Coming up on Gallery America.

I was born in El Reno, Oklahoma, Meet a Native American artist whose life story reads like a chapter from the Book of Destiny.

Harvey Pratt is a Cheyenne Arapahoe tribal chief, worked in Oklahoma a a forensic artist for decades, and was called upon to draw suspects in some of America's most horrific crime sprees.

the Girl Scout killings Ted Bundy did a lot of really major cases.

But the pinnacle of his artistic career sits on sacred ground in our nation's capital.

More than 400 artists submitted designs for a Native American veterans memorial.

fight for our land.

Our blood is poured all over these continents Every tribe in America had to approve one designer.

They chose Oklahoma's own Harvey Pratt Smithsonian said “Harvey, Your design has changed the shape of of memorials I wanted Oklahomans to have part of that.

We have lived in these lands and these sacred places for thousands of years.

25 years ago, the Smithsonian opened the National Museum of the American Indian.

all men were made by the same great spirit.

They are brothers.

It was there showcasing the event that drew indigenous tribal members from around the world.

I think that this is something that kind of gives everybody hope.

As native people and something to look forward to.

It was the largest gathering of native peoples in the history of the world, and Oklahoma tribal members helped to make it all happen.

To those of you within sight and sound of this occassion Oklahoma Native Americans Welcome to Native American.

honor indigenous peoples nationwide.

The red soil of Oklahoma.

It's rich with stories of the many peopl who call this state their home.

Hello, I'm Susan Cadot Thank you for joining us for this specia installment of Gallery America.

You know, the oldest of our collective stories belonged to Native Americans, a people who often refer t something called the Red road.

They follow it throughout their lives.

Today we invite you to visit the red road of a Cheyenne Arapaho artist and lawman whose pat led him to national prominence.

just say and spell Your firs and last name are you rolling?

Okay.

All right.

My first name is Harvey.

H-A-R-V-E-Y.

my middle initial is P, and my last name is Prat.

PR 80.

And, I would like the story to be about my life.

Harvey Pratt is a famous Native American artis from the Cheyenne Arapaho tribe.

He was born in El Reno, Oklahoma in 1941.

It wasn't it wasn't good.

All my little friends wer treated us, treat us all well.

But, who would walk to town or something?

Some of the older people say, oh, here comes a little gut eaters.

You know.

You know, the little guteaters or the little blanket ass or the red “n-word” you know, red “n-word” And so I grew up at those things I grew up with.

No end is allowed in the stores, in certain stores.

No one is allowed on the land at the courthouse.

No, Indians or dogs allowed on the lawn, stuff like that, and I.

So why do the why did they treat us like that?

Now, Harvey grew up poo in a rural community at a time when Native Americans faced great discrimination.

Adding insult to injury, young Harvey faced a more personal act of discrimination, one that would stay with him for his entire life.

I was in the seventh grade and I was, I just went from grade school to, to junior high and, and I was like this little white girl and, She liked me.

And she had told her, told her father that, That she was seeing me.

And he said, what are you doing with that Indian?

You'll never amount to nothing.

He's just too damn Indian, And she come back and told m that, you know, and I thought, you know what?

I'm going to make something of myself.

I'm not.

I'm not going to let that, let them dictate who I am and what I'm going to be.

“tonight, we celebrate the lives and accomplishments of eight extraordinary oklahomans to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame I think that was the motivation when they inducted m into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and they said, Harvey, what would you like?

I said, I want you to find this guy.

I said, I want you to go tell him who I am, because he's the guy that said I was just a damn Indian who would never amount to nothing.

You did not.

I told him that.

And and they all laughed at it.

I knew he was dead, you know.

Hell, that's been 50 years.

60 years ago This gentleman is one of th toughest people I've ever met.

He spent his life standing between predator and prey.

You see, Harvey Pratt is many things, but to much of the nation, especially the law enforcement nation.

Harvey Pratt is the man from Oklahoma.

Harvey Pratt is an American first and foremost.

And, military veteran.

law enforcement officer.

And an artist and a father and a storyteller.

My book, about the early years of the OSBI, Yeah.

De Corddry is a retired agent from the Osbi He's also a published author and expert on Cheyenne tribal history, an interest that was sparked by Pratt in the 90s when the two men worked together.

he did not grow up in, a well to do neighborhood.

His mother was raising him and his brothers and sisters.

I think 1 or 2 of his brothers were born in a canvas tent that the family lived here, out on land.

The country.

