Chief Red Fox (

Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language Lakota ( ), also referred to as Lakhota, Teton or Teton Sioux, is a Siouan languages, Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of ...

: ''Tokála Luta'', also known as Chief William Red Fox; June 11, 1870 – March 1, 1976)"Red Fox, 105, Dies; Wrote On Sioux"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. March 2, 1976. was an

Oglala Lakota The Oglala (pronounced , meaning 'to scatter one's own' in Lakota language, Lakota) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota people, Dakota, make up the Sioux, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A ...

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...

performer, actor, and Sioux Indian rights advocate, born on the

Pine Ridge Reservation The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (), also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota, with a small portion extending into Nebraska. Originally included within the territory of the ...

in the

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of ...

. He was a nephew of famed Sioux war leader,

Crazy Horse Crazy Horse ( , ; – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota people, Lakota war leader of the Oglala band. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by White Americans, White American settlers on Nativ ...

. Chief William Red Fox was considered an authority on the historic Little Bighorn massacre. He often recalled the day in 1876 when 4000 of his people left the Dakota Territory for the valley of the Little Bighorn in Montana on a buffalo hunt. He says he was left behind with the women children and old men 10 miles from where Gen. George Custer's detachment was massacred.

Participation in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show

In 1893, Colonel William Frederick Cody, better known as

Buffalo Bill William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), better known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. One of the most famous figures of the American Old West, Cody started his legend at the young age ...

, visited Pine Ridge Reservation to recruit Native Americans as performers in his

Wild West show Wild West shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe that existed around 1870–1920. The shows began as theatrical stage productions and evolved into open-air shows that depicted romanticized stereotypes of co ...

. He met Chief Red Fox and asked him to join the troupe of performers who were about to make an appearance at the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...

, also known as the Chicago World's Fair. Chief Red Fox was asked to serve as a translator and "have charge" of the Native Americans who were in the troupe. Red Fox agreed and worked for Buffalo Bill for many years, not just translating, but also acting in the show. In 1905, Chief Red Fox "

scalped Scalping is the act of cutting or tearing a part of the human scalp, with hair attached, from the head, and generally occurred in warfare with the scalp being a trophy. Scalp-taking is considered part of the broader cultural practice of the taki ...

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

in a stagecoach robbery scene in a

performance in London.Fox, Chief William Red (1971). ''The Memoirs of Chief Red Fox''. McGraw Hill Book Company. .

U.S. Navy

Chief William Red fox served in the U.S. Navy during the Spanish American War and Boxer Rebellion.

In popular culture

Chief Red Fox appeared in many early silent westerns shown in

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

movie theaters, most notably '' The Round Up''. Chief Red Fox appeared in: * ''War on the Plains'' * ''When the Heart Calls'' * ''Daughters of the Tribe'' * ''Toll of the Warpath'' * ''Red Fox and Wild Flower'' * ''Perils of the Plains'' * ''Medicine Boy'' * ''The Covered Wagon'' * ''The Vanishing American'' * ''Desert Gold'' * ''The Wild Horse Massacre'' * ''The Flaming Arrow'' * ''The Law of Crippled Creek'' * '' The Round Up''

References

1870 births 1976 deaths Oglala male actors 20th-century American male actors Oglala activists {{NorthAm-native-bio-stub