[Editor's note: This post was originally published in September 2008, but I think the lesson bears repeating as Thanksgiving approaches.]
Dear Anti-Racist Parent:
I was wondering if you had any literature or posts on why white kids should not be dressing us as Native Americans? I’ve used comparisons to black face, but I am looking for something specific…especially anything that references “Cowboys and Indians.
Anonymous
From the Editor:
This is a timely question with Thanksgiving just over two months away. Many educators are likely planning classroom activities that involve “dressing up” to portray Native American people. And, I should point out, it is not just inappropriate for white children to do this. There are better ways for all non-Native children to better understand indigenous people.
Below are links to two great tools from the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis. They discuss Thanksgiving specifically and teaching about Native Americans in general.
thanksgiving-and-teaching-about-native-americans1
The first document points out that children wearing a sari from India or a kimono from Japan is different from imitating regalia with fake feathers, etc. What about learning about (and possibly dressing up in) the everyday clothing of 17th century Native Americans and European immigrants? Surely there is information somewhere about the ordinary clothing of the time.
This wouldn’t address the questionable origins of Thanksgiving, but needn’t happen in November, either.
In that same vein, I keep a copy of Frank James (Wampsutta)’s 1970 speech in a binder on my shelf. I’m waiting to pull it out the first time I have to reprogram my kid from the crap she’s bound to get in preschool or grade school.
It’s a really powerful speech that speaks to the Native American experience, as well as that specifically of the Wampanoags.
>http://www.blackcommentator.com/207/207_day_of_mourning_wampsutta.html
As a first time parent to a 1 year old, I have a little while before he will be ready to talk about this stuff. But it is very interesting and I don’t think its ever to early to begin thinking and learning about these issues.
I remember being a child and being encouraged to dress up like an “indian” and I can see now how this perpetuated damaging stereotypes.
I do think that dress up play serves a very important and valuable purpose but there are ways to make sure that it is respectful and educational.
Thanks for this!
Another great resource is your local native community’s open events. In a lot of places there are powwows and cultural celebrations open to the general public – you can meet great people, see an amazing variety of traditional fancy dress, and teach your kids that Native cultures are alive and well, not just history.
I’d be interested in references to accurate or at least respectful portrayals of Native American’s in movies and television. There are some “old westerns” that are clearly over the top, but I’m sure many are quite a bit more respectful and accurate. Or, maybe not.
Same for TV shows. I recall an episode of Little House where “Pa” essentially sided with the local tribes that were being violently pushed out of the area. While I’m guessing there were some general stereotypes gong on, I was struck by how anti-racist the show was at least on that front. Of course, I might be naive, but that’s the way I viewed it, particularly considering it was the 70s.
>There are some “old westerns” that are clearly over the top, but I’m sure many are quite a bit more respectful and accurate. Or, maybe not.
There are movies that aren’t HORRIBLE, or are at least more sympathetic (Dances w/ Wolves comes to mind, because at least the language used is a REAL one, not gibberish). But it’s still white protagonists/heroes, with Native people as background, victims, or villians.
Hidalgo gets more of a pass (although really, Viggo Mortensen as mixed white-Native? Are there NO Native actors that also fit the bill?), because it’s based on an actual person. And it addresses some of the issues facing some tribes on the plains at the turn of the last century (although the movie is problematic for other ethnic issues).
I’d try to find movies that are actually made by or with significant input from native people themselves. I adore Smoke Signals for that reason (based on Sherman Alexie’s short stories, has a cool alt-country/Ulali soundtrack, has a fairly good hero’s journey/forgiving your parents for being human theme), although it’s not for kids.
Any ideas about how to approach my child’s teacher about this? Last year she had the kiddos (preschool) make hats that were pilgrim on one side and Native American (she uses the word Indian”) on the other. I didn’t quite know what to do when my son can home with that on his head.
Also, I love the resources you linked at the end of this post. I did notice that they’re mostly geared toward children who are school aged. Any resources for pre-K kiddos?
