Luther Standing Bear

Luther Standing Bear (Óta Kté or "Plenty Kill," also known as Matȟó Nážiŋ or "Standing Bear", 1868 - 1939) was a Sicangu Lakota author, educator, philosopher, and actor. He worked to preserve Lakota culture and sovereignty, and was at the forefront of a Progressive movement to change government policy toward Native Americans.

"I left reservation life and my native people, the Oglala Sioux, because I was no longer willing to endure existence under the control of an overseer. For about the same number of years I had tried to live a peaceful and happy life; tried to adapt myself and make re-adjustments to fit the white man's mode of existence. But I was unsuccessful. I developed into a chronic disturber. I was a bad Indian, and the agent and I never got along. I remained a hostile, even a savage, if you please. And I still am. I am incurable." — Luther Standing Bear

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Tribal origins - note

Standing Bear (aka Chief Standing Bear, aka George Standing Bear) was born in 1830 as Sicangu Lakota, and later moved to Pine Ridge among the Oglala Lakota, which is why his son Plenty Kill (aka Luther Standing Bear) has been identified more often as being Oglala Lakota.

Source: https://amertribes.proboards.com/post/22600/thread

Brief Biography

From < FindAGrave Memorial # 7932 > (accessed 27 August 2023)

Author. Actor. Born Ota Kte, son of Standing Bear, an hereditary chief of the Lakota. Until the age of about ten, he lived a traditional life on the plains. At about age eleven in 1879, his father enrolled him in the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Once there, he was compelled to choose a name from a list on the wall. He randomly pointed at the symbols on a wall and named himself Luther. His father's name became his surname. In 1884, following his final term at Carlisle, Standing Bear moved home to the Rosebud Reservation where he was hired as an assistant at the reservation's school. In 1891 took charge of a reservation day school at Allen, South Dakota in the neighboring Pine Ridge Reservation. In 1902 he joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show and toured in Britain for a year. His 1903 season, however, was cut short by a train accident that killed several of the troupe, Standing Bear was himself badly injured. In 1905 he inherited his father's chieftanship. By 1912 he had moved to California, where he worked for Tom Ince Studios and made his screen debut in ‘Ramona' in 1916. He appeared in a dozen films including ‘The Santa Fe Trail' in 1930, ‘Texas Pioneers' in 1932, ‘Circle of Death' and ‘Cyclone of the Saddle' in 1935. He was elected president of the Indian Actors' Association. He is probably better remembered, however, for four books he wrote about the Sioux; ‘My People, the Sioux' published in 1928, ‘My Indian Boyhood' in 1931, ‘Land of the Spotted Eagle' in 1933, and ‘Stories of the Sioux' in 1934. He was a member of the League for Justice to the American Indian and toured on the lecture circuit as an advocate for Indian rights. He died in Huntington, California, during the filming of the movie ‘Union Pacific.'

Bio by: Iola

From < IMDb > (accessed 27 August 2023)

Luther Standing Bear, born Plenty Kill, was a Oglala Lakota Native American writer and actor, and on of the first students of the controversial Carlisle Indian Industrial School, in Pennsylvania. He began his entertainment career as an interpreter, dancer, and horseback rider with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, which traveled the country at the turn of the century. From 1910 to the 1930s he starred in several western films. He is the author of My People the Sioux (1928), Land of the Spotted Eagle (1933), and Stories of the Sioux (1934).

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Marc Wanamaker, Bison Archives

Family

• Father: Chief George 'Mato Najin' Standing Bear (1841-1898)
• Mother: Pretty Face (their first son)
• Spouses: 1) Nellie DeCrory in 1886; 7 children 2) Laura Cloud Shield-Levering around 1899; 3 children 3) Mary Splicer by 1911
• lived with May Jones Montoya/Sunflower (Mrs. May Jones), adopted niece. May ‘Sunflower’ Jones

Children listed at < FamilySearch > (accessed 27 August 2023)

• Lillian Standing Bear
• Arthur Standing Bear
• Paul Francis Standing Bear
• Emily Louise Standing Bear
• Julia Standing Bear
• Joseph Standing Bear
• Annabell Standing Bear
• Anna Standingbear Trudell (born Tackett)
• Alexandra Birmingham Cody Standing Bear

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Notes

Tribe

Source: Hyde, George E. “Spotted Tail's Folk: A History of the Brule Sioux.” (1976) Page 288. < GoogleBooks >

At the Carlisle School

Source: Carlisle Indian Industrial School, internships. Accessed at < Wikipedia >, 29 August 2023.

Luther Comments on Portrayal of Indians in Movies

Source: Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, Wisconsin · Friday, May 18, 1928. < newspapers.com >

Chief Standing Bear (possibly Luther Standing Bear) full-length portrait, standing, facing slightly left, holding bow and arrows Abstract/medium: 1 photographic print.

