1902 - For the young Indians "No more for them the blanket, the paint and the uncut hair of their ancestors." .. "They must be submit to" being "benevolently assimilated."
"The wearing of citizen's clothing, instead of the Indian costume and blanket, should be encouraged.
"Indian dances and so-called Indian feasts should be prohibited...."
 |
| 1902, Jan 16 Evening Star |
It didn't take long before Indian Commissioner William A. Jones was correcting his earlier position:
The Indian and His Hair Cut
1902, Jan 22 The Baltimore Sun
Indian Commissioner Jones does not propose that Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock shall reap the glory of solving the Indian problem by the tonsorial method. The idea was his own, he announces in an interview. He thought it all our himself, having seen the need. Mr Hitchcock didn't do it at all. The Interior Department is not like the Navy Department, in which the boss gets all the glory for everything done by those under him, and Mr Jones can claim the honor of his discovery without danger of being court-martialed.1902, Jan 22 The Baltimore Sun
Mr Jones has discovered, however, that his now famous order went a little farther than he intended. As originally worded it would apply to all Indians, and those who refused to have their hair cut and wash the paint from their faces were to have visited upon them the wrath of the department in the cutting off of rations and "short confinements at hard labor." The hair cutting must be done cautiously, he says, and not all at once. Agents must cut tenderly and with care. Tact in large quantities will be needed. It is not intended, he says, that the agents shall be so precipitate as to give the Indians any just cause for revolt. He doesn't want a score or so of Indian wars to break out all at one time. That would be embarrassing, in view of the situation in the Philippines. Soldiers cannot be well spared from the islands to shoot the Indians who might prefer the warpath of savagery to the hair-cut of civilization. Mr Jones makes one big concession. The old Indians are to be left alone. Wedded to their idols of long hair, paint, blankets and the like, they may go their evil way without let or hindrance. "We will let the old fellows wear their hair long and daub their faces until they die out," he is quoted as saying. But it is to the rising generation that he pins his hopes -- the young fellows who have been to school and should know better. No more for them the blanket, the paint and the uncut hair of their ancestors. They must forswear all these vanities and be good. They must submit to Commissioner Jones' edict and be benevolently assimilated.
"Then, after they have learned to wear store clothes and have concealed as many as possible of the characteristics of their race, the tribes may be broken up, the members distributed all over the country and their lands thrown open to settlers, who are so crowded now, or given to corporations."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Of course, while all this was going on. the Improved Order of the Red Men were wearing "gorgeous war paint and feathers," exhibiting themselves in front of large crowds. "So realistic were their costumes that had it not been for the fact that only about half those in line were in disguise, they would have been mistaken for real Indians." -- 200 participated.
This assumption is repeated over and over in our society: that Native people were "costumes" and whites look like "real Indians," because apparently, being an Indian is what you wear, not who you are. Same is true today.
 |
| 1902, Oct 7 The Washington Times |
 |
| 1902, Jan 22 The Baltimore Sun |
