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Nipo T. Strongheart (born May 15, 1891, in White Swan, Washington; died December 31, 1966, in Hollywood, California) was a Yakama Nation Native American lecturer and performer and a technical advisor to Hollywood film producers. Throughout his life, which spanned several careers, he was an advocate for Native American issues. He spoke on religious issues several times and late in life became a member of the Bahá'í Faith. Strongheart's mother, Chi-Nach-Lut Schu-Wah-Elks, was a member of the Yakama Nation. He was exposed to native culture through performing with his father in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and its successors; according to some sources Strongheart spent most of his childhood with his white father away from the reservation and Indian culture; other sources say he was adopted by a Yakima woman, and brought up and educated on the reservation. Strongheart's public performances began in 1917 when he worked for the YMCA War Work Council. He toured military camps across New England, where he gave presentations on Native American culture and spoke seriously about military service. His talks encouraged hundreds of men to volunteer for war service. After World War I and his job ended, Strongheart moved briefly to the Yakama Indian Reservation but left again and had a successful career in the Lyceum and Chautauqua circuits of fairs, where he gave presentations on Native American culture and often spoke against the reservation lifestyle enforced by government policy. He played an important role in the development of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 signed by President Calvin Coolidge, which he thought would help end reservations and empower Indian culture. In his early youth, Strongheart had already had experience with the fledgling film industry and began to focus his career in that field as the audiences of Lyceum and Chautauqua events dwindled. He was involved in a number of projects in silent film (especially ''Braveheart'') and the developing talkies (especially ''Pony Soldier''). He also helped develop or found a number of organizations centering on Native Americans, including the Los Angeles Indian Center and the still-existing National Congress of American Indians. Through Strongheart's involvement in film production he was able to counter stereotypes about Native Americans; he often translated movie scripts into the language of the Native American peoples portrayed, and also dealt with wardrobe and props. When Strongheart died, his will included provision for seed money and materials to allow the Yakama Nation to build a library and museum, which became the Yakama Cultural Center. The Yakama Nation established a permanent exhibition about Strongheart in 2014. Scholars began to mention him in 1997 when discussing the military service of Native Americans, and in 2006 when discussing the problems of Native Americans in the Hollywood film industry. ==Biography== According to two biographic summaries, Strongheart's mother was a Yakima named Chi-Nach-Lut Schu-Wah-Elks.〔The tribe has recognized various spellings at various times – see 〕 Strongheart gave the names of his parents as George and Lenora (Williams) Mitchell. According to these biographies, his father was not an Indian and his mother died while he was young. Another biography says he was raised or adopted by one of his mother's relatives for several years and attended the reservation boarding school at Fort Simcoe. These biographies – and others – agree that Strongheart and his father were employed as bareback trick riders for the Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and Pawnee Bill traveling shows. The families, including women and children, were employed by these shows. They often lived in encampments similar to the traditional Indian camps, allowing their culture to be maintained at a time when it was being suppressed elsewhere. One biography states that he acquired the name "Nipo" (short for "Nee-Ha-Pouw") through the show after he fainted and then regained consciousness as though he had risen from the dead. The name is interpreted as "he lives!" or the imperative "live!" He added "Nipo" to his Yakama name, Chtu-Tum-Nah, which he translated as "Strongheart". Another biography states that the name "Nipo" was given to Strongheart in his infancy by his adoptive mother.〔 Strongheart's mainstream name before adulthood was George Mitchell Jr.〔 At some point his official status as a member of the Yakama Nation ended. At a performance in 1927 he said that when his military service ended he had the choice of returning to the reservation or losing his tribal rights. It is reported that he did return but did not remain at the reservation. He began to document his relationship with the Yakama Nation in the 1930s;〔 he was honorarily〔 adopted by a Yakama family〔 during the administration of the 1946 Yakima Enrollment Act〔 after having helped the Tomaskin family.〔 Leonard Tomaskin would have been 22 yrs old in 1946; 22 years later he was elected chairman of the General Council of the Yakama Nation, serving from 1968 to 1983. Strongheart's 1954 article dates his involvement in what he called "historical ethnological studies"〔 to around 1905, perhaps between seasons of the Wild Bill show, while he was attending Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, where he would have been among members of many different Indian nations. His 1954 article states that while there he participated in a Lubin film company production of the silent film ''The White Chief''.〔〔For more on the movie see 〕 Because he spoke enough English and a smattering of other Indian languages to act as a translator, he played a crucial role liaising between the non-Indian production staff and the Indian children they wanted in the movie.〔 There are reports of him being in Oklahoma in 1910, and being in the 5th Cavalry Regiment during the period of the Border War (1910–19) with Mexico.〔 Then, in 1910–12,〔 he again worked in the Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and Pawnee Bill traveling shows as bareback trick rider.〔 Later newspaper coverage also refers to 1914 for military service in the West possibly in the 16th Infantry Regiment. Strongheart was reportedly wounded and his service ended.〔 According to Strongheart's 1954 article, in 1915 he advised David Belasco on the true story used in the production of the silent film ''Heart of Wetona'' (1919), played the part of Nipo the Medicine Man, and appeared on stage between acts to tell the audience a portion of the true story.〔 There is a reference to an Indian actor named Strongheart in a newspaper from Indiana in May 1916 in connection with a silent movie variously named ''Indiana'', ''Historic Indiana'', or ''The Birth of Indiana'' that was released in the middle of that year. In 1916 he joined the Society of American Indians,a progressive group composed mostly of Native Americans, established to improve their health, education, civil rights, and local government, and address the problems they faced.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nipo T. Strongheart」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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