Portrait of a Young Native American Man

This photograph came from the Library of Congress, but it’s originally from the National Museum of the American Indian, which describes the picture as a “portrait of a young man wearing headband, earrings, and a necklace.”

The photo was taken by Carl Moon around 1906. What an intense looking person he is!

Photograph by Carl Moon,1905-1907 

Conflicting info exists about who the subject is, despite the handwritten label “Navajo Boy” on the picture. There are three possibilities:

  1. He’s Diné (Navajo) and his name is “Bi-yazh” (per the Huntington Library)
  2. He’s Diné (Navajo) and his name is “Sohachee” (source?)
  3. He’s from the Lipan Apache tribe of Texas, wearing Navajo dress, and his name is Esikio Tobar (1893-1950) (per the Getty Museum)

4 thoughts on “Portrait of a Young Native American Man

  1. Differing information from the Getty and the Huntington. Interesting. Maybe he had an alias. He has a nice face. I just wonder why an Apache would wear Navajo dress. That doesn’t seem possible. Then, who knows?

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