Russell Means
Russell Charles Means (November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012) was an Oglala Lakota activist for the rights of American Indians and all oppressed First Nation Americans, libertarian political activist, actor, musician and writer. He became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) after joining the organization in 1968 and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage.
Russell Means
October 22, 2012 (aged 72)
Cremains scattered at the Black Hills
Oglala Sioux
American
- Activist
- actor
- musician
- politician
- writer
1968–2012
Libertarian (1988–2012)
American Indian Movement (1968–1988)
10, including Tatanka Means[a]
Means was active in international issues of indigenous peoples, including working with groups in Central and South America and with the United Nations for recognition of their rights. He was active in politics at his native Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and at the state and national level.
Beginning an acting career in 1992, he appeared on numerous television series and in several films, including The Last of the Mohicans and Pocahontas and released his own music CD. Means published his autobiography Where White Men Fear to Tread in 1995.
Early life[edit]
Means was born on November 10, 1939, in Porcupine, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation,[1] to Theodora Louise Feather and Walter "Hank" Means.[2] His mother was a Yankton Dakota from Greenwood, South Dakota and his father, an Oglala Lakota.[3] Russell had three biological brothers, Dace, and twins William and Theodore.
He was given the name Waŋblí Ohítika by his mother, which means 'Brave Eagle' in the Lakota language.[2]
In 1942, the Means family resettled in the San Francisco Bay Area, seeking to escape the poverty and problems of the reservation. His father worked at the shipyard in Vallejo.[4][5] Means grew up in the Bay Area, graduating in 1958 from San Leandro High School in San Leandro, California.[3] He attended four colleges but did not graduate from any of them.[6] In his 1995 autobiography, Means recounted a harsh childhood; his father was alcoholic and he himself fell into years of "truancy, crime and drugs" before finding purpose in the American Indian Movement in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[4]
His father died in 1967 and, in his twenties, Means lived in several Indian reservations throughout the United States while searching for work. While at the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota, he developed severe vertigo. Physicians at the reservation clinic believed that he had been brought in inebriated. After they refused to examine him for several days, Means was finally diagnosed with a concussion due to a presumed fight in a saloon. A visiting specialist later discovered that the reservation doctors had overlooked a common ear infection, which cost Means the hearing in one ear.[2]
After recovering from the infection, Means worked for a year in the Office of Economic Opportunity, where he came to know several legal activists who were managing legal action on behalf of the Lakota people. After a dispute with his supervisor, Means left Rosebud for Cleveland, Ohio. In Cleveland, he worked with Native American community leaders against the backdrop of the American Civil Rights Movement.[2]
Other activities[edit]
Acting[edit]
From 1992 to 2004, Means appeared as an actor in numerous films and television movies, first as the chief Chingachgook in The Last of the Mohicans. He appeared as Arrowhead in the made-for-TV movie The Pathfinder (1996), his second appearance in a movie adapted from a novel by James Fenimore Cooper. He appeared in Natural Born Killers (1994), as Jim Thorpe in Windrunner (1994),[28] as Sitting Bull in Buffalo Girls (1995), and had a cameo in the miniseries Into the West (2005).
He was a voice actor in Disney's third highest-selling feature film Pocahontas (1995) and its sequel Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998), playing the title character's father, Chief Powhatan. Means was a guest actor in the 1997 Duckman episode "Role With It", in which Duckman takes his family on an educational trip to a "genuine Indian reservation" – which turns out to be a casino.[29] Means appeared as Billy Twofeathers in Thomas & the Magic Railroad (2000).
Means starred in Pathfinder, a 2003 movie about Vikings battling Native Americans in the New World. Means co-starred in Rez Bomb from director Steven Lewis Simpson, the first feature he acted in on his native Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He appeared alongside Tamara Feldman, Trent Ford, and Chris Robinson. Means was also a prominent contributor to Steven Lewis Simpson's feature documentary about Pine Ridge Indian Reservations, A Thunder-Being Nation.
In 2004, Means made a guest appearance on the HBO program Curb Your Enthusiasm. Means played Wandering Bear, an American Indian with skills in landscaping and herbal medicine.
