Michael Oren Fitzgerald
Encyclopedia
Michael Oren Fitzgerald is an author, editor and entrepreneur. He and his wife, Judith Fitzgerald, have an adult son and live in Bloomington, Indiana
.
, one of the most honored American Indian spiritual leaders of the last century. Choice Magazine wrote, “This book becomes the personal testament of a pivotal figure in recent Crow cultural history. The book describes in exquisite detail Yellowtail’s philosophy. Fitzgerald examines the place of the Sun Dance, and of the sacred, in the life and future of the Crow…It is a serious work of anthropology and history.” Fitzgerald first met Susie Yellowtail, who is now enshrined in the Montana Hall of Fame, when he was Joseph Epes Brown
’s graduate teaching assistant at Indiana University, Bloomington, for “Religious Traditions of the North American Indians”. Fitzgerald spent the summer of 1971 living with Thomas and Susie Yellowtail on the Crow Indian Reservation in Wyola, Montana
, where he participated in the tribal Sun Dance
and was adopted into the Yellowtail family and the Crow tribe. Following Dr. Brown’s 1972 departure to Montana, Fitzgerald taught a course of the same name in the Indiana University (Bloomington) Continuing Studies Department for two years.
Fitzgerald married his wife, Judith, in 1972. The Yellowtails introduced the Fitzgeralds to many spiritual leaders of other American Indian tribes. Over the next forty years Judith and Michael Fitzgerald spent extended periods of time visiting reservations and attending sacred ceremonies throughout the American West, including the sacred rites of the Crow, Sioux
, Cheyenne
, Shoshone
, Bannock
, and Apache
Tribes. “Michael Fitzgerald has heard the poignant narratives of the American Indian people, and has lived among the Crow people for extended periods of time since 1970. He has studied American Indian religious traditions on the earth, among the people, in ceremonies and family gatherings. We thank Fitzgerald for his deep-seated appreciation, honor, and respect for American Indian culture, its religion, language, and lifeways.”—Janine Pease
, founding president of the Little Big Horn College, National Indian Educator of the Year and a McArthur Genius Award winner. These contacts led to the creation of a number of books and two documentary films on the American Indians. Fitzgerald has also lectured widely on American Indian history and culture at various colleges and high schools.
Fitzgerald has now authored or co-edited more than a dozen books on world religions, sacred art, culture, and philosophy that have received more than twenty awards, including the ForeWord Book of the Year Award and the Ben Franklin Award. His books have been published in five different languages, and at least ten of his books and two documentary films produced by him are used in university classes. A selected bibliography is listed below..
Fitzgerald also produced two documentary films:
in 1998. The businesses Fitzgerald co-founded employed approximately 1,000 people from 1997 through 2000. Fitzgerald retired from day to day business activity in 2000 to focus on his writing.
Fitzgerald's other Bloomington, IN area businesses include The Bakehouse (now the Scholar’s Inn Bakehouse) , Perennial Designs, Leather Ltd, Devonshire Equestrian Center (now Rocky River Farm) , Russell Road Water Corporation and Deer Park Management.
Fitzgerald holds an Honor’s Degree in Religious Studies from Indiana University, with Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude distinctions, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Indiana University Maurer School of Law - Bloomington with Cum Laude distinction.
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....
.
Author and editor
The first book Fitzgerald recorded and edited was Yellowtail: Crow Medicine Man and Sun Dance Chief. It is the story of the late Thomas YellowtailThomas Yellowtail
Thomas Yellowtail was a Medicine Man and Sun Dance chief of the Crow tribe for over thirty years prior to his death. Thomas Yellowtail's adult life was dedicated to the adherence to, and preservation of, the Sun Dance religion....
, one of the most honored American Indian spiritual leaders of the last century. Choice Magazine wrote, “This book becomes the personal testament of a pivotal figure in recent Crow cultural history. The book describes in exquisite detail Yellowtail’s philosophy. Fitzgerald examines the place of the Sun Dance, and of the sacred, in the life and future of the Crow…It is a serious work of anthropology and history.” Fitzgerald first met Susie Yellowtail, who is now enshrined in the Montana Hall of Fame, when he was Joseph Epes Brown
Joseph Epes Brown
Joseph Epes Brown was an American scholar whose lifelong dedication to Native American traditions helped to bring the study of American Indian religious traditions into higher education...
