Ishi

The documentary is about the last surviving member of the Yahi his name was Ishi. For 40 years Ishi lived in the wilderness. It was not until 1911 that Ishi would decide to leave the wilderness and enter the white mans world. Over the years Ishi watched as his people were killed until he was the only one left. Ishi is not his real name it is the Yahi word for man. He would never tell anyone his name so the name Ishi was given to him. Soon after coming out Ishi was brought to San Francisco. Here he saw thousands of people. For the first time in his life he saw more than forty people at one time. One month after Ishi’s arrival the Museum of Anthropology opens at Parnassus. The museum would have a living exhibit of Ishi there. Ishi built an authentic Yahi house at the museum. He would make arrowheads while there and give them to the patrons. He would also start a fire with just a stick and a piece of wood. The exhibit was a huge hit. In the first six months there were over twenty-six thousand visitors. However since Ishi spent most of his life being isolated from people his body was susceptible to disease. As a result shortly after the museum opened Ishi came down with pneumonia. It was decided that Ishi should be behind glass when on display to protect him. Ishi made over 400 recordings onto wax cylinders. Even after the recordings were translated the meaning was never really understood. Ishi adapted to his new life very well. Ishi began to learn English and started working as a janitor at the museum. He made good friends with a man named Sexton Pope. Sexton would take Ishi and show him around the hospital where he worked. The two would go hunting together in the woods for days at a time. In 1915 there was a celebration for the completion of the Panama Canal and for the completion of the nations manifest destiny. Ishi was an attraction at this celebration. Near the end of Ishi’s life a man by the name of Edward Sapir started to work with