HE WAS THE LEADER AMONG NATIVE PEOPLE IN HOLLYWOOD. HE HAD THE BIGGEST NAME, THE MOST CONNECTIONS, AND WHEN HE WASN’T LOBBYING WITH MOVIE MOGULS, HE USED HIS FAME TO GIVE SPEECHES ACROSS THE COUNTRY TO TRIBAL, GOVERNMENT AND CIVIC LEADERS, AND SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES ON BEHALF OF INDIAN ADVOCACY OR SIMPLY TO EDUCATE PEOPLE ON NATIVE ISSUES.


Thorpe with Bing Crosby.


recruited Indians from across the nation for movie work. His experience as co-founder and first president of the National Football League in 1920 prepared him for his success- ful attempt to organize and launch the Indian Center. After many brainstorming sessions with Blanchard, the two submitted a grant proposal to the Bureau of Indian Affairs that was accepted. “So they had the Indian Center,” said Pau-


lette Blanchard (Absentee Shawnee), Cecelia’s great-granddaughter, in a recent interview with American Indian magazine, “and Native peoples from all over the United States and Alaska streamed into their ‘home away from home.’ Jim and my great-grandmother were the ‘Welcome Wagon.’” Thorpe’s son, Richard, now 81 and living


in Waurika, Okla., and Paulette, currently a graduate student at the University of Okla- homa’s College of Atmospheric and Geo- graphic Sciences, readily say that the rescue at the Indian Center was repeated countless times. They recalled this lesser-known period of Thorpe’s life in an exclusive interview with American Indian late last year. “In those days,” Richard Thorpe recalled,


“Dad was always helping others financially or by finding them work in the movies. He never uttered a bad word about anyone. He was a very warm person. Many times he would take me with him, and I got to see the look of com- passion on my father’s face and the looks of gratitude and the tears of thanksgiving on the faces of the people he helped...especially the children. I was very proud of him and loved him very much! Plus, he let me ride in the rumble seat of his Model A.” Paulette Blanchard recounted the support


Thorpe offered to her great-grandparents Cecelia and Lee. “They left their little town in Oklahoma with the Depression in full swing. He helped them get on their feet and get jobs in the movies. They adored and admired Jim


for his selflessness, his tenacity, his drive to help others find work, his resolve to make lives better in Indian country and to enable tribal communities to determine their own destiny in whatever way he could.” Thorpe’s new career included not only


earning a living for his family, but also assist- ing others. When he wasn’t on location for a movie shoot, many Fridays would find him with Cecelia, and her husband Lee, poring over the lists of Indians seeking employment and matching them with upcoming casting calls and auditions. (The Blanchards, in addi- tion to their acting skills, quickly established a reputation as the top authentic Indian cos- tume designers in town). The following morning would invariably find the indefatigable Thorpe, along with a number of his buddies, hunting rabbits and birds for a feast that evening. In Paulette’s words, “The families would gather on Satur- day nights on the outskirts of town – Natives were not welcomed in the city – and have a potluck and fellowship around a ‘dinner fire.’ The men would clean the game right there, and the women would do the cooking over the fire in a traditional manner. My great grandmother’s specialty was a wonderful corn soup!” After dinner, Thorpe would counsel the


prospective job seekers while Blanchard would hand each person a sheet of paper she had prepared with individualized instructions for a specific employment interview. Their creation of the Indian Center and their in- numerable dinner fires not only provided hot meals and camaraderie during a time devoid of adequate welfare or food ministries, but also gave birth to the Native American Actors Guild, which, at the time, was denied mem- bership in the Screen Actors Guild. “The industry was racist,” Paulette stressed.


“They were portraying a vanishing people and a dying culture, and they were portray-


ing it over and over again. That wore on the Natives’ psyche. That wore on their hearts. We are a proud people. We have worked hard to survive. Jim realized this and knew he had the best agency to create change. He tried to offer them an opportunity to be more than society was telling them they were going to be, which was ‘poor Indians.’” He was the leader among Native people


in Hollywood. He had the biggest name, the most connections, and when he wasn’t lob- bying with movie moguls, he used his fame to give speeches across the country to tribal, government and civic leaders, and schools and universities on behalf of Indian advocacy or simply to educate people on Native issues. Paulette remembered her great-grand-


mother using the word “caregiver” to define Thorpe’s relationship with his Indian broth- ers and sisters. Cecelia would always comment on his “big heart” and “selflessness” and the many times she saw him “take money from his own pocket or give a coat off his own back” to help somebody in need. Regarding equality, Cecelia would emphatically declare: “He went to his grave fighting for equal pay for Native actors and decent health insurance, especially for the stuntmen!” “Jim’s valiant effort laid the early ground-


work for the benefits enjoyed today by in- digenous people in the industry,” Paulette concluded, “where we are still trying to crack the glass ceiling of film and media and taking back control of who we are as a people.” X


Bob Wheeler is the author of Jim Thorpe: World’s Greatest Athlete. He and Dr. Ridlon founded the Jim Thorpe Founda- tion in 1982.


Florence Ridlon, PhD, is the author of several books, most recent of which is A Black Physician’s Struggle for Civil Rights: Edward C. Mazique.


Rob Wheeler, their son, is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate working on his doctorate in Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University. In 2011, he created a website, JimThorpeRestInPeace.com, whose mission is the res- toration of Thorpe’s remains to Sac and Fox land in Oklahoma.


SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 37


PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBERT WHEELER


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