Writing[edit]
In 1995, Means published an autobiography, Where White Men Fear to Tread, written with Marvin J. Wolf. He recounted his own family's problems: his alcoholic father, and his own "fall into truancy, crime and drugs" before he discovered the American Indian Movement. The book drew criticism from a number of reviewers.[4][30][31][32][33] While Patricia Holt, book editor for the San Francisco Chronicle wrote of the book, "It's American history – warts, wounds and all."[4] In another review, writer Mari Wadsworth of the Tucson Weekly wrote: "Critical readers do well to remain skeptical of any individual, however charismatic, who claims to be the voice of authority and authenticity for any population, let alone one as diverse as the native tribes of the Americas. But whatever conclusions one makes of Means' actions and intentions, his unremitting presence and undaunted outspokenness opened a dialogue that changed the course of American history."[33]
Music, art, and media[edit]
Russell Means recorded a CD entitled Electric Warrior with Sound of America Records, in 1993.[34] Songs include "Une Gente Indio", "Hey You, Hey Indian", "Wounded Knee Set Us Free", and "Indian Cars Go Far". This was followed in 2007 with his The Radical album, which included the controversial song "Waco: The White Man's Wounded Knee". In 2013, he was recognized by the Native American Music Awards with a Hall of Fame award.[35]
Means was an avid painter, with showings at various galleries around the country and the world.
The American pop artist Andy Warhol painted 18 individual portraits of Russell Means in his 1976 American Indian Series. The Dayton Art Institute holds one of the Warhol portraits in its collection.[36]
Means appeared as a character in the adventure video game Under a Killing Moon,[37] by Access Software, in 1994.
Means is the focus of the 2014 documentary Conspiracy To Be Free by director Colter Johnson.[38]
In 2016 the artist Magneto Dayo and The Lakota Medicine Men did a tribute song dedicated to Russell Means and Richard Oakes called "The Journey" on the album Royalty of the UnderWorld.
In 1999, Russell taped six community television half-hour programs in Santa Monica, under the title of "The Russell Means Show" produced by Helene E. Hagan (Adelphia Coimmnications). As Host for the series, he interviewed guests Sacheen Littlefeather, Greg Sarris, Kateri Walker and Redbone. The last two programs were Commentaries on Colonialism and Consumerism. The series has been archived at the Oglala Lakota College Library.
In addition, Helene E. Hagan has authored two books about Russell Means : "Russell Means: The European Ancestry of a Militant Indian" (Xliibris, 2018) and "Wakinyan Zi Tiosppaye: The Case of Yellow Thunder Camp" (XLibris, 2022).
Personal life[edit]
Means was married five times; the first four marriages ended in divorce. He was married to his fifth wife, Pearl Means, until his death.[10] His wife Pearl died ten years later in May 2022, at the age of 62.[39][40] He had a total of ten children: seven biological children and three adopted children, who were "adopted in the Lakota way",[41] including Tatanka Means who is also an actor.
As "a grandfather with twenty-two grandchildren", Russell Means divided his time "between Chinle, Navajo Nation, Arizona, and Porcupine, South Dakota."[2]
Illness and death[edit]
In August 2011, Means was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.[42][43] His doctors told him his condition was inoperable.[10] He told the Associated Press that he was rejecting "mainstream medical treatments in favor of traditional American Indian remedies and alternative treatments away from his home on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation".[44] In late September, Means reported that through tomotherapy, the tumor had diminished greatly.[45] Later, he said that his tumor was "95% gone."[46] On December 5 of that year, Means stated that he "beat cancer", and that he had beat "the death penalty."[47]
The following year, however, his health continued to decline and he died on October 22, 2012, at age 72.[10] A family statement said, "Our dad and husband now walks among our ancestors."[48]
ABC News said Means "spent a lifetime as a modern American Indian warrior ... , railed against broken treaties, fought for the return of stolen land and even took up arms against the federal government ... , called national attention to the plight of impoverished tribes and often lamented the waning of Indian culture."[49] Among the tributes was one writer's belief that "his face should have been on Mt. Rushmore."[50] The New York Times said Means "became as well-known a Native American as Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse."[51]
Means was cremated and his ashes were sprinkled throughout the Black Hills.