Edward Goodbird

Born around 1869 near the mouth of the Yellowstone River, Edward Goodbird was a Hidatsa man from Fort Berthold whose mother was the well-known Buffalo Bird Woman. He attended mission school, became a Christian minister, and was remembered as someone who moved between worlds, speaking several Native languages as well as English.

He is best known for Goodbird the Indian: His Story, published in 1914 with ethnographer Gilbert Livingstone Wilson. The book draws on his own life and memories, describing Hidatsa community life, hunting, belief, work, and the pressures of cultural change in a direct and personal way.

Goodbird's writing remains valuable because it preserves experience from the inside rather than from an outsider's point of view. For listeners interested in autobiography, Native history, or life on the plains, his story is both accessible and quietly powerful.