Endangered Language Fund The Endangered Language Fund (ELF) is a small non-profit organization based in New Haven, Connecticut. ELF supports endangered language maintenance and documentation projects that aim to preserve the world’s languages while contributing rare li ...

and "inspired and encouraged many tribal communities to follow his lead to begin their own

language immersion Language immersion, or simply immersion, is a technique used in bilingual language education in which two languages are used for instruction in a variety of topics, including math, science, or social studies. The languages used for instruction ...

schools." He served as a board member of Siyeh Development, the economic development organization of the Blackfoot tribe. He also served for seventeen years as an appellate judge on the tribal court. In 2004 he joined composer

Robert Kapilow Robert Kapilow (born December 22, 1952) is an American composer, conductor, and music commentator. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Yale University, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, and a student of Nadia Boulanger. He initially gained ...

to write the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

for a large-scale

choral A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

work to mark the

Lewis and Clark Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...

Bicentennial. The work, entitled ''Summer Sun, Winter Moon'', was jointly commissioned by the

Kansas City Symphony The Kansas City Symphony (KCS) is a United States symphony orchestra based in Kansas City, Missouri. The current music director is conductor Michael Stern. The Symphony performs at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, located at 1601 Br ...

, the

Saint Louis Symphony The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) is the second-oldest professional symphony orc ...

, and the Louisiana Symphony, and was based on Kipp's libretto. It premiered in September 2004. A documentary of the event, sponsored by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, was made and aired on

public television Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

. Kipp wrote the introduction to the second edition of the book ''Mythology of the Blackfoot Indians'' (compiled and translated by Clark Wissler and D. C. Duvall), published by

Bison Books Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Amer ...

in 2008. He received the Montana Governor's Humanities Award in 2005. He received the Trustee Award for Contributions to Montana History from the

Montana Historical Society The Montana Historical Society (MHS) is a historical society located in the U.S. state of Montana that acts to preserve historical resources important to the understanding of Montana history. The society provides services through six operational ...

in 2006.

References

External links

Tribal immersion schools rescue language and culture
by Darrell Kipp, Piegan Institute

video, Trail Tribes website {{DEFAULTSORT:Kipp, Darrell Blackfeet Tribe people Native American language revitalization Native American writers American historians American documentary filmmakers 1944 births 2013 deaths People from Browning, Montana Montana State University Billings alumni Vermont College of Fine Arts alumni Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni

Biography

See also

References

External links