This video was made in memory of the vanishing race. The Native American tribes had their lives portrayed by the photographer Edward S. Curtis who spent 30 years capturing the culture of the indigenous people. In 1911 the poet Ella Higginson took a photograph of Curtis's collection and used it as an inspiration to write a poem with the same name.
Both of these incredible artists took a deep concern for the First Nation's destiny as a result we were left with beautiful images that are echoes of the spirit of our ancestors.
The Vanishing Race
Picture by Edward S. Curtis & poem by Ella Higginson.
Into the shadow, whose illumined crest
Speaks of the world behind them where the sun
Still shines for us whose day is not yet done,
Those last dark ones go drifting. East or West,
Or North or South—it matters not; their quest
Is toward the shadow whence it was begun;
Hope in it, Ah, my brothers; there is none;
And yet—they only seek a place to rest.
So mutely, uncomplainingly, they go!
How shall it be with us when they are gone,
When they are but a mem’ry and a name?
May not those mournful eyes to phantoms grow—
When, wronged and lonely, they have drifted on
Into the voiceless shadow whence they came?
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