Standing Bear, Luther, 1868?-1939

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Luther Standing Bear (Óta Kté or "Plenty Kill," also known as Matȟó Nážiŋ or "Standing Bear") was a Sičháŋǧu Lakota activist, actor, author, and educator, and Oglála Lakota Chief. Standing Bear was born in December 1868 on the Spotted Tail Agency, Rosebud, Dakota Territory, and raised in the Sioux tradition. His father, George Standing Bear, was a hereditary Lakota Chief, a title Standing Bear briefly assumed in 1905. In 1879 Standing Bear was one of the first students enrolled at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, where he chose the forename Luther. Notwithstanding the harm to Indigenous children caused by forced assimilation in government-run boarding schools, Standing Bear served as an interpreter and recruited students from the Pine Ridge Reservation on behalf of Carlisle school founder Richard Henry Pratt.

Standing Bear was discharged from the Carlisle school in 1885, and he subsequently worked at several day schools on the Rosebud and Pine Ridge Reservations. In 1902 he joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and toured in Britain for a year. Standing Bear then pursued a career in acting, and between 1916 and 1935, he was in thirteen movies and became a member of the Screen Actors Guild. In 1926, along with other Indigenous actors in Hollywood, he created the "War Paint Club." Ten years later, Standing Bear joined Jim Thorpe in creating the Indian Actors Association to protect rights and characters of Native American actors from defamation or ridicule.

In addition to acting, Standing Bear also published a number of books aimed at educating the public about Native American culture and the federal government’s mistreatment of Indigenous people, including "My People the Sioux" (1928), "My Indian Boyhood" (1931), "Land of the Spotted Eagle" (1933), "What the Indian Means to America" (1933), and "Stories of the Sioux" (1934).

Luther Standing Bear died of the flu on February 20, 1939 while on the set of the film "Union Pacific" in Huntington Park, California.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf John N. Choate photographs of Carlisle Indian School National Anthropological Archives
creatorOf McWhorter, Lucullus Virgil, 1860-1944. Papers, 1848-1945. Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC)
creatorOf Houghton Mifflin Company contracts, 1831-1979 (inclusive) 1880-1940 (bulk). Houghton Library
creatorOf Pratt, Richard Henry. Richard Henry Pratt papers. 1862-1972. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn Student Records, 1879–1918 National Archives at Washington, D.C
creatorOf Poets Garden records, 1876-1971 USC Libraries Special Collections
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Buffalo Bill's Wild West Company corporateBody
alumnusOrAlumnaOf Carlisle Indian Industrial School (Carlisle, Pa.) corporateBody
associatedWith Houghton Mifflin Company. corporateBody
correspondedWith Le Prade, Ruth person
associatedWith Le Prade, Ruth. person
correspondedWith Pratt, Richard Henry, 1840-1924 person
sibling of Standing Bear, Henry. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Rosebud Indian Reservation SD US
Huntington Park CA US
Pine Ridge Reservation SD US
Subject
Indian activists
Indian authors
Brule Indians
Indian educators
Indian motion picture actors and actresses
Occupation
Actor
Activist
Author
Educator
Activity

Person

Birth 1868-12

Death 1939-02-20

Americans

English

Information

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SNAC ID: 18120262