They didn't have a house at the time that, 1 or 2 of those boys were born.

Harvey was a talented young artist who sold his first painting while still in high school.

But after a frustrating stint in college, he quit school and joined the Marine Corps.

they sent me overseas and made me a military policeman.

So and then one day a lieutenant came through there and he's looking for volunteers to do a special project.

And he said it could be dangerous.

And I said, I volunteer because I was raised that way.

Said, you know, you need, you need to be first to doing things.

You know, you need to volunteer first.

You need to you need to be out there as a warrior.

You know, and next thing I knew, we were doing guerrilla warfare, you know, doing guerrilla warfare training, and and, they never told us where we were going.

And they sent us to Vietnam and.

I was the only Indian in that in that combat platoon.

It was a third recon battalion, Charlie Company recon.

And, they sent a whole platoon over there, I said, Harvey, how could you join the U.S. military with all of this in, Indian history and this is what he told me.

I love my country.

This is our land.

And he didn't mean this is only Native American land.

He meant that he's an American just like everybody else.

And he was fighting for America.

He was fighting for his land.

“Then suddenly, out of the misty darkness.

Contact.

” After serving in Vietnam, Pratt returned to Oklahoma and began a career in law enforcement when he was hired as a patrolman by the Midwest City Police Department.

That job represented a major turn in Harvey's life path, one where his artistic talent literally saved lives.

The captain of the.

And, detective bureau saw me draw.

And he saw that I was at a, I was in a magazine, orbit which was a Sunday or something.

Magazine in those days called At Work.

ORbiAnd tt did a little article on me on some of my paintings as police officer and as an artist.

And and one day he came to me, he said, Harvey said, you know, this guy's running around town shooting people, killing people.

Now he's now he's killing the in their homes Christmas time.

He said, this lady, her husband got killed.

A guy knocked on her door.

And when he opened the door, the guy shot him, and she came running down the hall.

He shot her in the face right here.

And, And he robbed them both, and then he left, and we don't know if she's going to make it.

He said, do you think you should go talk to he and draw this guy that shot her?

I said, sure, what did I know?

And so they went in the neighborhood with my drawing, and they knocked on the door and they said, do you know this person here?

It's a young girl.

And she looked at a little bit.

She started crying.

She said, yes, that's my husband.

That's my husband.

She she gave up her husband off of my drawing, you know.

So they arrested and charged him and and, that was my very first drawing.

If I probably wasn't successful, I would have never done another drawing.

Probably.

Harvey went on to become one of the most prolific forensic artists in America.

Well, I did, the Sirloin Stockade composites, Roger Dale Stafford I did, the Gir Scout killings and Locust Grove, I did, a couple other guys that were serial murderers.

I got the girls from the State Fair Roy Russell Long.

I did him, killed, four kids, Ted Bundy did the I-5 killer.

I did the green River killer.

I did, Bobby Joe Long, I did a whole bunch of those serial murders.

But then I was getting to be nationally known, and people were were contacting me all all over, you know, want me to do those major cases.

So They supposed this man to be 20 to 25, by then.

By then I was doin cranial facial reconstruction.

So I didn't want to d cranial facial reconstructions initially because I didn't like handling bones, you I'm going to.

I'm going t add a few little things to it...

While his road led Harvey int the darkest corners of society, he would cling to his art to decompress by painting drawing, carving, and sculpting.

so Ill kind of leave this.

This, alone.

Let it dry out.

I'm going to.

I've got to.

I'm going to do a few more things to a little later on, And I'll come back to you.

Come back to this in By this time, Harvey had married a young woman named Gina, who also worked at the OSBI.

They met when she volunteer t help him with a morbid project.

he was looking for someone to help him do some photographing for, teaching too to show those in law enforcement how to photograph dead bodies.

So you're looking for somebody that could play a dead body, so I volunteered, I was there, so he painted me up.

He did the.

Put the blood on me, put the bruising on me and put me on a gurney.

And then did the photograph, the proper way to photograph a body.

So I' remember I was so proud of those photos we got done.

I took them to my mom to show her, and she just started crying.

And I didn't think about the effect it would have on her.

So I like to say, tell people that Harvey wooed me with dead bodies.

I like this picture of you here.

Hang on o It would be Gina with a degree in business and marketing, who would propel her husband's artwork into the limelight.

His pieces have graced the walls of galleries nationwide How are you doing?

Good to see you, brother.

“to Lisa” we did, did an art show in Europe for a month.

How are you today, sir?

I'm good.

