Haleigh Fitzsimmons
Mrs. Jank
English 4
2 February, 2018

In Between the Lines of History Books

Growing up, I thought I knew everything about Indians. My father’s ancestors date back to Native American tribes and Royal personnel within the tribe. From ages seven to eleven, I convinced myself I could feel the “Indian senses” coursing through my veins. I took pride in this, even insisted on walking barefoot in the summer in order to “channel my ancestors”. Looking back on those days, by simply believing I knew all there was inhibited myself to let go of a single story view I never knew I had. The Indigenous people unit has expanded my knowledge while also increasing my chances of letting go of my vulnerability simultaneously.

During grade school the knowledge of Indians is highly stereotypical. Chanting around the fire, feathers in their hair, and holding core values no ten year old could grasp. When the teacher would ask the class to dress as Indians, each child would appear in store-bought moccasins, brown colored dresses, and colorful beads for accessories. All the while learning about the famous (yet inaccurate) thanksgiving story, and fell in love with the Disney portrayal of Pocahontas with her adorably mischievous pet raccoon, Miko.
As children, we are given a single story. One side to the nearly infinite more accounts of a past left in sorrow. Yet all those stories were kept hidden under the fluff of children’s history lessons and stretched in truth behind the lively colored cartoon drawings in the picture books we read.

Of course we keep these facts away from elementary education. The likelihood of parents approving the subject of murdering innocent Indians to their young children is quite low. However, once these children grow into slightly larger – more awkward – versions of themselves in middle school, more sides to the story are exposed. Suddenly, the history of the Indians becomes more gruesome than previously remembered. Historical stories of Maria’s Massacre, Dawes Act, and transportation by foot to reservations in the winter presented enough to change our perceptions, and a little more to rock our world (academically speaking of course).

A Ted Talk titled, “The Danger of a Single Story” shines the light on a not – so – common discussion. When you think about it, “Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories.” Chimamanda Adichie ties the idea of only hearing one side of a story to the unknown knowledge of African countries and their cultures. While the subject of peoples is different from Native American culture the same “critical misunderstanding” remains. Now, Don’t get me wrong. Dangers of hearing a single story apply even in social circles without racial tendencies. As we experience relationships (both friendly and romantic) we are constantly told there is a significant importance of hearing both sides of the story before jumping to an immediate conclusion. Take that common day example, now apply that same vision to all the other ethnicities, cultures, and people among the world. Adiche expressed her frustration after encountering a roommate who assumed she did not know how to use a stove, or held a presupposition of tribal music being the only genre she listened to. The roommate only believed the single story she heard all her life. Containing a group of indigenous personnel fighting for survival in the safari. The same position applies to my own initial single story outlook of Native American individuals.

Reading through “Mean Spirit” provided an opportunity of relieving my brain of a single-story outlook. The novel sparked an interest in me concerning the Osage Indians in the 1920s, who suffered nearly the same torture and mistreatment as the book portrayed. My initial conception of the 1920s pertained heavy white culture, lively music, and roaring wealth. However I did not expect the astounding discovery of imperialistic concepts within the culture of that century. Law enforcements continued to exclude Native American peoples from certain privileges, one example within “Mean Spirit” is the story of Benoit and his wrongful conviction. Benoit’s wife, Sarah Blanket, was killed in her own home after a terrible explosion during the night of the carnival. Benoit was an easy scapegoat, considering he enjoyed frolicking about with Lettie Graycloud. As Belle and Lettie Grayloud visited Benoit in jail they uncovered a surprising twist, “There’s witnesses…how could someone see what didn’t happen.” (Hogan, 83). On the night of the explosion Benoit was seen with Lettie on the Ferris wheel during the carnival. Meaning Benoit was no where near his home, or his wife Sarah, when his home was blown to smithereens. There were many witnesses at the carnival to prove Benoit’s innocent plea accurate, but “They knew they weren’t safe from the law.” (Hogan, 284). Reading about this event brought me back to our old history lessons of Native American hardships. Manipulating tribes into giving up their land only to squeeze them into small reservations with limited resources. Even after being quizzed on the years they took place, I never applied them to colonization or imperialism.

“Mean Spirit” showcased heavy perspectives pertaining Imperialism. An outlook of one race as more superior than the rest. The whites within Watona often declared a similar world view of “…you know, these Indians aren’t like us. They dress pretty. You know? They drive good cars. But under it all, they’re still different. Half savage maybe.” (Hogan, 125). It didn’t matter how many black Buicks they purchase, or how ‘…the younger women had lightened their hair to a brassy orange with hydrogen peroxide. Some of them wore makeup that was paler than their faces, imitating the white women’s pictures in magazines…” (Hogan, 12). Imperialism still continued to flourish regardless of the Native’s tireless efforts to “fit in”. The whites were becoming increasingly frustrated as the Indians accumulated wealth, transforming into a persistent motive to kill. This is presented with the Murder of Grace Blanket in the beginning of the novel. Grace’s murder was first presented as a cover up, a suicide, who later found to be the character Hale at the end of the story. As two white men drove past in a Buick “Grace was an easy target, and she knew it, but she wanted to, had to, lure the car away from the girls.” (Hogan, 24). Grace succeeded in saving the two girls, Nola and Rena, but met her death in the process. The man poured alcohol over her body, shot her, and placed a gun in her hand. When the question of murder came into play her body was stolen soon after. Regardless of these events – and the impeding fact that suicide is heavily frowned upon in their culture- there was no investigation or question from the law enforcements within Watona to a serious degree.

During the early 1920s newspapers depicted the increasing number of unsolved murders as the “Reign of Terror” in Osage County, Oklahoma. Certain estimates say nearly sixty or more full-blood (and wealthy) Osage native Americans were killed from 1921 to 1925. Reports indicate the murderer’s motives were to commonly take over the Osage wealth, and land filled with oil. One theme from “Mean Spirit” portrays oil as wealth and power over the town. The Graycloud family found themselves in deeper conflict when they struck oil on their land, “…and when the stone was moved out of place the water filled up with a surge of darkness…they smelled the oil…the men began immediately moving stones over the place, trying to cover up the source of the oil seep…They didn’t want to be around the broken earth’s black blood and its pain.” (Hogan, 229). The family knew the white men would come after them, tossing them aside as though they are worth nothing. Mean nothing. As though the price of oil came with more worth than a single Native American life. The “Osage Reign of Terror” also revealed countless accounts of corruption within the local law enforcement in the Osage guardian program. A large number of the murders were never prosecuted, however a few men were convicted and sentenced. However, taking a look at the bigger picture, the small amount of sentences will never be able to compare the ignored murder cases of innocent lives.

Single stories hinder the mind from viewing the layers hidden underneath. Linda Hogan and Adiche expose these perceptions for the frauds they are. This unit on Indigenous people has helped me by opening my mind to a new worldview. I am grateful for this novel and the questions it arose in me. Questions which caused my mind to take a new curve and experience a new adventure of thinking. “Mean Spirit” gave an insightful and exciting novel on imperialism in ways a basic history lesson never could. By attaching myself to the characters, and learning more about their culture with storytelling.

Works Cited
Hogan, Linda. “Mean Spirit”. Ivy Books, 1990.

Osage Indian Murders , Osage Nation , 15 Jan. 2018, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osage_Indian_murders.

“Ted Talk: The Dangers of a Single story .” Performance by Chimamanda Adichie .