Luther Standing Bear

Michelle Raheja (University of California, Riverside)

Ed. by Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.6: Indigenous Writing and Culture of North America - United States.
Vol. editors: Joshua Bartlett (High Point University), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Sarah Henzi (Simon Fraser University), Padraig Kirwan (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Dates

Born Dec 1868
Died 20 Feb 1939
Activity 1928-1937

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Cultural Identities

First Nations/Indigenous US-American

Activities

Primary

Autobiographer
Revolutionary, Activist
Story-writer
Theatre actor

Resources

Standing Bear's Works

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Luther Standing Bear is a remarkable figure in Native American literature, film, history, and politics. He was born ca. 1868 in what is now known as South Dakota to an Oglala Lakota family. His family named him

Ota K'Te

(Plenty Kill), but he later took his father's first name as his surname. Raised in a traditional manner, Standing Bear learned how to hunt buffalo with his father until, at the age of eleven, he was sent to Carlisle Indian Industrial School, a federal boarding school for Native American children in Pennsylvania, and became a member of the school's first graduating class.

The trip from his home on the Plains to Pennsylvania was a long and arduous one that exposed him to non-Indians for the first time, but Standing Bear did not view his transition from a stable, traditional

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1114 words

Citation: Raheja, Michelle. "Luther Standing Bear". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 October 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4189, accessed 24 November 2024.]