And you?

I'm well.

Thank you.

I came in Thursday and signed, 18 boxes.

I love meeting the people and I've got some pictures of me in here in Vietnam.

That, I was kind of surprised that they had those in 2017.

Harvey was commissione to create a statue in Colorado in remembrance of the Sand Creek massacre.

during that battle.

There were so many, chief and headsmen that were killed, and it almost destroyed the Cheyenne culture And I put a woman in here who's, asking for mercy and asking for help, and she's telling her people as they're leaving t to remember us, Don't forget us.

Don't forget us.

And she has an empty cradle, if i havent expressed my feelings as clearly as I should.

Let me just say I love Harvey Pratt.

In 2021.

Harvey was inducte into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, making him one of Oklahoma's favorite sons, the creator gives all of us a special gift.

Not everyone recognizes these gifts.

There are those that do.

I've been very fortunat to be in the presence of people that shared their gifts with me.

the prairie with just black with bison.

Yeah, yeah.

These Americas, this is Indian land.

Always will be Indian land, regardless of who owns it.

God gave it to us.

This is all land.

I'll show you the, Oklahoma Centennial blanket that I designed for the state of Oklahoma.

It's a Pendleton blanket.

And it has a featured artist on the National PBS series Craft in America.

For the blankets, he designed.

I love the fact that I don't see another house.

you literally step outside and you're in nature.

There's the blue jays, the birds are just getting after fall.

behind the accolades is a solitary support from his biggest fan, who walks the red road by her husband's side.

I think Harvey and I knew when we met each other that we were meant to be together.

There's no other way to pu it.Ive alwyas said that to him.

He's always felt the same wa that, God put us there together.

and we got a big cave up there.

Big cav that as big as our living room.

I'll tell you what it's like to live with some of my Harvey Pratt.

It's like he' a shooting star across the sky.

Got a blaze going, and I'm just got my hand around, arms around his waist.

I'm just hanging on.

And I'm lucky and blessed to be with him and just enjoy that ride with him.

Little did Gina know just how magnificent her journe with her husband would become.

Neither, for that matter, did Harvey.

In 2017, the Smithsonian and Museum in Washington D.C., issued a call for designs for a national memorial to honor Native American war veterans.

this guy told me said, Harvey, you need to submit a design I said no, I'll tell you I've been down that road before.

They've already picked somebody.

They've already picked somebody to do this.

But when his friend asked him to submit a design again, Harvey listened.

I said, well, let me dream on it.

I said, let me dream about it.

that's how he thinks about it.

It truly is to wake up in the morning.

And it's kind of like that in between time, at six in the morning, 6 to 8:00, he's in and out of sleep.

And that's when those ideas hit him.

Whether it's a painting whether it's for the Memorial, Washington DC, or how to solv something that needs to be fixed or in the House.

Hell think think about it dream on it get in the morning, and then he'll jot it down or it's solved in his mind's already.

I thought about i and I thought, how do you reach 574 tribes to make them all great?

You know that they want something they all have ceremonies.

We use the earth to water fire the air.

We use the directions.

You know, we use those things.

We use, sacred colors.

We use, prayer cloths.

I said, oh, we feed the spirits, you know, there's things that we do.

I said, we all do those things all a little bit different, but we all do those things you know, I kind of thought about those things an I made a couple of sketches and, I'm sitting down here, and Gina came down and she said, what are you doing that she looked at looked at my big chief tablet, and it's just pretty.

She said, well, that looks pretty good.

You had to dress that up, clean it up.

Harvey dressed it up.

I drew it all up.

I made the designs put the lances in there and sacred colors and eagle feathers and the drum in the cente and the water running across it.

And we did all those things and, and put a, put a, a four directional opening so that people could come in from, you know, because I know that, different tribes sometimes when I go to a ceremony, they dance clockwise and som tribes dance counterclockwise, and sometimes they only enter from a certain direction.

So I said, well, we'll open up the fou directions so they can choose.

Once they come down the red road.

I call it Red road because that's what our tribe calls the path of life.

The Red road and the red road is is your path of life.

And it winds through life.

And sometimes you get out of kilter and you fall out and Red road pulls you back in and it takes you to harmony.

After Harvey fine tuned his design, he didn't know what to do next.

That's when his son and the community stepped in.

He said you need to get that animated.

I said, oh, I can't afford that.

And, he said skyline ink they put it together, made i look like it was already built.

That's not think I can afford you guys.

He said, don't worry about We'll do it for you.