’s graduate teaching assistant at Indiana University, Bloomington, for “Religious Traditions of the North American Indians”. Fitzgerald spent the summer of 1971 living with Thomas and Susie Yellowtail on the Crow Indian Reservation in Wyola, Montana
Wyola, Montana
Wyola is a census-designated place in Big Horn County, Montana, United States. The population was 186 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Wyola is located at ....
, where he participated in the tribal Sun Dance
Sun Dance
The Sun Dance is a religious ceremony practiced by a number of Native American and First Nations peoples, primarily those of the Plains Nations. Each tribe has its own distinct practices and ceremonial protocols...
and was adopted into the Yellowtail family and the Crow tribe. Following Dr. Brown’s 1972 departure to Montana, Fitzgerald taught a course of the same name in the Indiana University (Bloomington) Continuing Studies Department for two years.
Fitzgerald married his wife, Judith, in 1972. The Yellowtails introduced the Fitzgeralds to many spiritual leaders of other American Indian tribes. Over the next forty years Judith and Michael Fitzgerald spent extended periods of time visiting reservations and attending sacred ceremonies throughout the American West, including the sacred rites of the Crow, Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
, Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taeo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese .The Cheyenne are thought to have branched off other tribes of Algonquian stock inhabiting lands...
, Shoshone
Shoshone
The Shoshone or Shoshoni are a Native American tribe in the United States with three large divisions: the Northern, the Western and the Eastern....
, Bannock
Bannock (tribe)
The Bannock tribe of the Northern Paiute are an indigenous people of the Great Basin. Their traditional lands include southeastern Oregon, southeastern Idaho, western Wyoming, and southwestern Montana...
, and Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
Tribes. “Michael Fitzgerald has heard the poignant narratives of the American Indian people, and has lived among the Crow people for extended periods of time since 1970. He has studied American Indian religious traditions on the earth, among the people, in ceremonies and family gatherings. We thank Fitzgerald for his deep-seated appreciation, honor, and respect for American Indian culture, its religion, language, and lifeways.”—Janine Pease
Janine Pease
Janine Pease is an American Indian educator and advocate. She is the founding president of the Little Big Horn College as well as the past president of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium and director of the American Indian College Fund...
, founding president of the Little Big Horn College, National Indian Educator of the Year and a McArthur Genius Award winner. These contacts led to the creation of a number of books and two documentary films on the American Indians. Fitzgerald has also lectured widely on American Indian history and culture at various colleges and high schools.
Fitzgerald has now authored or co-edited more than a dozen books on world religions, sacred art, culture, and philosophy that have received more than twenty awards, including the ForeWord Book of the Year Award and the Ben Franklin Award. His books have been published in five different languages, and at least ten of his books and two documentary films produced by him are used in university classes. A selected bibliography is listed below..
Selected Bibliography
The following is a selected bibliography of recent and awarding winning titles authored, edited or co-edited by Michael Fitzgerald:- Yellowtail, Crow Medicine Man and Sun Dance Chief: An Autobiography, by Thomas YellowtailThomas YellowtailThomas Yellowtail was a Medicine Man and Sun Dance chief of the Crow tribe for over thirty years prior to his death. Thomas Yellowtail's adult life was dedicated to the adherence to, and preservation of, the Sun Dance religion....
record by Michael Fitzgerald, 1994 - Frithjof Schuon: Messenger of the Perennial Philosophy (author), 2010
- Living in Two Worlds: The American Indian Experience, by Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa)Charles EastmanCharles Alexander Eastman was a Native American physician, writer, national lecturer, and reformer. He was of Santee Sioux and Anglo-American ancestry...
