Big Foot, a Potawatomi village leader during the first half of the nineteenth century, was depicted by Euro-Americans as a violent, uncivilized savage, a myth that persisted until previously unavailable primary sources revealed that he was, in fact, a respected, able village leader who engaged in a number of strategies that enabled his band to maintain its autonomy and cultural integrity throughout his tenure as a village leader. This critical survey of recently available correspondence between government officials, minutes of meetings, and reports by contemporary observers reveals that Big Foot and his contemporaries, rather than being passive and helpless, were proactive and capable of developing innovative strategies in response to rapidly changing conditions in the face of American attempts to destroy their very existence. Although they lost a continent, Native Americans today still exhibit these characteristics, as they continue to assert themselves as members of proud sovereign nations.