Wonder Woman of the Week: Sacred Sun

The Wonder Woman fo this week falls under the category of people who had greatness thrust upon them. Finding herself pregnant and a world away (literally) from her family and country, this heroine became a leader for a people in exile who would go on to give birth and plan an escape all in the same year. Sacred Sun's story began in what is today Missouri where she was born into the Osage Nation- an indigenous people of Missouri in the early 1800's around the time of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

After Lewis & Clark (and Sacagawea) helped map out the new Louisiana Territory, fur trappers expanded operations in the region. One such dealer- David Delauney- decided to find a new way to make money. Delauney went out into the territory and found twelve Native Osage - including eighteen year-old Sacred Sun- and told them he would be taking the delegation to Washington DC. Along the boatride down the Missouri River to St. Louis, the boat capsized and all of the passengers' gear was lost. Six of the Osage left Delauney, but the other six- including Sacred Sun- continued. After reaching St. Louis, the group boarded a steamboat and headed to New Orleans. Once there, Delauney took the party not to DC, but instead to France.

Sacred Sun and her companions arrived in France during a confusing time in European history. Their boss (who treated them more like a slave owner) presented the group to the restored monarch King Charles X. The court adored the Osage who were well known as long-time allies of the French colonists in North America. The French hoped the Osage would be equal allies to the expanding United States and saw this delegation's arrival as good signs to come. The king was impressed mostly by the pregnant young woman Sacred Sun and saw her as beautiful and leaderly.

Delauney took the group across France as an exhibition show of the "Wild West" until he went bankrupt and left the group to wander the continent of Europe without money. After Sacred Sun gave birth to twins in Belgium, she was forced to give up one of her children for adoption in order for the other to survive on the meager wages she and her five other Osage companions were living on. Eventually, Sacred Sun managed to get word to King Charles X in France about the plight of her and her five companions. Happy to aid his friend, the king made plans for Sacred Sun and her fellow Osage to get back to the United States.

Once back in the US, Sacred Sun was greeted as a heroine in Washington DC by the US government. Before returning home to Missouri, Sacred Sun sat down with her child for artist Charles Bird King to paint their portrait. But Sacred Sun's life was bo no means easier after her return home. By the time Sacred Sun returned to Missouri, the US government had forcibly removed the Osage to modern-day Oklahoma. Sacred Sun settled in St. Louis to raise her child, but died at the age of 27. Sacred Sun went from being a single mother-in-waiting to becoming the woman who would lead her imprisoned and exiled back home and is remembered today as one of the greatest historical figures of the Osage Nation.