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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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Long Wolf’s Lizzie & The Little Big Horn

John Elkington · 1 April 2018 · Leave a Comment

Lizzie Long Wolf
Long Wolf
Kiowa girl

Spotted the image at top of Lizzie Long Wolf via a link on Hania’s Facebook page today. Long Wolf image surfaced in further browsing. Struck by the lower photo, too, of a Kiowa girl in 1892. Grim to recall what their peoples had been through – and still faced.

The photo of Lizzie Long Wolf brought to mind a happier memory from 1977, when I went to visit the Hammersmith Registrar of Birth & Deaths, to record Gaia’s birth.

He was intrigued by her third name, Onawa, which I explained was Choctaw. He said that he could recall only one other Native American Indian (or maybe First Peoples) name in the register. Long Wolf.

The Sioux leader and his daughter had been travelling with Buffalo Bill’s Travelling Circus when he died in Hammersmith, also in 1892. The story of his death, long stay in a London cemetery and then repatriation to the Plains is told here.

Long Wolf’s body was apparently covered in battle scars. He was said to have been at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. And earlier this week I had seen and tweeted a link to this extraordinary account of the destruction of Custer’s command based on accounts from some of those who were there, on the other side. It has the ring of truth to it.

One aspect of the encounter that I hadn’t heard of before was the role played by the Suicide Boys in Custer’s troopers falling back to join Major Reno’s force – which would largely survive the battle.

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Introduction

I began this blog with an entry reporting on a visit to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, on 30 September 2003. The blog element of the website has gone through several iterations since, with much of the older material still available.

Like so many things in my life, blog entries blur the boundaries between the personal and the professional. As explained on this site’s Home Page, the website and the blog are part platform for ongoing projects, part autobiography, and part accountability mechanism.

In addition, my blogs have appeared on many sites such as: Chinadialogue, CSRWire, Fast Company, GreenBiz, Guardian Sustainable Business, and the Harvard Business Review.

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John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. He is currently Founding Partner and Executive Chairman of Volans, a future-focused business working at the intersection of the sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation movements.

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