Making Indians in the 19thCentury Press

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Making Indiansin the 19th-Century Press

• John M. Coward
• Faculty of Communication
• The University of Tulsa

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Making Indians

• My simple thesis
• Native Americans were and are real people from
  varied and complex societies, but they have long
  been ignored or misunderstood by mainstream
  Americans and media.
• The Indian was a white invention, a small set
  of stereotypes produced and endlessly repeated in
  American popular culture, including news.

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Making Indians

• My complex thesis
• Popular representations of Indians are deeply
  rooted in the nations history and social fabric
• Ideas and images of Indians were and are
  narrowly constructed, mostly stereotypes
• Popular meanings of Indians and Indianness are
  largely predetermined and seemingly obvious

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Evidence from the Press

• 1819
• It is well known that the pagan part of these
  Six Nations, which compose a large majority of
  the whole, have always strenuously opposed any
  advance towards civilization.
• Niles National Register

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Evidence from the Press

• 1830
• Relative to the Cherokees,the wandering
  Indian has been converted into the industrious
  husbandman and the tomahawk and rifle are
  exchanging for the plough, the hoe, the wheel,
  and the loom,attaining a degree of civilization
  that was entirely unexpected.
• Niles National Register

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Evidence from the Press

• 1838
• Bold and decisive in action, deadly but
  consistent in hatred, dark in revenge, cool,
  subtle, sagacious in council,Oceola
  establisheda resistless ascendancy over his
  adoptive tribe.
• --Charleston (S.C.)Mercury

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Evidence from the Press

• 1844
• The North American Indian in his native state,
  is an honest, hospitable, faithful, brave,
  warlike, cruel, revengeful, relentless,yet
  honourable, contemplative and religious being.
• --George Catlin

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Evidence from the Press

• 1856
• The outrages perpetuated upon the citizens of
  Oregon are of the most startling character. The
  old Indian wars, even of New England and
  Virginia, furnish no pictures of riot and murder,
  as mark every hour upon the Columbia.
• Democratic Review, Washington, D.C.

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Evidence from the Press

• 1860
• One needs but little familiarity with the
  actual, palpable aborigines to convince any one
  that the poetic Indianthe Indian of Cooper and
  Longfellowis only visible to the poets eye.
• Horace Greeley

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Evidence from the Press

• 1860
• Squalid and conceited, proud and worthless, lazy
  and lousy, Indian men will strut out their
  existence, and at length afford the world a
  sensible relief by dying out of it.
• Horace Greeley

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Evidence from the Press

• 1864
• Among the brilliant feats of arms in Indian
  warfare, the recent Sand Creek campaign of our
  Colorado volunteers will stand in history with
  few rivals and none to exceed it in final
  results. All acquitted themselves well, and
  Colorado soldiers have again covered themselves
  with glory.
• Rocky Mountain News

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Evidence from the Press

• 1864
• As the bold sojer boys passed along, the
  sidewalkswere thronged with citizensexpressing
  their admiration for the gallant boys who donned
  the regimentals for the purpose of protecting the
  women of the country, by ridding it of
  red-skins.
• Rocky Mountain News

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Evidence from the Press

• 1867
• Another terrible Indian massacre took place at
  Fort Buford. Colonel Rankin, wife, child and the
  whole garrison of eighty souls were slaughtered.
  Colonel Rankin shot his wife to prevent her
  falling in the hands of the Indians.
• Harpers Weekly

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Evidence from the Press

• 1874
• On the Atchison, Topeka Santa Fe Railroad,
  Indians is the cry on all sides. Yesterday Albert
  Lesenger was killed by the savage fiends and
  they are burning railroad bridges and driving off
  the stock.
• Chicago Tribune

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Evidence from the Press

• 1876
• It is agreed on all hands that there must now be
  an Indian war till the hostile Indians of the
  North-west have been chastised and subjugated.
• The New York Times

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Evidence from the Press

• 1876
• Let that christian philanthrophy which weeps
  over the death of a lazy, lousy, lying, stealing
  red skin, whose hands are still reeking with the
  blood of defenceless women and children, take a
  back seat.
• The Bismarck (N.D.) Tribune

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Evidence from the Press

• 1881
• To talk of civilizing and christianizing the
  Indian without first thrashing him into fear is
  the sheerest nonsense. He is a lout and must be
  made to fear before he can be made to respect.
• Arizona Weekly Star

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Evidence from the Press

• 1890
• The governor of South Dakota has issued a
  large number of Springfield rifles to ranchers
  and cowboys for protection. It is reported that
  some cowboys have lain near the reservation lines
  for Indians and when they appear shoot at them.
  
• The (Washington, D.C.) Evening Star

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The 19th-century verdict

• Two kinds of Indians
• Good Noble, free, Christian, religious, honest,
  honorable, hospitable, brave, docile,
  progressive.
• Bad Savage, squalid, treacherous, fiendish,
  worthless, conceited, resistant, pagan, lying,
  stealing, cruel, deadly, bloodthirsty, lousy

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So what?

• Newspapers helped create and sustain this
  dichotomy, oversimplified categories that
  interfered with more accurate, sensitive, and
  humane portrayals of Indians.
• The journalistic legacy lives on, embedded in
  popular discourse and imagery.
• Then and now, the press and public believes they
  know what Indians look like, what they wear,
  how they talk, how they act, and so on.

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The Problem of the Press

• Traditional news values do not always serve the
  truth when applied to Native Americans
• The facts themselves are not necessarily neutral
  or objective in many Indian stories
• The media has a civic and moral responsibility to
  learn about other American cultures and to go
  beyond the sensational and the episodic

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The Lessons of History

• Reporting on Native Americans has a highly
  checkered legacy, and remains an obstacle to
  accuracy, understanding, and reconciliation
• Stereotypes hurt, reinforcing preexisting ideas
  and reducing empathy
• History, knowledge, and context is crucial