Joseph M Marshall III

"When a storm blows, you must stand firm. For it is not trying to knock you down, it is really trying to teach you to be strong." Joseph M. Marshall III
Joseph M. Marshall III
In Memoriam born April 8, 1945, and died April 18, 2025
Multi-award-winning Sicangu Oglala Lakota author, historian, and educator, Joseph (Joe) M. Marshall III, PhD, passed away on April 18, 2025, on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota where he was born. The oldest of eleven children, Joe entered this world as the son of Hazel Two Hawk and Joseph Marshall Sr. on April 8, 1945. He was raised to the age of eight by his maternal grandparents, Albert and Annie ("Nellie" Good Voice Eagle) Two Hawk, in a traditional Native household on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. When the young boy went to live with his paternal grandparents, Charles Sr. and Blanche (Roubideaux) Marshall, he solely spoke Lakota. However, he mastered reading, writing, and speaking English by the age of twelve. As an author, Joe's works were informed by his background as a Lakota archer and craftsman. His grandfather Albert passed down the skills of bow making and wilderness survival to him. The accounts of real historical figures along with the events that he experienced on the reservation and heard as a child from his maternal grandparents and their generation of oral storytellers figure prominently in all his books.
The prolific author did not begin his professional writing career until he was in his early 40s and secured a newspaper column writing about life from the Native perspective. He subsequently penned 21 books, mostly nonfiction including some children's books. Some of his works were translated into French, Hebrew, Korean, Japanese, German, Italian, Chinese, Romanian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Bulgarian. He also narrated his own audio books, his deep voice unmistakable. He will be remembered for his international best-selling, award-winning books like The Journey of Crazy Horse, The Day the World Ended at Little Bighorn, The Lakota Way, and his final works-contemporary mysteries in the Smokey River Suspense Series, which highlight issues faced by the Lakota people both on the reservation and off while breaking stereotypes. Most significantly, Sing for the Red Dress shines a spotlight on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and a respect for the matriarchal tradition of the Lakota. All three books in the series, including Last Prisoner of the Little Bighorn and The Wolf and the Crow (all published in 2024), had already won major awards at the time of his death. He had completed his work on the final book in the series Blood on the Dress on the day he died. In 2023, he received the Owen Wister Award by Western Writers of America for lifetime contributions to Western literature and was inducted into the Western Writers Hall of Fame.
A true servant leader among his people, Joe will be remembered as an educator. Throughout his life he taught, first at the high school level and later as a professor at several colleges and universities, where he educated students on Native culture, Lakota language and history. He was one of the founders of Sinte Gleska University on the Rosebud Reservation, one of the first tribal colleges in the United States, and served on the Board President of Lakota Youth Development (LYD), Inc. He worked diligently on the Lakota Voices Audio Dictionary and started the Lakota Bow and Arrow Camp that LYD has been hosting since 2014.
In 2022 he received Crazy Horse Memorial® Foundation Educator of the Year Award for his lifelong leadership in education and the impact that he made on Indigenous youth and communities. In addition to his two PhDs in Native history and culture, he was presented an honorary doctorate from South Dakota State University in 2024.
He will be remembered for his work in tribal government and for his efforts to ensure the Native perspective and ways were authentically depicted by serving as a cultural and historical consultant and technical advisor on more than 50 films, television series, and documentaries. Tall, strikingly handsome and an expert horseman, he appeared as an actor in the television mini-series Return to Lonesome Dove and Into the West and in many documentaries and films.
He will be remembered as the father of ten, including Kira Vanderwalker (Frank), Michael Marshall (Trish), Erin Marshall, Steven Marshall, Caitlin Marshall, Margeaux Wirt, Alixandra Sager (Arthur) and Gabrielle West, and as the grandfather of sixteen. Some of his children and their partners requested anonymity.
His Native name, given to him at age five, is Ohitiya Otanin, which means "his courage is known." His strong and unique voice commanded attention and respect. His humility combined with his fierce desire for justice will be remembered by friends, colleagues, and all who encounter his words. His Native name fit him, because his words gave courage to all who heard him speak or read his works. A true Lakota warrior, his teachings, stories, and spirit will be carried forward for generations. That is his legacy.