Oliver La Farge's LAUGHING BOY

People write to me, asking about La Farge's portrayal of American Indians---in this case, Navajos in his Laughing Boy. Published in 1929 by Houghton Mifflin, the book won a Pulitzer Prize in 1930. It is a Signet Classic and is included in books created to help teachers select literature for use in high school and college classrooms.

If you're interested in a critical essay about Laughing Boy, I suggest you read Leslie Marmon Silko's "An Old-Time Indian Attack Conducted in Two Parts." It is on page 211 of Geary Hobson's The Remembered Earth.

Silko writes:

Since white ethnologists like Boas and Swanton first intruded into Native American communities to "collect" prayers, songs and stories, a number of implicit racist assumptions about Native American culture and literature have flourished. The first is the assumption that the white man, through some innate cultural or racial superiority, has the ability to perceive and master the essential beliefs, values and emotions of persons from Native American communities.

Silko notes that La Farge was educated at Harvard and spent several summer vacations doing ethnographic work on the Navajo Reservation. She writes that he cared deeply for the Navajo people. That time, though, and his care, did not make it possible for him to write a novel that accurately portrays the Navajo people. With respect to accuracy, Silko offers the response of her students:

In the summer of 1971, the Navajo students in a Southwestern Literature class at Navajo Community College concluded that Laughing Boy was entertaining; but as an expression of anything Navajo, especially with relation to Navajo emotions and behavior, the novel was a failure. And for the non-Navajo or non-Indian, it is worse than a failure: it is a lie because La Farge passes off the consciousness and feelings of Laughing Boy as those of Navajo sensibility.

As noted, the novel has a lot of accolades. Maybe that's why romance novelist Cassie Edwards used it to write Savage Dream, one of the titles in her "Savage" series. Some of my students start to laugh aloud as I read the titles in the series: Savage Love, Savage Intrigue, Savage Hope, Savage Destiny... There's over 20 books in the series. Edwards was in the news in January of 08 for plagiarism. If you want to see a point-by-point analysis of her use of Laughing Boy, see what Smart Bitches put together.

I'm sure high school teachers don't use books like those by Cassie Edwards in their classrooms. They are, after all, soft-porn romance novels. Lest you think, however, that she captures Native culture in a good way, discard that thought. And while you're at it, discard Laughing Boy if you're using it in your classroom. Choose a Native author instead. Silko, perhaps, or Simon Ortiz. Or James Welch. Or Louise Erdrich. Or Sherman Alexie. Or Thomas King. You do have choices.

And if you feel compelled to respond to this post, asking me if I think non-Native people have no business writing books about Native people, rest easy. I don't think that only Native people should write Native novels.

But... What is the motivation for the question in the first place? Concern for freedom of speech? Ok, I defend that, too, but if you're looking for good books about American Indians, don't you think it makes sense to look for Native writers? Choosing their books does not mean you defy anyone's freedom of speech.

Junk Food and Stereotypical Images of Indians: Bad for you!

Verla Kay's BROKEN FEATHER

Verla Kay's Broken Feather (published in 2002 by Putnam), got mixed reviews. The review by School Library Journal's, S. K. Joiner is the most helpful to librarians, parents and teachers who wish to avoid stereotypical, romanticized, and inaccurate depictions of Native people.

Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus goofed. Both gave it a starred review, saying things like "will hook readers" and every one of Kay's words "sparkle."

It's a picture book. Here's the words on the first page:

Broken Feather,
Native boy,
Filled with spirit,
Strength and joy.

Bows and arrows,
Corn-husk pouch,
Bushes rustle,
Natives crouch.

Natives crouch? They always do that! Book after book shows Indian men that way for one reason or another, usually to attack the settlers. Why are these Nez Perce men doing it? The second page tells us why...

Small voice, whisper,
"Father, who?"
"White men hunting,
Passing through."

Kay is giving us the classic "plight of the Indians" narrative. Vanishing Indians, that is. She attempts to give readers a look at conflict between the Nez Perce people and Europeans.