I thought, okay, this is supposed to happen.

and we contacted the Butzers It was such an honor, to get to play a role on this project.

We knew the Butzers, wh designed the building memorial.

And, so I talked to them and I said, yeah, we're in this with you.

from the beginnin it was we had a great rapport.

to really try to take these ideas that were symbols and, and translate them into something real and hard and usable and out there built in the real world.

that whole path of getting there, being able to point to examples of why they weren't the right ways to do it, give you confidence when you finally land on the right way to do it.

I think he is so resilient.

when you hear Harvey share his story, as a Cheyenne in the heart of America now designing on the National Mall, right.

It's this intentionally designed, very public place.

It's the front porch of America.

if people can't find themselves wanting to be there, wanting to linger, we haven't succeeded.

but yet it is both literally and figuratively at this crossroads, in terms of history and time, you know, in the kind of the transformation of this countr we're all on this path together.

And when you hear Harvey share his story, In a way, he' allowed us to all kind of walk with him.

That's.

413 artists from around the world submitted designs for the Native American War Memorial.

he oversaw every step of the process he was successful in navigating so many different things And I was a, government employee for 31 years.

I'm pretty familiar wit bureaucracy, but I had no idea, could not have imagined what he had to deal with.

in the final product with this, amazing, beautiful monument that, covers all tribes when it was actually completed and we saw the public for the first time going in, they were going in and they were doing what we hope they would do with the memorial.

They were going in.

They were blessing themselves with the water.

They were, going in and they were praying the prayer cloths, they were praying for their loved ones they were praying for their veterans.

And I remember I was just in tears because I had so much anxiety.

I was just like, the is it, is it going to work?

Is it going to do what we want it to do?

And seeing those people go i and do that, it was just like a great sense of relief.

It's doing what we want wanted is this is a sacred place.

It's got to be a sacred place.

This memorial came about in a dream.

As I gathered all my life experiences as a Southern Cheyenne peace chief.

This memorial is about warriors of the past.

Warriors of today.

And warriors of tomorrow.

he found the common ground so that, all of those could be pulled together.

all of that is reflected there in that monument, Indians understand it.

When they come here, they know what to do.

They know to tie the prayer clothes, they know to say prayer.

They know how to feed the spirits.

They don't come in a circle.

If they know to dance.

They know to listen to those song.

They know those things.

if you don't, we'll teach you.

You feel it His heart is in service.

And I think that's what's always driving behind him.

The Cheyenne Arapaho tribe cal the Path of life the Red road.

I think that's where our strength come from, is from our, our culture.

Harvey's Red road seemed destined.

Born with the veil and so proclaimed by family that he would become a chief.

That's exactly what happened.

there's only a baby born with a veil every 500,000 people, and most of them are gifted.

And it was that part of my gift, you know?

You know, I think about that a lot.

Harvey Pratt has been a tribal chief for over 20 years.

A position that require sacrifice and service to others.

if someone comes to me today and ask me something and if I can do it, but I'll do it.

I'll do it.

I won't turn somebody away.

And that's part of my culture.

Harvey followed his path and with his artistic gift, sought to bring peace and healing to all he met along his red road.

that's supposed to happen.

This is supposed to be.

He's literally going to be taking the words of somebody els and turning them into a picture, and we'll see if it's accurate.

He didn't look like he worked out.

How close did you get to him?

Steve?

Harvey Pratt.

good to meet you.

Now, if you think round about his ears, his ears just kind of pretty much close to the head.

I went in to pay, an he got in my car and drove away.

You see his hair?

Like, wrinkles on his face, around his neck.

Not that I saw.

Did he have long hair?

Is he right handed or left handed?

I think he's right handed.

It's kind of short.

Like he goes to a barber.

Did he wear glasses?

Was not wearing glasses.

Body build?

Small.

Medium.

Large.

You saw him get gas?

I didn't I didn't see that.

Wasn't like he was, impaired in some way.

Kind of.

My complexion.

The general size and shape, the eyes.

The distance between the eyes Little bit of hair on the top.

The extreme receding hairline and the beard.

I would say 29.

Some people that only see him for are so not.

There could be a lot of people that look like you.

Here we go.

Matt, at Harvey Pratt Great meet you,Harvey.

Good to see you again, man.

Good to see you, Steve.

Sorry about your car.

Yeah.

You know, I've done 5000 of them.

Yeah, I've done 5000 of them.

Caught a lot of people.

Caugh a lot of caught A lot of people.