Standing Bear, Luther

Memories of My Life, Told by Chief Standing Bear. II [caption title]

[Los Angeles? ca. 1927]. [343] leaves, typed on rectos only. Typescript. Some light toning and wear, occasional rust from removed paperclips. Signed by the author on the Preface leaf. Preface and several other leaves typed on letterhead of the American Indian Progressive Association, Chief Standing Bear President. With a manuscript note regarding provenance. Very good. Item #6426

The original, unexpurgated typescript of Chief Standing Bear's seminal work on Native American rights, My People the Sioux, signed by him on the preface. Luther Standing Bear (1868-1939) was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation with a traditional Lakota upbringing. This changed when, at the age of eleven, he was sent to the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, eventually becoming part of its first graduating class. He returned to Pine Ridge after graduation and subsequently toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Returning from performing, he became chief among his people. Because of his fame with the Wild West Show, however, he was recruited as an actor by Hollywood, and he moved to California to act in numerous films and write books about his life and culture. Standing Bear advocated for indigenous self-determination; preservation of Lakota religion, language, and cultural traditions; and cultural dignity in public representation. His writing contributed to the broader intellectual and political climate that culminated in the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. Later, through his work in Hollywood and co-founding of the Indian Actors Association, he continued his efforts to combat stereotypes and assert indigenous agency.

The present typescript is Standing Bear's first book, My People the Sioux, published in 1928. In it he recounts Lakota life before and after confinement on reservations, the trauma of Indian boarding schools, intertribal conflicts, treaty violations, and the philosophical foundations of Lakota sovereignty and spirituality. His memoirs specifically highlight his time at Carlisle, the Ghost Dance period, and his time with the Wild West Show. This typescript preserves Standing Bear's full, unfiltered narrative voice prior to editorial compression. In the signed preface, Standing Bear writes, "In writing this book, it has not been with the idea of self glory. It is just to bring my people before the eyes of the general public. They have been written about many times, but it has always been either by a white man or an Indian mixed blood who has spent most of his or her life away from the reservation. They do not know the struggles of the Indians because they have not lived them. If the white man has tried to write stories about us it is either a blood-curdling thriller, or if he has sympathy with the Indian he has written to the best of his knowledge of our troubles. But there is no one who is able to understand the Indian people like an Indian."

The typescript is accompanied by a manuscript note written by collector and Western historian E.A. Brininstool. Brininstool published extensively on Buffalo Bill and other Western figures and maintained close working relationships with Native leaders whose firsthand narratives he helped preserve. He served as literary associate and facilitator in bringing Standing Bear's work to publication: "This package contains the original manuscript of Chief Standing Bear just as written by himself, containing approximately 116,000 words. In the book brought out by Houghton Mifflin Co. in March 1928, about 100,000 words only were used. Much valuable material was cut out by the publishers which is to be found in this, the original manuscript." The present object, therefore, constitutes a primary source for scholars of Native American studies, federal Indian policy, cultural preservation, and Progressive Era reform. Important and unique.

Price: $87,500.00