Benjamin Black Elk (17 May 1899 – 22 February 1973)[3][2] of the Oglala Lakota people was an actor and educator known as the "fifth face" of Mount Rushmore.
[1] Born in Manderson, South Dakota, Benjamin's early life was itinerant, and he was moved to Ivyland, Pennsylvania and lived with farmer Russell K. Edwards, attending the Carlisle Indian Industrial School from 10 October 1914 to 10 July 1917.
[5] His father Black Elk, "practically blind" asked for his son's help in farming and in "care of his stock" in May 1917, but the younger Black Elk was not sent home until after his father died, due to lack of funds.
In the 1930s he served as an interpreter for the interviews with his father that became John G. Neihardt's book "Black Elk Speaks".
"[3] In 1967 he testified before the United States Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, Special Subcommittee on Indian Education, saying "We have good schools all right, but they are getting away from our culture so fast it isn't funny.