Along the way, she and Stephen Alcorn (the illustrator) feed the stereotype monster. A man plays a drum with his hands while other men dance in a circle in the stereotypical ways... Every single dancer has one foot off the ground, arms thrown out or skyward. That scene is repeated on a second page later in the book:

Warriors chanting,
Big drums, beat.
Angry faces,
Stomping feet

.

It's followed by a page about defeat and then "Forced to tramp, Natives marching..." to a reservation where Broken Feather asks his father why this happened. His father's answer? That there were many of them, and few Nez Perce, and now, he says to his son "it's up to you." Up to him to do what? We aren't told.

The last page shows Broken Feather as an adult looking out over a river and mountains. In his hand is a single feather. I guess its the feather he wore as a child. Now he's in a full headdress. That's the end of the book. It is followed by two notes. One from the author and one from the illustrator.

Meant for young children, this book fails to give them the 'here and now' information young children need. Kay's note suggests she was at a museum where she saw Nez Perce culture, and that she talked with a Nez Perce tribal member. Her book would have been so much better if she'd taken the reader into the present day, with a few pages about contemporary Nez Perce children.

Then again, she'd still has that title "Broken Feather." It seems to me she's steeped in the plight narrative and would have to do a lot of work to break out of it. Alcorn, too.


Problems with this illustration: Man is shown playing drum with his hands instead of drumstick; dancers are frenetic.

Cultural Knowledge

The New York Times is running a series called "Where Education and Assimilation Collide." It caught my eye because, to many American Indians, education and assimilation carry a lot of freight. Called heathen, pagan, and savage by Europeans who first came to what became America, missionaries tried to Christianize us in mission schools, and, early U.S. government boarding schools were designed to assimilate us with the motto "Kill the Indian, save the man."

The Times article is not about American Indians, it is about immigrants of today. Reading the article, this stood out:

Few of these students had heard of the Pilgrims, much less the history of Thanksgiving. Idioms like “easy as pie” and “melting pot” were lost on them. They knew little of the American Revolution, much less the Bolshevik.

“American students come to school with a lot of cultural knowledge that other teachers assume they don’t have to explain because their kids get it from growing up in this country, watching television or surfing the Internet,” Ms. Cain said. “I can’t assume any of that.”

Cultural knowledge. Ms. Cain is right on. Kids do gain a lot of "cultural knowledge" about the United States just by growing up here, watching TV and surfing the net. But is it really "knowledge" or is it something else? What counts as "knowledge" and just what would the NY Times reporter say about "the history of Thanksgiving?"

Societies tell stories about their origins. Americans fix the American origin story back there in time with the Pilgrims and the Indians and the "First Thanksgiving." But the story that is told is a romantic one that is incomplete. A more complete history, a more accurate "cultural knowledge" would serve us all well.

Freedman's WASHINGTON AT VALLEY FORGE

Theresa Sidel, a colleague in the American Indian Library Association, wrote to me, noting passages in Freedman's Washington at Valley Forge. In children's literature, Russell Freedman's books stand out for his style and research. When viewed for Native content, however, they fall short, as Theresa points out below.
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We just got copies of "Washington at Valley Forge" by Russell Freedman, c. 2008, published by Holiday House ISBN: 978-0-8234-2069-8 (Hardcover)

The book only mentions American Indians on pages 33, 42, 47-48, 66, and 68.

No mention is made of Skenandoah, Chief of the Oneida Nation, who sent baskets of corn to the starving soldiers. One has to wonder why Freedman would fail to include that in a history book for children. I know it isn't the most well-known fact, but it is easily found on the internet.

The Oneida are mentioned as follows:

pg. 66:

"Lafayette's force included forty-seven Oneida Indian scouts, "Stout-looking fellows and remarkably neat," according to Private Joseph Plumb Martin, who was assigned to the expedition. The Oneidas had adopted Lafayette into their tribe and named him Kayweda, after one of their greatest warriors."

pg. 68:

"The Oneida scouts, bringing up the rear of the retreating American column, made their own contribution to Lafayette's escape. As British cavalrymen brandishing sabers galloped toward the retreating Americans, the Oneidas let loose with a hair-raising war whoop, startling the horsemen and frightening their steeds. The horses bolted and turned heel, giving the Americans time to reach the river safely. Later, when the British began their own retreat, the Oneidas rushed back across the river and harassed the enemy's flanks as the redcoats hurried toward Philadelphia."