Oterhog,
We call ourselves Indians. I can’t speak for everyone, of course, but I don’t think that’s too big a stresser. Personally, I like the word “indigenous.”
At that level, some attention to the reality that there were many DIFFERENT Natives here (and many different ways of life) might be the best approach.
Good luck with the rest. I am looking for pre-K books for the same thing…
best,
d
CJsDaddy, there’s one called “Naturally Native” which purports to be “the first film about Native American women written, directed, produced and starring Native American women.”
More “Little House” minor stereotype-busting: in the middle of nowhere, a white boy walks up to a Native American boy, lifts his hand, and says, “How!” The NA boy kind of screws up his face and says, “How what?” The white boy stammers, “How, uh, how are you?”
Another aspect of the discussion is that typical “Indian dress-up” costumes are often recreations of certain tribes’ high-ceremonial dress, not their everyday dress. In effect, putting on feather headress and other “fancy” stuff is akin to making a costume out of Catholic vestements — not unlike your kid walking around mimicking delivering the Sacraments or reading the Torah. Most of us would talk straight with our kids about how people might be offended at seeing their religions’ vestements worn as costume, right? No different for indigenous people’s sacred duds.
There’s a great movie called “Blackrobe” that folks might want to watch sometime, though unfortunately it’s a little bloody (and boring) for the kiddos.
Another good film is Disney’s “Squanto,” starring Adam Beach who also starred in “Smoke Signals.” Obviously it is a bit simplified for children’s consumption, but the film is surprisingly faithful to history in describing Squanto’s abduction, his two trips to Europe before meeting the Pilgrims, the destruction of his village to the plague, etc.
One group, if you can find it through your local boy scouts, that alot of Native Americans don’t have a problem with Angloes (as they call us) dressing as Native Americans, is a Venture Crew. I was part of one in northeastern Colorado, and many of the Native Americans around that area respect the group, because even as Angloes, we taught others about the ways of the Native Americans. The women only did what the Native women did, and the men were the only ones to touch the items that women were not allowed to touch. The women put up the “learning lodge”, the men sat at the drum, the women sang, and we had male and female dancers.
When the group held their Fellowship Powwow, they invited Native American drum groups, a couple of them requesting a permanent place at the powwow. If handled correctly, with reverence and respect, Angloes can dress as Native Americans. But you must ALWAYS act in the way of the Native Americans you will be around. The color guard for the powwow does not hesitate when invited.
If done properly, with reverence and respect, a white wo/man can dress as a Native American… but don’t do it for Halloween!!!! That is most definitely disrespectful.
It is possible to do this “dress-up” in a way that would not be offensive. If a well versed instructor used the time to talk about specific tribes and their specific customs. It would also require the dress-up to be pretty authentic. It would be a worthwhile lesson for a six year old to learn that wearing feathered head dresses and a bone and bead breast plates were not the norm. Involving local tribes would be great too. This could become a thoughtful American History lesson.
Now pulling my head out of my Utopian ideal, I recognize that such a teacher is a rarity. Finding a school that will allow such in depth diversity lessons would be difficult as well. We can hope can’t we?
http://www.history.com/content/desperatecrossing
Great vidoe for older elemen. & up.
I LOVE this book. It’s a big photographic book of reenactions, in which the Wampanoags are played by real Wampanoags, and presumably the Pilgrims are played mostly by Plimoth descendents, too. Much of it is about daily life.
1621 : a new look at Thanksgiving / by Catherine O’Neill Grace and Margaret M. Bruchac with the Plimoth Plantation ; photographs by Sisse Brimberg and Cotton Coulson.
Have you tried the Oyate Catalog? It reviews numerous resources on Native Americans for different age groups, though I don’t think there are any children’s videos. It’s unfortunate that schools choose to teach about Native Americans primarily with elementary-age children when most of the really good, honest and in-depth materials aren’t appropriate for that age group.
