Feb 12, 1907 - The educated Indians are rapidly stepping to the front.
Charles Curtis is the newly elected senator from Kansas; Francis La Flesche, an Omaha Indian, is now a fellow of the American association for the advancement of science. Doctor Carlos Montezuma, an Apache Indian, and Miss Angel de Cora, a Winnebago, have fitted into the modern conditions of civilized life. - 1907 Feb 12, El Paso Herald
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| 1907 Feb 12, El Paso Herald |
THE INDIAN TODAY
1907 Feb 8, The Des Moines Register
The election of Charles Curtis to the United States senate has occasioned an interesting discussion of the present condition of the Indian. Senator Curtis has represented a Kansas district in the lower house of congress for fourteen years, and it is not to be inferred that he goes about with an eagle feather in his hair, wrapped in a blanket and grunting monosyllabic replies to interrogatories. But Senator Curtis is of Indian descent, his mother having belonged to the Kaw tribe, while he and his five children have received allotments of rich Shawnee land in settlement of the government's debt to the tribe. Senator Curtis is the first man of Indian blood to occupy a seat, in the senate. In the house, however, he had an associate in Adam Monroe Byrd of Mississippi, who
traces his ancestry through a long line of distinguished Cherokee chieftains.
Frederick J. Haskins
makes the success of Senator Curtis an occasion for cataloguing the red men
prominent in public affairs. He first cites Quanah Parker, undoubtedly the
foremost Indian of the day, chief of the Comanches, a political power in the
new state of Oklahoma and possible United States senator. Chief Parker’s mother
was a white woman, Cindy Parker, who was captured by the Indians when a girl
and later became the wife of Quanah, a Comanche warrior. Mr Haskins’ second citation
is Dr. Charles A. Eastman, a Santee Sioux, author of several books, notably “Indian
Boyhood” and “Red Hunters and the Animal People.” Dr. Eastman lectured in Des
Moines last summer, proving himself a good Chautauqua attraction. Other
prominent Indians are Dr. Carlos Montezuma, an Apache, who was rescued from a
battlefield when only six years old and is now a prominent physician in
Chicago; Francis La Flesche, an Omaha Indian, now a fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science and, a government employee distinguished
for good work in scientific research; Honore Jackson, a successful lawyer in
Chicago; Miss Angel de Cora, a Winnebago artist who has met with much success
in illustrating Indian life; and Miss Zitkala Sa, a Yankton Sioux, who is a
contributor to the Atlantic Monthly.
Mr. Haskins
makes the interesting statement that those orators who paint the departed glory
of “Poor Lo” and refer to the dying race are not within the facts. Instead of
declining further numerically, the Indians are now actually increasing in
numbers. At the present time there are about 284,000 members of the red race in
America. There are Indians in eighteen states and three territories, exclusive
of Indian Territory. Nearly all of the tribes are west of the Mississippi; most
of them beyond the Missouri.
Today there are
159,000 Indians who wear citizens’ dress, in whole or in part, and 70,000 who
can read and speak English. There are 28,000 Indian families now living in
comfortable dwellings. The Cherokee are the most advanced in civilization and
the most eager for education, spending $200,000 a year on their schools and
colleges. The Chickasaws have five colleges, with 400 students, maintained at a
yearly cost of $47,000. They also have thirteen district schools, costing
$16,000. The Choctaws have 150 schools, in some of which the higher branches
are taught. The Seminoles, one of the smallest tribes, have two schools. The
Creeks have ten colleges and sixty-five common schools, with a total attendance
of 2500. The Indians have 390 church buildings and a total membership of about
40,000.
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| 1907 Feb 8, The Des Moines Register |
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