Here is the one that bothers me the most though, pg. 47-48:

"A French interpreter at the camp was similarly moved while walking in the woods before breakfast one morning. From a distance he heard " a most powerful voice...yet melodious," singing a song from a popular French opera. He was astonished "when suddenly I saw...before me a tall Indian...in American regimental and two large epaulets on his shoulders." The singer was a Canadian Abenaki who spoke French and English. Raised by Jesuit priests under French rule in Canada, he had joined the Americans at the beginning of the war; rising to the rank of colonel in the Continental army."

With everything he knew about this man why did he not include his name? Well, perhaps by some fluke it was never recorded...so I went to the internet and found the piece with almost exact wording in less than five minutes: "Colonel Louis at Oriskany and Valley Forge" by Darren Bonaparte (Originally published in The People's Voice, September 30, 2005) the account of Peter Stephen Du Ponceau, a young French officer assigned to Baron von Steuben. If Freedman had gone to the next paragraph he would have known that the man was " Nia-man-rigounant,....Colonel Louis, it is the name which I received with the baptism."

Effects of American Indian stereotypes

In several places on American Indians in Children's Literature and in my writing, I reference resolutions of the American Sociological Association and the American Psychological Association. Both associations, in their resolutions, call for the end of use of Native imagery in sports mascots. The resolutions are based on research studies that document the harm caused by this sort of imagery.

Whether its a sports mascot or a character in a children's book, there are many similarities. Here's UIUC's now-officially-discontinued "chief illiniwek":

Shown here are some characters in children's books. See the similarities?

 

One of the people doing the research on effect of these images is Stephanie Fryberg at the University of Arizona. She was on our campus yesterday giving a lecture wherein she presented some of her research findings.

Its quite frightening. I'm not being alarmist or dramatic. Her research is compelling. There are consequences for all children exposed to stereotypical images of American Indians.

If you'd like a copy of her most recent publication, write to me and I'll send it to you. It appeared in BASIC AND APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY in 2008, and is titled "Of Warrior Chiefs and Indian Princesses: The Psychological Consequences of American Indian Mascots," by Stephanie Fryberg, Hazel Rose Markus, Daphna Oyserman and Joseph M. Stone.

Here's the abstract:

Four studies examined the consequences of American Indian mascots and other prevalent representations of American Indians on aspects of the self-concept for American Indian students. When exposed to Chief Wahoo, Chief Illinwek, Pocahontas, or other common American Indian images, American Indian students generated positive associations (Study 1, high school) but reported depressed state self-esteem (Study 2, high school), and community worth (Study 3, high school), and fewer achievement-related possible selves (Study 4, college). We suggest that American Indian mascots are harmful because they remind American Indians of the limited ways others see them and, in this way, constrain how they can see themselves.

In the study, they showed high school students images of Pocahontas, Chief Wahoo, posters from the American Indian College Fund that say "have you seen a real Indian," and, statements reflecting negative stereotypes of American Indians. They tested self esteem and efficacy (community worth) of Native and non-Native students.

If you'd like me to send you the article, write to me at debreese at illinois dot edu.

Debbie

Willow (from Buffy) on Columbus Day and Thanksgiving

Willow (Buffy's friend in Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and her mother do not celebrate Columbus Day or Thanksgiving. "It's a sham" she says. Awesome! This is the opening segment of episode 8, season 4...

Let's see how this episode unfolds...

Set in California, Buffy and Willow are in college now. At a groundbreaking for a new cultural center, turns out, there's a mission beneath the site. Zander fell into it and now he's sick, feverish.

Buffy wants to cook a Thanksgiving meal, saying "that's the point of Thanksgiving. Everyone has a place to go."

Hmm... there's a government project underneath campus, too, with guys who dress in fatigues and chase "hostiles" --- hostiles are vampires.

Some green smoke comes out of the mission, slithers along to the anthro office, into a glass case, and then materializes in the form of.... AN INDIAN. No feathers, just a headband and facepaint. He wears fringed buckskin, though. Trousers and a vest. He kills the anthro who is overseeing the dig of the mission.

