On this date in 1876, six-year-old Red Fox was c amped near the Little Bighorn when the 7th Cavalry arrived. Red Fox outlived Custer by nearly 100 years.
He attended the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, gaining skills in writing and public speaking. In 1893, he joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and toured the U.S. and Europe for years. During a 1905 performance in London, he famously “scalped” King Edward VII. After the tours ended in 1910, Red Fox moved to Hollywood, appearing in 107 Western films, mostly silent.
Red Fox also served in the U.S. Navy during the Spanish-American War and the Boxer Rebellion. He later worked as an interpreter for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
In 1932, he moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. Over the next 40 years, he visited schools wearing full regalia to teach children about Plains Indian culture. His stories captivated students. Red Fox hoped to counter stereotypes of Native people seen in movies and on TV.
In 1968, the superintendent of the Wahpeton Indian School saw Red Fox on Fargo television and invited him to speak. Students and staff were moved by his insight and respected his ability to speak of their families and traditions, even without knowing them personally. His goal was to guide Native children toward a strong and positive path in life.
Red Fox had worked with Will Rogers in the Wild West Show and in films. Once, the two joined a circus that toured South America but went broke and were stranded. But worked their way home. Rogers came home on a cattle boat; Red Fox shoveled coal on a freighter.
He knew Teddy Roosevelt from his ranching days and once stayed at the White House for three days during a blizzard.
In 1971, McGraw-Hill published The Memoirs of Chief Red Fox, written on fourteen school tablets. The book became a New York Times bestseller. Red Fox appeared on The Tonight Show, Today Show, David Frost, and Dick Cavett.
Though some questioned his authenticity, many, including University of North Dakota Indian Studies professor Greg Gagnon, saw Red Fox as a powerful and admirable figure. Gagnon wrote, “Red Fox was a fascinating Oglala Lakota whose memoirs reveal the kind of man we all admire and should emulate.”
Red Fox died in Corpus Christi on March 1, 1976, just shy of his 106th birthday.
Dakota Datebook by Lise Erdrich
Sources:
- The Farmer Globe, (Wahpeton, ND) October 25, 1968, Page 19
- William Red Fox. The Memoirs of Chief Red Fox. McGraw Hill, 1971.
- Robert Parks - History columnist for KRIS 6 TV, Corpus Christi, TX. Posted 4:12 PM, Jul 03, 2024
- Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education. Chief Red Fox is Dead: A History of Native Americans Since 1945. Book review by Greg Gagnon. Volume 8, No. 3 - Winter 1997