This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer.
Catalog: https://lccn.loc.gov/95510244
Image download: https://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3c10000/3c14000/3c14500/3c14580...
Original url: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95510244/

References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Standing_Bear
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7932/luther-standing_bear
• Luther Standing Bear. “My People the Sioux.” (1928). University of Nebraska Press reprint, 2006. < GoogleBooks > Page 269. “I am Made Chief.”
• "South Dakota, Church Records, 1875-1993", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGVW-FCSN : Fri Aug 18 14:01:19 UTC 2023), Entry for Luther Arcon Standing Bear (age 25) and Nellie Decorey (age 15) 6 Oct 1886. Spouse's Father's Name Peter Decorey Mother's Name Mary Decorey Father's Name George Arcon Standing Bear Mother's Name Cetaneoim
• "United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MST6-72T : Thu Aug 03 02:30:22 UTC 2023), Entry for Lutha Standing Bear and Nellie Standing Bear, 1900. Household: Lutha Standing Bear, age 33. Married 14 years. Wife: Nellie Standing Bear, age 28. Son: Raul F., age 10. Daughter: Lillie, age 14. Son: Arthur, age 12. Daughter: Emily, age 8. Daughter: Julia, age 6. Son: Joseph, age. 3. Daughter: Annie, age 1. All children born in South Dakota.
• https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:LHRH-1XX
• https://www.fadedpage.com/csearch.php?author=Standing%20Bear%2C%20L...
• https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0822052/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
• https://aktalakota.stjo.org/artists-authors/luther-standing-bear/
• https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/zz002db8c3
• https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=3&psid=717
• Hale, Frederick. “Acceptance and Rejection of Assimilation in the Works of Luther Standing Bear.” Studies in American Indian Literatures, vol. 5, no. 4, 1993, pp. 25–41. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20736764. Accessed 27 Aug. 2023.
• Luther Standing Bear, Dakota chief, -1939. , ca. 1891. July 21. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2004680439/. No known restrictions on publication.
• Sprague, Donovan Arleigh. (2005). Rosebud Sioux. Page 40. < GoogleBooks >
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Horse_Memorial History of the monument. Henry Standing Bear ("Mato Naji"), an Oglala Lakota chief, and well-known statesman and elder in the Native American community, recruited and commissioned Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski to build the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota. In October 1931, Luther Standing Bear, Henry's older brother, wrote to sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who was carving the heads of four American presidents at Mount Rushmore. Luther suggested that it would be "most fitting to have the face of Crazy Horse sculpted there. Crazy Horse is the real patriot of the Sioux tribe and the only one worthy to place by the side of Washington and Lincoln." … On November 7, 1939, Henry Standing Bear wrote to the Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, who worked on Mount Rushmore under Gutzon Borglum. He informed the sculptor, "My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know that the red man has great heroes, too."[11]
• Luther Standing Bear’s father was George Standing Bear who was a Brulé Lakota chief and his mother was Pretty Face. He had one brother whose name was Ellis Stadning Bear. As Luther Standing Bear got older he got a wife who was white and her name is Nellie Decrory and he had 7 children with her. The childrens names were Julia Standing Bear, Lily Standing Bear, Emily Standing Bear, Alexandra Birmingham Cody Standing Bear, Paul Francis Standing Bear, Arthur Standing Bear, and Ellis Standing Bear. Later in his life he got a new wife who was native and her name was Laura Cloud Shield and they had one boy together, his name was Eugene Standing Bear. Sources:https://www.indigenouspeople.net/standbea.htm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Standing_Bear (Nellie DeCory was Oglala Lakota through her mother)
• Hyde, George E. “Spotted Tail's Folk: A History of the Brule Sioux.” (1976) < GoogleBooks >
• American-Tribes.com. “Standing Bear Family” (Sep 6, 2012). https://amertribes.proboards.com/post/23766
• The William F. Cody Archive: Documenting the life and times of Buffalo Bill < search term Standing Bear >
• Crazy Horse Memorial Organization < Facebook > page for May Sunflower (Montoya) Jones (1884-1973).
• https://amertribes.proboards.com/thread/1593/standing-bear-family
• “Luther Standing Bear (Kills Plenty) Student File” (Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center). Student file of Luther Standing Bear, a member of the Sioux Nation, who entered the school on October 6, 1879 and departed on July 6, 1885. The file contains a student information card, former student response postcards, news clippings, correspondence, a returned student survey, and a report after leaving indicating he was working as a clerk in a store in Sioux City, Iowa in 1913. In school documentation Luther Standing Bear is also known as Kills Plenty, Ota Kte, and Sun-ka-wa-kan-otah. < PDF >
• “Standing Bear Relatives at Carlisle Indian School” 1911 married to Mary Splicer, renting house owns land at Pine Ridge, asst' teacher 7 years and clerk in Ind office 1 1/2 yrs, travelled briefly with Indian show. < link >
