Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance - Impostor?

Impostor?

An Indian advisor to the film crew, Chauncey Yellow Robe, became suspicious of Long Lance and alerted the studio legal advisor. Long Lance could not explain his heritage to their satisfaction, and rumors began to circulate. An investigation revealed that his father had not been a Blackfoot chief, but a school janitor in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Some neighbors from his home town testified that they thought his background may have included African ancestry, which meant by southern racial standards, he was black. Although the studio did not publicize its investigation, the accusations led many of his socialite acquaintances to abandon Long Lance. Author Irvin S. Cobb, a native of Kentucky active in New York, is reported to have lamented, "We're so ashamed! We entertained a nigger!"

Historians have described Long Lance as a fraud, but he had Native American ancestry on both sides of his family: Croatan and Cherokee, he looked Indian, and he knew enough Cherokee to use it when being admitted to the Carlisle School. His representation was not all a pose. He was not of the Blackfoot tribe but studied their traditions deeply while living on the Great Plains. In his Being and Becoming Indian: Biographical Studies of North American Frontiers, late 20th century historian James A. Clifton called Long "a sham" who "assumed the identity of an Indian", "an adopted ethnic identity pure and simple."

The story of Long Lance has provided late twentieth century authors with much to mull over in questions of personal and ethnic identity. Donald B. Smith, a history professor and biographer, described Long Lance as "pass as an Indian", but he confirmed Croatan ancestry on his mother's side, and Cherokee ancestry on his father's. He was Native American and black and white, but trying to claim a different heritage and escape from limitations imposed on his family in North Carolina. Smith noted that Long Lance was deeply involved in supporting Indian issues of the day and representing First Nations causes in Canada, as well as trying to best represent Native American traditions in the US. When Smith's book was published in paperback in 2002, the title was changed to Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance: The Glorious Impostor (rather than "Impersonator".)

In her book Real Indians: Identity and the Survival of Native Americans (2003), Eva Marie Garroutte uses the controversy over Long Lance's identity to introduce questions surrounding contested Indian identity and authenticity in United States culture.