WATCH: The Earliest Motion Pictures Of American Indians
It was enough of a technology shock when the first still cameras arrived out in the Old West and began taking photos of the peoples that lived out here - imagine the shock when the first motion pictures arrived.
What did the people think of the man with the box, turning a crank on its side, that manually took a series of photos to be stitched into what were shown back as moving images? It must have seemed like magic (sometimes it still does).
Enter the modern age, and these amazing sections of old film can be seen again. This is what is left from as far back as 1895. A few pieces even have audio recording of Native American music.
Digital is saving what is left of the films. These reels are now not all lost.
Watch Sioux performing the Buffalo Dance at Thomas Edison's Black Maria Studio in New Jersey. You'll also watch the Ghost Dance, which was captured on this day, September 24, 1895. There is a demonstration from the Hopi Native Americans greeting TR and clips from the Chicago World's Fair in 1933.
Also archived here are three Native American feature films: White Fawn's Devotion, The Invaders and Last Of The Mohicans. White Fawn's Devotion was the earliest film directed by a Native American, James Young Deer.
The old audio clip was recorded in 1895 by Alice Cunningham and Francis La Flesche. The song is 'He'dewachi', a dance song, and it is traditionally played at ceremonies which celebrate warriors.
You can watch more videos like this on the YouTube channel titled Yestervids. Thanks to them for helping to preserve this history.
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