In the anthro office, Buffy and Willow read the coroner's report. She was missing an ear! Willow and Buffy wonder why... They see the glass case, and the note card that reads "Early 1800s Chumash knife." Courese, it is missing! That's the knife the INDIAN --- who I guess is Chumash --- used to kill the anthro.

"Chumash," Giles says, "were indigenous to the whole area" (note the past tense verb).

Giles will do some research on the Chumash to see what he can learn. He muses "something was trapped there (in the mission) and wants release."

Angel tells Giles to send Buffy to talk to Father Gabriel, whose family dates back to Mission times...

She gets there, and finds the Indian, who has killed has killed Father Gabriel.

He says "You can't stop me! I am Vengeance. I am my people's cry. I am called Hus. I am seek vengeance! "You slaughtered my people. " Buffy fights him, but he turns into a bunch of crows and gets away.

Giles says "It's an Indian spirit of some kind. Common for them to turn into animal forms."

"Native American, not Indian" says Buffy. Giles says "oh right, I'm not up on all this."

Buffy can't quite fight this guy, out of guilt for the past.

Giles tells her to get over it because "he's killed innocent people."

Still, Buffy wants to find a "non-slayee way" to kill him.

Enter Willow with a pile of books about the Chumash and "atrocities." She reads about the Chumash, tells Willow and Giles that the Chumash were "fluffy indigenous kittens until we came along" and did awful things, like "imprisonment, forced labor, herded them into Missions. The few who tried to rebel were hanged. Proof of death was an ear." Ah---so that's why the anthro is missing an ear.

Willow wants to talk about giving something back to the Indians. Give them some land, says Giles, sarcastically.

Back in the anthro offices, the Indian is taking weapons from cases. Bows and the like.

Still talking about killing him... "He's a spirit, Willow says, not a demon." There's a big argument about what to do.

Meanwhile, the Indian spreads the weapons on the ground and starts chanting: "First people who dwelled.... Hear me and ascend." The Indian is, apparently, going to raise the dead.... And there they are! More Indians!

Willow refuses to look in books to find way to kill the Indian.

Buffy says "its hard, and he's been wronged, but we have to kill him."

Spike says "You came in, killed them, and took their land. You won! Stop feeling bad about it. You had better weapons and you massacred them. End of story. You exterminated his race. What can you possibly say to make him feel better?"

Buffy talks about wanting a nice quiet civilized dinner and just when she says 'civilized' an arrow flies in the window. She says "You have casino's now!"

Arrows fly in, Giles says "we're under seige." The fight begins. Buffy realizes "these guys don't die!"

An Indian turns into a bear. Spike freaks. He's tied to a chair (Buffy did that to him), shot full of arrows. He's a vampire, though so he can't die either.

Buffy realizes that their own weapons (from that case) can kill them. All gone, now. All of them.

Buffy, Willow, the gang... They all sit at the table, eating their Thanksgiving meal and talking about the fight, how they worked together to fight the Indians.

Willow mopes that she turned into Custer in two seconds, fighting the Indians.

End of episode.

Such mixed messages, mockery mixed with sensitivity. Kind of a mess.

YUROK, by Barbara A. Gray-Kanatiiosh

[Editor's Note: This review may not be published elsewhere without the written permission of Marlette Grant-Jackson at Humboldt University. She is the Curriculum Resource Coordinator and Student Services Advisor at Humboldt's Indian Teacher & Educational Personnel Program.]

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Yurok
by Barbara A. Gray-Kanatiiosh
ABDO publishing 2007
32 pages
K-5

Not worth its weight in Dentilium.

Another easy-reference children's book series on Native American Indians that gives children misguided information in regards to a people who are still here. The subject headings: Original homelands, Society, Homes, Food, Clothing, Crafts, Family, Children, Myths, War, Important Members, Contact with Europeans, and the Tribe or Nation Today, are cookie cutter patterns for at least four sets of ten books on many known tribes.

