Ishi

For other uses, see Ishi (disambiguation).

Ishi
Bornc. 1861
Northern California Sierra Foothills, U.S.
DiedMarch 25, 1916 (age 55–56)
University of California, San Francisco, U.S.[1]
OccupationJanitor
Known forlast of the Yahi people, "last wild Indian"

Ishi (c. 1861 – March 25, 1916) was the last known member of the Native American Yahi people from the present-day state of California in the United States. The rest of the Yahi (as well as many members of their parent tribe, the Yana) were killed in the California genocide in the 19th century. Widely described as the "last wild Indian" in the U.S., Ishi lived most of his life isolated from modern North American culture, and was the last known Native manufacturer of stone arrowheads. In 1911, aged 50, he emerged at a barn and corral, 2 mi (3.2 km) from downtown Oroville, California.

Ishi, which means "man" in the Yana language, is an adopted name. The anthropologist Alfred Kroeber gave him this name because in the Yahi culture, tradition demanded that he not speak his own name until formally introduced by another Yahi.[2] When asked his name, he said: "I have none, because there were no people to name me", meaning that there was no other Yahi to speak his name on his behalf.

Anthropologists at the University of California, Berkeley, took Ishi in, studied him, and hired him as a janitor. He lived most of his remaining five years in a university building in San Francisco. His life was depicted and discussed in multiple films and books, notably the biographical account Ishi in Two Worlds published by Theodora Kroeber in 1961.[3][4][5][6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference obit-Sausalito-News was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "ISHI: A Real-Life The Last Of The Mohicans". mohicanpress.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  3. ^ Fleras, Augie (2006). "Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America". Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 27 (3): 265–268. doi:10.1080/01434630608668780. S2CID 216112743.
  4. ^ Japenga, Ann (August 29, 2003). "Revisiting Ishi". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 15, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
  5. ^ O'Connor, John J. (December 20, 1978). "TV: 'Ishi,' a Chronicle Of the Yahi Indian Tribe". New York Times. Archived from the original on April 22, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  6. ^ Higgins, Bill (March 20, 1992). "Makers of HBO's 'Tribe' Given a Warm Reception". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2019.