BRULE’ LAKOTA EDUCATOR/ACTIVIST CANOWICAKTE (CHAUNCEY YELLOW ROBE) DIED
Born in Montana Territory around 1867, his name meant “Kills in the Woods.” In 1883, Chauncey entered Carlisle Indian School. While there, he was interpreter at a Federal inquiry into treatment of Indians in Buffalo Bill’s show and, in 1893, represented Indians at the Congress of Nations at Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition. From 1895 to 1928, he taught in the Bureau of Indian Affairs school system—the last 23 as teacher and basketball coach at the Rapid City Indian School. In 1911, Chauncey helped found the Society of American Indians (SAI)–the first pan-Indian rights organization. In August 1927, he presided when President Calvin Coolidge was adopted as an honorary Sioux tribe member. Chauncey initially refused a roll as an Indian chief in the film The Silent Enemy–the first all-Indian movie. However, his daughter convinced him to appear. It was deemed one of the greatest Indian pictures ever produced. Sadly, Yellow Robe died of pneumonia in New York City a month before the movie opened.
Source: “Chauncy Yellow Robe,” PeoplePill. Retrieved 1/25/2020, https://peoplepill.com/people/chauncey-yellow-robe/ Photo: John H. Andrews, 1890-1899. Public Domain.
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