In past tense the book tells you some information about the Yurok people, but doesn't acknowledge that we are still a living breathing culture living in our traditional territory, in northwest California. Our territory spans from the mouth of the Klamath to the confluences of the Klamath and Trinity Rivers and from Crescent City to Trinidad. Yurok members live all around the world, but all members know where their ancestral home is. Or that we still fight to this day to exercise our sovereign rights, including fishing and hunting rights. It would have been nice to see a contemporary Yurok person as an example in the Important Member section, such as Sue Masten – past tribal chair, and political proponent for the Yurok tribe or Ray Mattz who has been instrumental in keeping our ancestral fishing rights.

A conversation with the Tribe's language specialists would have guided the author to understand that there is more than one word we use to refer to ourselves Puel lik-lah which means down river people, or Oohl – which refers to Indian people, the word chosen in the book is Olekwo’l which would have been used in pre-human times and not used today. As for identifying oneself as in an introduction it is based on which ancestral village or area the person's family is from and their family names. I'm sorry to say but this book is not worth the $18.85 that is being charged and I am sorry to see that the oppression has now become internalized, for the book is being written by a Native. Even the website to find out more about Yuroks is www.abdopublishing.com , instead of the actual tribal page http://www.yuroktribe.org.

Illustrator David Kanietakeron Fadden has given this book a look of authenticity with his detailed renderings of the culture, people and life style. Mr. Fadden did take the time to make his artwork reflect our patterns, homes, and regalia, but not necessarily the diversity of color variation among our people within his drawings.

The photo’s in the book could have used some extra information.

• On the cover a current photo of a young Yurok girl in ceremonial regalia is used without reference to who she is, just the name of the photographer and the site the photo was bought from.

• On page 29 a cropped Associated Press photo of a 2004 ceremony for the Return of Indian Island to the Wiyot Tribe shows a close up of Ty Allen in full female regalia and the caption reads “Today, the Yurok continue to observe ceremonies. Ty Allen is a Yurok-Karok Indian. In 2004, he participated in a ceremony for the return of sacred land to the Wiyot Tribe.”

• On page 30 there is a picture of a non-Yurok man in traditional plains regalia and the caption reads “This Yurok man rides a horse during a festival. He is dressed in traditional ceremonial clothing.” The regalia and man are NOT Yurok, this promotes the Hollywood stereotypes.

There are so many things wrong with the book that if I were to address each of them here I would re-write the book for the author. Hmmm maybe that's what we should do is write our own book for our own children??

to' kee kem ney-wu-chek.

(I will see you later)

Marlette Grant-Jackson

Richard Scarry's Indians

A few years ago, I read about stereotypical Indians in Richard Scarry's books, specifically, the ones in Best Word Book Ever. I started looking for them in his books but couldn't find any. The books I was looking through were newer editions from the local library. The images I was looking for, I realized, were in the older versions. The newer ones, in other words, have been revised.

Stereotypical images of Indians? Gone! Hurray!

Here's what they looked like, before they were revised. I found some cowboy and Indian chicks in his Please and Thank You book:

This morning, a colleague (thanks, Rebecca!) sent me an email, pointing me to a flickr page that has side/by/side comparisons of images that changed from earlier to more recent editions. Do take a look at all of them, but study the ones of Indians, and read the comments.

Boats and Ships - Rabbit in headdress paddling canoe vs Rabbit in canoe

I is for Ice Cream - It's the page for the letter I, and it had a mouse wearing a headdress.

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UPDATE, MARCH 10, 3:10 Central Time

In a comment just submitted, "French Connection" asks why I have "not recommended" in the label for this book. Thank you for pointing that out. To clarify what I mean, if you've got an older version of the book that has all those stereotypes, including the Indian ones, I encourage you to remove that book and replace it with one of the newer ones.

And, French Connection, you don't think your children developed "stilted" ideas about American Indians by reading this book...   Can you ask them to draw an Indian, see what they draw, ask them why they did so, and report back to us? If they don't draw feathers on their Indians, can you ask them why they did not? I look forward to hearing from you! Thanks!

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Update, March 11, 2009

Thanks to Heidi, I've got images from Scarry's Find Your ABC's uploaded to Images of Indians: