Red Thunder Cloud (May 30, 1919 – January 8, 1996), whose English name was Cromwell Ashbie Hawkins West and who was also known as Carlos Westez, was the last native speaker of the Catawba Indian language. His obituary was later published in this language in the New York Times. Born in Newport, Rhode Island, of African-American parents, Cromwell West developed a passion for Native American history during his teenage years. He embraced a Native American identity and throughout his life, studied Native American languages extensively.
Gordon (2005) reports the other last native speakers of Catawba died before 1960. There are claims that Red Thunder Cloud is apparently an impostor and he is not really a native speaker of Catawban.
Famous quotes containing the words red, thunder and/or cloud:
“Red river, red river,
Slow flow heat is silence
No will is still as a river
Still.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“There is not even silence in the mountains
But dry sterile thunder without rain
There is not even solitude in the mountains”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“Every cloud must have a silver lining.”
—George A. Norton (1880–1923)