Nipo Strongheart

[Nadja Adolf]

A while back someone mentioned the movie, Across the Wide Missouri, where
the Blackfeet and the Nez Perce were speaking Chinook Jargon.

I got the film and saw that the advisor on Indians was Nipo T. Strongheart,
so I went and did a web search on him.

Here is what I found. I am a bit confused because I was under the impression
that the Yakama rarely speak Chinook Jargon.

Here from the Yakama Nation web site:

NIPO T. STRONGHEART CHRONOLOGY
George Mitchell, Jr.
Yakama Nation Museum


May 15, 1891 - Nipo Tach Strongheart was born on the Yakama Reservation in
White Swan, WA to George and Lenora (Williams) Mitchell. His paternal
grandfather was Robert Mitchell, a Canadian factor for the Hudson Bay
Company. His maternal grandfather, according to history of Hollywood
published in 1937, was Chief Owhi who signed the Yakama Treaty of 1855. With
this prestige lineage, the young Mitchell was one quarter in Yakama blood.
1902 - Strongheart joined, with his father, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show as
a trick and fancy horseback rider. Later, he joined Major Lillie's Pawnee
Bill Shows, traveling throughout the world.

1912 - At 14, he appeared in his first motion picture.

1937 - The actor's biography appeared in "History of Hollywood", where he is
listed as Hollywood's "Foremost Authority of American History and
Ethnology." The history stated that his mother was the daughter of the great
Yakama chieftain, Ta Che Num.

Nipo Strongheart traveled as a lecturer on the Chautauqua and Lyceum
circuits, speaking on Indian life. Material for his lectures was drawn from
his early life on the Yakama Reservation and from his growing collection of
books, documents, manuscripts, costumes and artifacts. Film credits
included, "Broken Lance", "Ten Who Dared", "Westward The Women" and "Across
the Wide Missouri." In later years, after he retired from acting, he served
as technical advisor to many of the Hollywood studios.

July 4, 1950 - Over the years, the actor returned to the Reservation
annually to attend the General Council meetings and celebrations. Although
there was no written proof of his tribal membership, the tribe granted him
honorary membership. A duplicated copy of the membership card he proudly
carried and displayed is in the tribal enrollment office. It is dated July
4, 1950.

December 30, 1966 - Nipo Strongheart died in Canoga Park, California, where
he lived in a home for retired actors. He is buried at the Satus Point
Cemetery on the Yakama Reservation near his foster mother, Kate Williams.
His valuable collection of over 10,000 volumes of books and artifacts,
valued in 1966 at over $200,000, was left in his will to the Yakama Indian
Nation for 'proper display and proper utilization by the people.'

April 1970 - The Strongheart collection arrived in Toppenish, WA, in two
vans full of trunks. Some of the trunks had been in storage over 30 years.
Friends recall that Strongheart nearly lost the valuable collection when
hard times in the 1930's made it difficult for him to pay storage fees on
the collection.

June 6, 1980 - Doors open on the Yakama Nation Cultural Heritage Center,
fulfilling Nipo Strongheart's dream.



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