FH Mini Spotlight- Hollywood's First Native American Filmmaker James Young Deer

James Young Deer (born James Young Johnson; 1876–1946) was one of the earliest Native American filmmakers in American cinema and a true pioneer of the silent film era. He was an actor, director, screenwriter, and producer at a time when the motion picture industry was still in its infancy. Although he was long identified as Winnebago, modern research indicates his ancestry was from the Nanticoke people of Delaware, and aspects of his public identity were later embellished for show business. Young Deer married Lillian St. Cyr on April 9, 1906, after they met in Washington, D.C. Together, they reinvented themselves as "Young Deer" and "Princess Red Wing" and performed in Wild West shows before moving into the motion picture industry. They are widely regarded as one of Hollywood's first Native American power couples