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:
“Thou art not fair, for all thy red and white,
For all those rosy ornaments in thee.
Thou art not sweet, though made of mere delight”
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“It is the mind that is woven, the mind that was jerked
And tufted in straggling thunder and shattered sun.”
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“Humorists are always pessimists. They’re reactionaries: because they see that every golden cloud has a black lining.”
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