Richard Erdoes, Red Power's Ally

Abstract

Austro-Hungarian visual artist and author Richard Erdoes (1912-2008) spent the last half of his long life being an ally and providing support to some of the most radical segments of the Red Power struggle, leading members of the American Indian Movement (AIM). Emerging from my earlier research and aiming to refine its focus and analysis, this chapter interprets Erdoes’ role as an Austrian ally to the radical wing of the Red Power movement. My argument is that such extensive contributions by allies in the Native American sovereignty rights struggle call for extensive and interdisciplinary research that carefully maps out and critically examines their relationships and output. Scholarly studies of figures like Erdoes can help not only improve our understanding of non-Native involvement in Red Power, including the history of former Habsburg involvement, but also inform non-Natives’ current discussions of the ideal characteristics and attitudes of allyship, solidarity with and support for Indigenous causes, and interracial coalition building for shared struggles. Erdoes’ trajectory is an example of how one individual transformed the legacy of Habsburg encounters with Native Americans in the crucibles of the 20th century, and forged it into allyship and an intercontinental network for the struggle for Indigenous rights on Turtle Island.