Many Feathers and Much Paint Don't Make an Indian

In 1909, an article explains: "The term 'squaw' is misused by white people. An Indian's squaw is an Indian's woman of low repute. To call an Indian's woman a squaw would be an insult. My sister was once asked to attend a social function among the upper ten in one of the great cities, and the ladies in attendance thought they would ply her with questions. One of the ladies laid particular stress upon the word squaw in her remarks to sister and sister answered her question thusly:           'We squaws never think of having high heels put in the middle of our moccasins. No squaw was ever seen with a poodle in her arms where there ought to be a baby.' "                                                                              - Source: 1909, Aug 28. The Oshkosh Northwestern Read more about the word "Squaw" - and see the article - by clicking here .

Revision of Indians Names March 24, 1903 - Washington - A complete revision of the names of Indians in the United States is now being made by the government. The object is to eliminate the many almost unpronounceable and vulgar Indian names and to substitute permanent names that will show the family relationship, retaining any existing names that are proper and which will enable title to allotments, etc. to be kept clear.  1903 March 24, Green Bay Press Gazette  New Names for Indians Order is Issued which probably will make the Red Men angry       Washington - The Indian bureau has decided on a policy which will probably cause as much indignation, and excitement among the red men as in the now famous order of Commissioner Jones, since revoked, instituting compulsory hair-cutting among the Nation's wards.       This policy contemplates a wholesale rechristening of all the Indians in the United States, substituting for their usually unpronounceable titles, names selected

1903 March 22, Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette 

      The Indian women at the Sportsmen’s Show are a constant source of wonder to those who visit the big building. The soft-footed, soft-voiced women from Uncle Sam’s reservations are not at all like the squaws of fiction. In their costume alone can there be found any resemblance. They wear well-cut, nicely-fitting gowns made of think, soft buckskin and decorated with wampum silver trinkets and bright colored braids. They are educated intelligent, well-groomed and treat curious questioners with a gentle courtesy that is an object lesson to many who annoy them.        The three in the above picture are of the Albanki tribe. Their names are Falling Star, Bright Eyes and Mountain Dove, and they are one of the most picturesque features of the big Indian exhibit in the concert garden. Their duty is to sell Navajo blankets and various other useful and ornamental articles made by Indians. Bright Eyes is a little tot, not over 10 years old. She dances around the polished floor happy as a l

Recently the Indian department at Washington decided that paint and long hair are not henceforth to be worn by Indians on the reservations, and edict which aroused no little discontent among the tamed redskins, who at least hoped to be allowed to go down to their graves after the fashion of their savage forefathers. 1904, March 1. The Bourbon News. 

Some Purely English Humor ..... Ernest [Fownes] came over with the Earl and Lady Yarmouth. Rich blue blood flows in his veins, and he had a notion that he would like to see a buffalo hunt in Wall Street, or be present while the redskins burned somebody at the stake in Des Moines, Ia.  1906 Feb 23, The Union Leader 

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  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

1901 Feb 3, St Louis Post Dispatch 

Dr. Charles Montezuma an Apache Francis La Flesche , an Omaha Indian, now a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a Government employee  Honore Jackson , a successful lawyer in Chicago Miss Angel de Cora , a Winnebago and artist who has met with much success in illustrating Indian life, and Miss Zitkala Sa , a Yankton Sioux, a magazine writer. 1907 Feb 1, Trenton Evening Times 

      Buffalo, NY: "I don't care so much about the charge," said John Clark, a Cattaraugus Indian, in United States Court today. "It ain't the charge that she made against me that bothers me, it's the reflection on my ability as a marksman. She said I fired at her and missed. Why, I'm the best shot on the reservation. If I shot at her I couldn't miss her, for she weighs 300 pounds."       Clark was arrested last night in the town of Brant by a Deputy United States Marshal on a charge of attempted murder preferred by Susan Fatty, an Indian woman. She says Clark fired several shots at her from a gun and missed her.      Clark is a noted Indian guide, and wealthy Buffalo men are to be summoned to court to prove that he is a crack shot, and that if he had fired at the woman he never could have missed her. 1903 Feb 1, The Wichita Daily Eagle 

Indians Must Cut Hair (January 1902) Commissioner Jones… hopes by the order to assist the wards of the government in their advancement toward civilization. It is addressed to the various Indian agents throughout the country and directs them to induce the male Indians under their charge to cut their hair, using force only when necessary. He says it will require considerable tact and perseverance to carry out the order, but suggests the withholding of supplies from recalcitrant Indians until they comply, and the discharge of those who are employed by the government unless they appear with shorn locks. No long haired Indians are to be employed. If any Indians “become obstreperous about the matter,” a short confinement in the guardhouse after clipping their hair, he thinks, will effect a cure. 1902, Jan 17, The Inter Ocean  1902 Jan 21, The Ottawa Daily Republic 

There is an interesting relic about four miles northwest of Bald Mountain City, Wyo, which but few people have ever seen. It is what is called Medicine Wheel. It is made of rock embedded in the ground in the shale of a wheel with thirty-seven spokes. The circumference of the wheel is about 173 feet, and it is supposed the savages came to this place in the early days to make medicine, and from this custom the wheel derived its name. One old Indian on the Crow reservation, over eighty years of age, says the wheel was there when he was a young brave, and no one can recollect when it was made. - 1895 Jan 16, The Wichita Beacon  1925 Feb 15, Casper Star Tribune  The first article I could find that mentions the "Medicine Wheel" 1895 Jan 16, The Wichita Beacon  1902 Billings, Mont, Aug 3 – Indian Medicine Wheel for Chicago Museum  H.C. Simms, representative of Field’s Colombian Museum of Chicago, who has been scouting the Crow reservation for the last two weeks

1909 Jan 14, Santa Ana Register        La Blance appealed to his audience for clothing for a number of poor families at San Juan Caplstrano, and received a generous response. A large supply of clothing was turned over to him by the Salvation Army, and individuals brought him some good, cast-off clothing. He said he has about 400 pounds of it….        [His talk last night in part follows:] To the Public: Believing that in many respects the character of the American Indians and their attitude towards the whites and the Federal government are misunderstood, I have therefore taken it upon myself to travel upon my own responsibility and lecture to the public in this state. I am not attempting to stir up trouble or to make the Indians of California, who are held as wards of the Federal government, discontented with the conditions under which they are being cared for by the Federal government. I am merely trying to bring about a better understanding.        It is very true that there a

... physician, college graduate and government agent. Dr. Eastman is a full-blooded Sioux, and achieved his education after many hardships. He will tell the Indian's side of the story of American civilization in an approaching number of the imperial Course.  1905 Jan 8, The Los Angeles Times 

1902, Jan 1. New Ulm Review 

Two 16-year-old intent on running off to Arizona "to fight Indians" were captured and held over until their parents arrived. They were armed with rifles and mounted on burros. December 8, 1909 click below to read the article The Oregon Daily Journal, Dec 8, 1909 

 November 29, 1909 - " They had a large consignment of the vengeance of the pale face ." To read the actual article, click below The Evening Herald, Nov 29, 1909 

November 13, 1909 - Hoping to "fight Indians out west," four boys purchased tickets for St Louis, "where Indians were believed to abound," and were waiting on a train when captured by local detectives. To read the entire story, click below The Daily Democrat. Nov 13, 1909. 

1900 March 9, The Philadelphia Inquirer