Author Topic: john joseph littlebird  (Read 1525 times)

Offline milehighsalute

  • Posts: 418
john joseph littlebird
« on: October 03, 2025, 08:13:29 pm »
littlebirdmusic.com

first of this guy is NOT selling ceremony, which is refreshing....he is not like our usual creeps we come across

he does not claim to be a native or speak for natives which is also good, but rather a native descendant which is believable....many people (mostly chicanos here) do have native ancestors so no problem there

what i wonder about though is his wedding/storytelling stuff. i have no problem with it in itself, i also have no problem with him having "the look" and "the style" either (its not even too hokey like most of the fakes we run across), but i think he may be selling "nativeness" and seems to get booked for shows and all that and his music seems to all be "native themed". he is even pretty good at it unlike some we mentioned here like WTF (william two feathers, but i prefer his acronym)

he looks to be paired up with a white woman (lisa ann white) who happens to be in some of his videos, her short says she is a flutist of native american STYLE which is fine with me, as long as she doesnt call herself a native flutist without proof of being native i guess

but here is the thing.......NOBODY here seems to know him. i am talking about nobody in the indian community. i never seen the guy before at any native events, and that includes powwows, round dances, art shows, concession/vendor style fundraisers, elders dinners, or even dropping by the indian center.

his bio says he has some navajo ancestors, which i do not doubt one bit

but is he selling "indianess"? marketing himself as a product of our native community without being an active part of it?

i mean....if i knew him or the many people i know knew him or i even just seen him around alot i probably wouldnt be even asking these questions.

by the way i ran across his page looking at someones wedding gallery for a "native wedding" to see if i knew any guests or whatever (i know most of the natives here)


Offline Sandy S

  • Posts: 529
Re: john joseph littlebird
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2025, 09:43:28 pm »
Looks like his name is actually Leon Joseph Littlebird. Although I'm not sure what his birth name was.

"His great grandparents were the original settlers of Black Hawk and Central City, he said. His grandfather was born in Central City in 1863, and his father was born in Silver Plume in 1899."

https://www.summitdaily.com/news/marijuana/community-hosts-benefit-for-summit-county-local-leon-joseph-littlebird/

"His father was born in Silver Plume in 1899. His grandfather was one of the original settlers in Black Hawk. Leon’s Navajo heritage comes from his mother, who was born in Taos in 1911."

https://www.uncovercolorado.com/ski-instructor-leon-joseph-littlebird/

Offline Sandy S

  • Posts: 529
Re: john joseph littlebird
« Reply #2 on: October 18, 2025, 09:47:47 pm »
"Littlebird is more familiar with his maternal side of the family. His grandparents lived on the Taos Pueblo, and eventually became so disgusted with discrimination against Native Americans, they packed up their wagon and moved to Denver.

“The hatred was still really high,” Littlebird said. “You didn’t tell anyone you were Native American, or they’d try to send you back to the reservation.”

His mother – now 93 and living in Denver – tried to keep Littlebird from returning to his Native American origins, remembering how her mother would tell her the white people thought they were dirty and uncouth.

But Littlebird would have nothing of it, and today is still trying to get reinstated into his tribe in New Mexico. “If I own it, and it’s my ancestry, I want to know it,” he said.

Littlebird’s full name is Leon Charles Jeantette des Moineaux, the last of which means chickadee, or little bird."

https://www.summitdaily.com/news/music-compassion-shape-littlebird/

Offline Sandy S

  • Posts: 529
Re: john joseph littlebird
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2025, 09:51:27 pm »
He was born Oct 1950. Leon J Desmoineaux.

Offline Sandy S

  • Posts: 529
Re: john joseph littlebird
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2025, 11:24:00 pm »
His paternal side is French and German.

Charles Frantz Joseph DesMoineaux
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/149416059/charles_frantz_joseph-desmoineaux

He does not claim paternal heritage.
------
Maternal side is his claim "Leon’s Navajo heritage comes from his mother, who was born in Taos in 1911". His mother was born in 1911.

Matilda Phyllis “Tillie” DesMoineaux (birth surname Hidalgo)
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/149416346/matilda_phyllis-desmoineaux

' 'Tillie', 98, she is preceded in death by her beloved husband Charles. Survived by her children: Charlene (Joe) Andrew, Charles (Lana) DesMoineaux, Leon (Kim) DesMoineaux"

https://www.denverpost.com/obituaries/matilda-p-desmoineaux-co/

Her father Lauriano “Lawrence” Hidalgo https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/130579242/lauriano-hidalgo

I found the family in 1950 federal census, Denver. Matilda born in NM. They listed white, everyone in the neighborhood white. This census happened in April, a few months before Leon born.

Offline Sandy S

  • Posts: 529
Re: john joseph littlebird
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2025, 12:25:11 am »
When in New Mexico they were listed in records as "white" instead of "Indian".

Some ancestors are from Mexico, such as a Gallegos born 1855 in Cacalchen, Yucatan, Mexico.

I don't see anything indicating "Navajo heritage".

(Here are The Navajo Nation enrollment rules: https://novri.navajo-nsn.gov/Services/New-Enrollment )

He claims: "grandparents lived on the Taos Pueblo". I see Taos County in their records, but not Taos Pueblo (different enumeration districts).

Back to milehighsalute original post here -

"NOBODY here seems to know him. i am talking about nobody in the indian community. i never seen the guy before at any native events, and that includes powwows, round dances, art shows, concession/vendor style fundraisers, elders dinners, or even dropping by the indian center."

"but is he selling "indianess"? marketing himself as a product of our native community without being an active part of it?"

I'd say, yes, he is selling "indianess".

Possibility that he has distant heritage but not as how he represents it.

Offline Sandy S

  • Posts: 529
Re: john joseph littlebird
« Reply #6 on: October 19, 2025, 07:46:15 pm »
In 1910 one of his direct ancestors was described as a "citizen" in a news article.

The Indian Citizenship Act did not pass until 1924.

I encourage him to get professional genealogy done, with a specialist in New Mexican and related genealogy/history.