Hawk Littlejohn

Hawk Littlejohn (June 12, 1941 – December 14, 2000) is considered one of America's greatest contemporary Native American flute makers. At the time of his death, he was living in Old Fort, North Carolina, where he made his flutes and kept alive his native Cherokee traditions. His expertise in Native American medicine afforded him a position as adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's medical school, and as a cultural consultant for the Smithsonian Institution and the North Carolina Museum of History. He also wrote essays on Cherokee life, traditions, spirituality, and medicine in a column called "Good Medicine" for the Keetoowah Journal. An important aspect of Hawk's spirituality was his commitment to environmentalism and the connectedness of all life. The flute was his connection with the past and the future, and he combined historical and modern methods in its making. Like many flute makers, Hawk often used dead wood or scrap wood, especially due to the quality of wood in the wild and of old growth wood used in the old buildings. He used a modern lathe to shape the flute, but burned the holes in the traditional fashion with heated steel rods. His flutes are collected and played by flutists all over the world. Many flute makers find inspiration from Hawk Littlejohn's nature-themed symbolic flute designs and original hand-carved details.

Hawk Is the father of five children. Three daughters and two sons. Starting from oldest to youngest, Sondra Kay LittleJohn, Kimberly Evelyn LittleJohn, Bow Hook Synder LittleJohn, Joshua Snowhawk LittleJohn, Beth Risingfawn LittleJohn.

Hawk Littlejohn’s flute-carving art and documentation

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  Hawk Littlejohn: very rare "Bird of Prey Flute." Woodlands-style with carved "Bird of Prey" and "Rattlesnake" motifs – vintage 1996.

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  Hawk Littlejohn: "Bird of Prey Flute," with carved head representing "birds of prey."

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  Hawk Littlejohn: "Bird of Prey Flute" with carved Rattlesnake Totem.

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  Hawk Littlejohn: "Bird of Prey Flute" with Littlejohn signature and mountain-pattern woodland leather flute wraps.

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  Hawk Littlejohn: “braided sweet grass” artistic/symbolic flute signature on "Bird of Prey Flute."

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  Flute "Bottom End" profile depicting one of "Four Directions" holes (far left), and one of the "Four Directions" round ebony inlays accented with turquoise circle in center.

Films

• Songkeepers (1999, 48 min.). Directed by Bob Hercules and Bob Jackson. Produced by Dan King. Lake Forest, Illinois: America's Flute Productions. Five distinguished traditional flute artists - Tom Mauchahty-Ware, Sonny Nevaquaya, R. Carlos Nakai, Hawk Littlejohn, Kevin Locke – talk about their instrument and their songs and the role of the flute and its music in their tribes.^[1]

References