Tragedies of the Osage Hills

11 May 1926 | 80 min

A lost film based on the 'Reign of Terror', a real-life series of several dozen murders committed against the Osage people. 'Tragedies of the Osage Hills' was directed by James Young Deer, the first known Native American film director, and boasted a cast of “hundreds of real Indians.” Described as a dramatic thriller interwoven with a “tender love story”, the film’s premiere in Cushing, Oklahoma occurred just months after the arrest of Ernest Burkhart, the subject of Martin Scorsese’s similarly themed 2023 film 'Killers of the Flower Moon'. The 'Cushing Daily Citizen' described 'Tragedies of the Osage Hills' as having a fictitious ending of the Osage and white men united under an American flag.