This image is the cover for the book My People the Sioux

My People the Sioux

The classic memoir of the Sioux Nation by the early–twentieth century Indian rights activist and son of a Lakota chief.

When it was originally published in 1928, Luther Standing Bear’s autobiographical account of his tribe and tribesmen was hailed by Van Wyck Brooks as “one of the most engaging and veracious we have ever had.” It remains a landmark in Native American literature, among the first books about Native Americans written by a Native American.

Born in the 1860s, the son of a Lakota chief, Standing Bear was in the first class at Carlisle Indian School, witnessed the Ghost Dance uprising from the Pine Ridge Reservation, toured Europe with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, and devoted his later years to the Native American rights movement of the 1920s and 1930s.

Luther Standing Bear

Luther Standing Bear was a Sicangu and Oglala 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. Standing Bear was one of the Lakota leaders of his generation who was born and raised in the oral traditions of his culture, but educated in white culture. He went on to write historical accounts in English about his people and their history. Standing Bear’s writings about his early life, years at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Wild Westing with Buffalo Bill, and life on the reservations presented a Native American viewpoint during the Progressive Era in American history. His commentary on Native American culture educated the American people, deepened public awareness, and created popular support to change government policies toward Native American groups. Standing Bear helped create the popular twentieth-century image that Native American culture is traditionally holistic and deeply respectful of nature. His works have become part of college syllabi in anthropology, literature, history, and philosophy, and constitute a legacy and treasury of Native American thought.

Open Road Media