The Hungarian who fought for the rights of the American Indians

Richard Erdoes was fascinated by Native American culture, thus, he became one of the first supporters and advocates of their Civil Rights Movement in the 60s and 70s.

An adventurous life

He described himself as “equal parts Austrian, Hungarian and German, as well as equal parts Catholic, Protestant and Jew…” In fact, his father, Richárd Erdős Sr., was a famous Hungarian opera singer who unfortunately died a few weeks before his birth. Thus, he lived in Vienna with his sister, Leopoldine (“Poldi”) Sangora, who worked as an actress in the Austrian capital.

He had a quite adventurous life. He was an art student in Berlin, but since he was involved in a small underground paper which published anti-Hitler cartoons he had to

flee Germany after the Nazi leader came to power in 1933. 

He moved back to Vienna where he continued his studies, wrote illustrated children’s books and worked as a caricaturist to the anti-Nazi Tag and Stunde. However, since there was a price on his head in Germany, he had to abandon Austria after Nazi Germany had occupied it in 1938. Firstly, he went to Paris, then to London and finally, to the United States. He met his first wife in Great-Britain and they married shortly before they arrived in New York City.

In the Big Apple, he became a commercial artist, well-known for his highly detailed, whimsical drawings. He was quite praised so he

worked for magazines like Stage, Fortune, Pageant, Gourmet, Harper’s Bazaar, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Time, National Geographic and Life Magazine.

He met there his second wife, Jean Sternbergh, the art director at Life Magazine. They married in 1951 and had three children.

Outraged at the conditions on the Sioux reservation

Because of an assignment of Life Magazine, he had to travel in 1967 to the Pine Ridge Reservation, which is is a Sioux Native American reservation located in the state of South Dakota. There he was fascinated by Native American culture and at the same time, outraged at the conditions on the reservation. Therefore, he became one of the first supporters and advocates of the Native American Civil Rights Movement which he remained until his death in 2008.

In fact, he

wrote histories, collections of Native American stories and myths,

and wrote about such voices of the Native American Renaissance as Leonard and Mary Crow Dog and John Fire Lame Deer. His New York City apartment became a well-known hub of the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the early 1970s and he was also involved in the legal defence of several AIM members. He remained a committed supporter of the cause of the Native Americans throughout his life.

He wrote down the words of John Fire Lame Deer: “if our bison brother were able to talk, they would probably say: you put us into reservations like the American Indians. All that concerns life and death, we and the bison share the same destiny.”

His papers are preserved at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.

Source: Daily News Hungary