, edited by Michael Fitzgerald, 2009- Winner of the Foreword Magazine 2010 Book of Year for “Social Science”, Finalist for “History”
- Winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award for "Multicultural" books
- Best Book 2010 Award Finalist for “Multicultural Non-Fiction” by USA Book News
- Winner of three Gold Midwest Book Awards for “Culture”, “Interior Layout”, and “Color Cover”
- Winner of two Silver Midwest Book Awards for “History” and “Total Book Design"
- Foundations of Oriental Art & Symbolism, by Titus BurckhardtTitus BurckhardtTitus Burckhardt , a German Swiss, was born in Florence, Italy in 1908 and died in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1984. He devoted all his life to the study and exposition of the different aspects of Wisdom and Tradition.He was an eminent member of the "traditionalist school" of twentieth-century authors...
, edited by Michael Fitzgerald, 2009- Silver Midwest Book Award for “Illustration”
- Christian Spirit, co-edited with Judith Fitzgerald, 2004.
- Winner Midwest Book Award for “Religion/Philosophy”
- The Sermon of all Creation: Christians on Nature, co-edited with Judith Fitzgerald, 2005.
- Silver Midwest Book Award for “Nature”
- Silver Midwest Book Award for “Religion/Philosophy”
- The Spirit of Indian Women, co-edited with Judith Fitzgerald, 2005.
- Winner Midwest Book Award for “Multicultural”
- Winner Midwest Book Award for “Religion/Philosophy”
- The Universal Spirit of Islam: From the Koran and Hadith, co-edited with Judith Fitzgerald, 2006.
- Silver Midwest Book Award for “Religion/Philosophy/Inspiration”
- Silver Benjamin Franklin Award for “Religion”
- Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award Finalist for “Religion”
- Indian Spirit: Revised & Enlarged, co-edited with Judith Fitzgerald, 2006.
- Winner Midwest Book Award for “Culture”
- Winner Midwest Book Award for “Religion/Philosophy/Inspiration”
- The Foundations of Christian Art: Illustrated, by Titus BurckhardtTitus BurckhardtTitus Burckhardt , a German Swiss, was born in Florence, Italy in 1908 and died in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1984. He devoted all his life to the study and exposition of the different aspects of Wisdom and Tradition.He was an eminent member of the "traditionalist school" of twentieth-century authors...
, edited by Michael Fitzgerald 2006.- Winner Midwest Book Award for “Interior Layout”
- Silver Benjamin Franklin Award for “Arts”
- Native Spirit: The Sun Dance Way, by Thomas YellowtailThomas YellowtailThomas Yellowtail was a Medicine Man and Sun Dance chief of the Crow tribe for over thirty years prior to his death. Thomas Yellowtail's adult life was dedicated to the adherence to, and preservation of, the Sun Dance religion....
, recorded and edited by Michael Fitzgerald, 2007.- Winner Midwest Book Award for “Culture”
- Midwest Book Award for “Religion/Philosophy/Inspiration”
- Silver Benjamin Franklin Award “New Age/Metaphysics/Spirituality”
- The Essential Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa): Light on the Indian World (revised & updated edition), by Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa)Charles EastmanCharles Alexander Eastman was a Native American physician, writer, national lecturer, and reformer. He was of Santee Sioux and Anglo-American ancestry...
, edited by Michael Fitzgerald, 2007.- Silver Midwest Book Award for “Religion/Philosophy/Inspiration”
- The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian: Commemorative Edition With Letters While Living With Black Elk, by Joseph Epes BrownJoseph Epes BrownJoseph Epes Brown was an American scholar whose lifelong dedication to Native American traditions helped to bring the study of American Indian religious traditions into higher education...
, co-edited with Elenita Brown and Marina Brown Weatherly, 2007. - Introduction to Hindu Dharma: Illustrated, by Jagadguru His Holiness Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi SwamigalChandrashekarendra SaraswatiJagadguru Chandrashekarendra Saraswati Swamigal or the Sage of Kanchi was the 68th Jagadguru in the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam...
, edited by Michael Fitzgerald 2008.
Fitzgerald also produced two documentary films:
- The Sun Dance Way, 2006.
- Official Selection for the “Montreal First Peoples’ Festival”
- Official Selection for the “American Indian Film FestivalAmerican Indian Film FestivalThe American Indian Film Festival is an annual non-profit film festival in San Francisco. It is the world's oldest venue dedicated to Native American films and prepared the way for the 1979 formation of the American Indian Film Institute....