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlisle_Indian_Industrial_School retrieved 29 August 2023. “ Back on the reservation. One student, Luther Standing Bear got a mixed reception at home on the reservation. Some were proud of his achievements while others did not like that he had "become a white man."[126] He was happy to be home, and some of his relatives said that he "looked like a white boy dressed in eastern clothes." Luther was proud to be compared to a white boy, but some would not shake his hand. Some returning Carlisle students had become ashamed of their culture, while some tried to pretend that they did not speak Lakota. The difficulties of returning Carlisle I.I.S. students disturbed white educators. Returning Carlisle students found themselves between two cultures, not accepted by either. Some rejected their educational experiences and "returned to the blanket," casting off "white ways"; others found it more convenient and satisfying to remain in white society. Most adjusted to both worlds.[127].”
• Peter L. Bayers. “From Father to Son: Affirming Lakota Manhood in Luther Standing Bear’s My People the Sioux.” Studies in American Indian Literatures, vol. 26, no. 4, 2014, pp. 19–38. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.5250/studamerindilite.26.4.0019. Accessed 30 Aug. 2023.
• Zahller, Alisa. “Between Two Worlds: The Life and Art of Eugene Standingbear.” Colorado Heritage, September / October 2014. Pgs 16-23. < PDF > “In 1884, Luther left Carlisle and returned home to South Dakota, where he took a job as an assistant at the Rosebud Agency reservation school. He married Nellie DeCory, the daughter of a Canadian businessman and a Sioux mother. They had six children. In 1890, Luther moved with his family (including his father and brothers) to Pine Ridge, South Dakota; Luther’s father decided to take his U.S. government land allotment at Pine Ridge. A year later, Luther was principal of the reservation school. He also worked as a minister, rancher, and clerk in his uncle’s dry goods store, where he established a post office—although as an Indian, he couldn’t serve as postmaster. Luther took care of the daily business and organized public meetings at the store for discussions of treaties and current events. Around 1901, Luther married his second wife, Laura Cloud Shield, a fellow Carlisle student. A short time later, their first child, Luther Jr., was born. … In 1907, after becoming an American citizen, Luther decided to leave his family. Citizenship meant freedom to leave the reservation but only for Luther, not his family. Certainly a difficult decision, it was not a unique one. In the end, Luther found that he could serve his people better by moving off the reservation. …”
• The Chicago tribune and the Daily news, New Yor. Publisher : [s.n.] (Paris) Publication date : 1920-06-10. Page 4. “ LITTLE SNAPPING TURTLE SNAPS. Famous Ogalalla Sioux Chief Files Divorce Suit, Charging With Great Mental and Bodily Cruelty. < link > .
• Vigil, K. (2015). Luther Standing Bear: Staging U.S. Indian History with Reel Indians. In Indigenous Intellectuals: Sovereignty, Citizenship, and the American Imagination, 1880–1930 (Studies in North American Indian History, pp. 234-302). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781107709386.005
• John Koster (8/30/2023) Luther Standing Bear Went From Pine Ridge to Carlisle to Hollywood. HistoryNet Retrieved from https://www.historynet.com/luther-standing-bear-went-pine-ridge-car....
• Gretchen Eick, Friends University. Dakota/Lakota Progressive Writers: Charles Eastman, Standing Bear, and Zitkala Sa. < PDF >
• Chief Standing Bear in the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 < AncestrySharing > Name Chief Standing Bear Gender Male Birth Date 1 Dec 1860 Birth Place Black Hill, South Dakota Father Geo Standing Bea Mother Pretty Face Notes May 1938: Name listed as CHIEF STANDING BEAR
• Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, February 22, 1939, Page 9. via Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-citizen-news... : accessed August 30, 2023), clip page by user alicerob_2000
• < AncestryTree >
• Rapid City Journal, May 26, 1974, Page 3. via Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/rapid-city-journal/73862974/ : accessed August 30, 2023) “ … When Luther Standing Bear died, his collection went to a woman he called his adopted niece, a Pueblo Indian named Sun Flower. Ziolkowski met Sun Flower in California two years ago. Before she died last December at the age of 89, she left instructions that the Standing Bear collection was to be donated to the Crazy Horse Memorial Museum. The gift is especially significant, Ziolkowski believes, because it was Luther Standing Bear's brother, Henry, who asked him to build a memorial to Crazy Horse. The collection is comprised of artifacts from most of the major Indian nations on the continent, including the Sioux, Iroquois, Navaho, Pueblo, Crow, Commanche and others. Varying greatly in age and worth, there are peace pipes, moccasins, tobacco pouches, dance costumes, toys, pottery, baskets, bows, arrows, arrowheads, blankets, tools, Jewelry, rugs, drums and decorations. There are dolls made of comhusks. There are examples of the artistic use of beads and porcupine quills. There are wicker discs believed to be the forerunner of the frisbee. …”
• Rapid City Journal, August 5, 1988, Page 4. via Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/rapid-city-journal-standing-bear... : accessed August 30, 2023), clip page for Standing Bear, formerly known as Arconge