Indian Actors Association Indian Actors Association. The Indian Actors Workshop was another group built on the foundation of the Indian Actors Association. Founded by Jay Silverheels, best known for playing Tonto on "The Lone Ranger", the Indian Actors Workshop trained Indians for roles in film and television. Similar groups continued to form well into the 1980s. The Indian Actors Association was able to function as a support group and provided subsistence funds for out of work Indians. They were able to raise these funds through membership dues, powwows, and performances for local clubs and organizations. Indian Actors Association The Indian Actors Association was
Contemporary Native American issues in the United States were first performed by European Americans dressed in mock traditional attire. Examples included "The Last of the Mohicans" (1920), "Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans" (1957), and "F Troop" (1965–67). In later decades, Native American actors such as Jay Silverheels in "The Lone Ranger" television series (1949–57) came to prominence. Roles of Native Americans were limited and not reflective of Native American culture. For years, Native people on U.S. television were relegated to secondary, subordinate roles relative to the white protagonists as shown in notable works like "Cheyenne" (1957–1963) and "Law of the Plainsman" (1959–1963). By the 1970s some