”
- Native Spirit, 2007.
- Official Selection for the “American Indian Film FestivalAmerican Indian Film FestivalThe American Indian Film Festival is an annual non-profit film festival in San Francisco. It is the world's oldest venue dedicated to Native American films and prepared the way for the 1979 formation of the American Indian Film Institute....
” - Official Selection for the “Talking Stick Film Festival”
- Official Selection for the “American Indian Film Festival
Entrepreneurial career
Michael Fitzgerald founded or co-founded more than a dozen successful businesses in Bloomington, Indiana. The largest is Sunrise Greetings/ InterArt Holding Corporation, which was a $72 million greeting card company when he sold it to Hallmark cardsHallmark Cards
Hallmark Cards is a privately owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce C. Hall, Hallmark is the largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. In 1985, the company was awarded the National Medal of Arts....
in 1998. The businesses Fitzgerald co-founded employed approximately 1,000 people from 1997 through 2000. Fitzgerald retired from day to day business activity in 2000 to focus on his writing.
Fitzgerald's other Bloomington, IN area businesses include The Bakehouse (now the Scholar’s Inn Bakehouse) , Perennial Designs, Leather Ltd, Devonshire Equestrian Center (now Rocky River Farm) , Russell Road Water Corporation and Deer Park Management.
Fitzgerald holds an Honor’s Degree in Religious Studies from Indiana University, with Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude distinctions, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Indiana University Maurer School of Law - Bloomington with Cum Laude distinction.
See also
- Perennial PhilosophyPerennial philosophyPerennial philosophy is the notion of the universal recurrence of philosophical insight independent of epoch or culture, including universal truths on the nature of reality, humanity or consciousness .-History:The idea of a perennial philosophy has great...
- Frithjof SchuonFrithjof SchuonFrithjof Schuon, was a native of Switzerland born to German parents in Basel, Switzerland. He is known as a philosopher, metaphysician and author of numerous books on religion and spirituality....
- René GuénonRené GuénonRené Guénon , also known as Shaykh `Abd al-Wahid Yahya was a French author and intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having written on topics ranging from metaphysics, sacred science and traditional studies to symbolism and initiation.In his writings, he...
- Titus BurckhardtTitus BurckhardtTitus Burckhardt , a German Swiss, was born in Florence, Italy in 1908 and died in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1984. He devoted all his life to the study and exposition of the different aspects of Wisdom and Tradition.He was an eminent member of the "traditionalist school" of twentieth-century authors...
- Ananda CoomaraswamyAnanda CoomaraswamyAnanda Kentish Coomaraswamy was a Ceylonese philosopher and metaphysician, as well as a pioneering historian and philosopher of Indian art, particularly art history and symbolism, and an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West...
- Martin LingsMartin LingsMartin Lings was an English Muslim writer and scholar, a student and follower of Frithjof Schuon, and Shakespearean scholar...
- Tage LindbomTage LindbomTage Leonard Lindbom, who later in his life took the name Sidi Zayd, , PhD in Political science, who was early in his life the party theoretician and director of the archives of the Swedish Social Democratic Party 1938-1965, but later in his life he converted to Islam...
- William StoddartWilliam StoddartWilliam Stoddart is a Scottish physician, author and "spiritual traveller", who has written several books on the philosophy of religions. He has been called a “master of synthesis” and is one of the important writers on the Perennial Philosophy in the present day. For many years he was assistant...
- Whitall PerryWhitall PerryWhitall Nicholson Perry was born of old New England stock in Belmont, Massachusetts , on January 19, 1920. A quest for wisdom led him, as a young man, to travel out to the Far East...
- Harry OldmeadowHarry OldmeadowKenneth "Harry" Oldmeadow is an Australian author, editor and educator whose works focus on Eastern religion and philosophy.-Biography:Qualifications: BA Hons , Dip Ed , MA Hons , PhD...
- Patrick LaudePatrick LaudePatrick Laude is a scholar, author and teacher. His works deal with the relationship between mysticism, symbolism and poetry, as well as focusing on contemporary spiritual figures such as Simone Weil, Louis Massignon and Frithjof Schuon.-Biography:...