Pierre-Jean de Smet

Pierre-Jean De Smet was a Flemish Catholic priest and member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). His first mission, established in what is now Iowa in 1838, served the Potawatomi, and following a successful negotiation between them and the Yankton Sioux, he developed a reputation as a peacemaker. In Montana Territory, he established a mission close to the Flathead people's ancestral home, where he was given the name "Black Robe" by the locals. In order to raise money to keep working with them, he frequently traveled to Europe. Over the course of his lifetime, he traveled 16 trips to Europe.

Pierre-Jean De Smet was convinced to travel to Fort Laramie (in modern-day Wyoming) in 1851 to take part in a government-sponsored peace conference because he was acquainted with the Indians. In there, he witnessed the treaty signed by the Plains chiefs, but later also saw how the U.S. administration violated it and how that led to the subsequent Indian uprisings. He then joined the U.S. Army as a chaplain but remained an outspoken advocate for native peoples.

Born: 30 January 1801
Died: 23 May 1873
Contribution: Widespread missionary work in the mid-19th century among the Native American peoples, in the midwestern and northwestern United States and western Canada.