Hmm, if they ever do an Indian dressup in Switzerland (and given how romanticized Native Americans are in Germany, I wouldn’t doubt it), I’ll probably tell my kid to just bring in a blanket and play dead.
Thanks for re-posting this. I was really struggling with it this week when I found out that my child’s entire second grade was learning about Native Americans and then were going to have a feast today. All of the children were asked to make a vest and decorate it. Of course, my son was incredibly excited, and I went into a flurry of angst. I wanted him to understand that just like I teach him that there is no one way of being African or African-American, there is no one profile of Native American. I wanted him to understand why I call Thanksgiving, “Thankstaking”. I wanted him to understand the history. And, I felt really ambivalent about him wearing the vest. In the end, I let him decide. I explained stereotyping, I explained the history, and, frankly, I think I went overboard. He wavered back and forth. He’s a kid…it was a fun project…an exciting day at school, and he wanted to participate in the committed and intense way that he does. But, he reassured me that they weren’t talking about *all* Native Americans, they were specifically talking about Native Americans in Georgia like the Creeks; and that they had watched a movie that showed how the Europeans took the land; and that they were learning about the history and culture to honor not disrepect; and that he got that what they were learning was about a long time ago; and that he wanted to draw real Creek symbols on his vest. In the end, he did, and hopefully, at least, he got some additional context and sensitivity to go with his vest. Please forgive the extra-long comment…
@ dersk, You have GOT to be kidding me. Do you think that would be funny satire or something? That you’d be reminding those unenlighted-Indian-romanticising-Europeans that actually white people killed many indigenous North Americans with arms, disease, and exploitation? How knowledgeable of you. You’d only be playing into the white privilege of thinking that North American Indians ARE history and thus THEY are a PROBLEM that WE don’t have to think about because we took care of that already. There’s a difference between owning up to responsibility for hideous crimes and rubbing people’s face in having gotten away with them.
But even in the most generous reading of your “playing dead” suggestion and I assume that you DO get it, I’d have to say, well those romanticisers would NOT get it, and you’d only be making things worse.
This reminds me of a post on stuff white people do: http://stuffwhitepeopledo.blogspot.com/2009/11/refuse-to-see-racism-when-non-white.html
@Karen: unjerk your knee. They’re about as likely to have a ‘dress like an Indian’ day in Switzerland as they are to have ‘dress like a Visigoth’ day back in the States. It was a joke.
@dersk,
I know you thought it was funny. I’m telling you I thought it was offensive.
Furthermore, you have compound that first offense with an idiom that suggests that I am humourless, reflexive, and unthinking? Why did you feel the need to address the state of my knee instead of defending the joke on its own (supposed) merits?
I recall your being directed to Derailing for Dummies before but in this case I’ll cite:
“take very real and serious issues that affect their lives and treat them as nothing more than a theoretical discussion for your own detached AMUSEMENT!” [emphasis mine] You found your joke amusing. I hope you’re the only one.
“satirical” joke = I was playing devil’s advocate
http://www.derailingfordummies.com/#surprise
unjerk your knee = you’re just oversensitive
http://www.derailingfordummies.com/#sensitive
And no, I’m not going to bite on the contradictions of probability in your two messages – to do so would be to derail my objections.
Excellent post. I’m glad you reprinted it and I have linked to it in my recent Thanksgiving post. Many thanks.
@ dersk
surprise, surprise. i’ve been invited to a First Nations (aka Indian) themed 40-year birthday party. and i live in France just a few km from Switzerland.
i was appalled to receive the invitation after i told the hostess i was looking forward to her party. everyone is expected to arrive dressed up.
i’m attributing the choice of theme to ignorance and have decided to give the hostess a few movies (The Necessities of Life and The Fast Runner) and a small book i put together on how far film has come from the Western movies played on tv and watched by all in the 1970s.
i’m still having trouble finding a way to explain why i won’t be attending without offending her or spoiling the party.
Are people really offended when a person marries outside their culture/ethnicity/race and then adopts the values and cultural identities of their spouse/partner thus becoming bicultural?