The Online Home of Historian and Author Rose Stremlau
In April 2016, I was invited to speak at the Helmerich Center for American Research at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, OK as part of their symposium From Removal to Rebirth: The Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory. I shared research from my new book manuscript, specifically the material about how children experienced the Trail of Tears and the decade following it. I am honored that Cherokee Phoenix reporter Will Chavez wrote about it in detail. You can read his article here.
A Dakota woman spoke about her visit to an American fort: “‘Listen! Those people actually detest their children! You should see them – slapping their little ones’ faces and lashing their poor buttocks to make them cry! Why, almost any time of the day if you walk near the stockade you can hear the soldiers’ wives screaming at their children. Yes, they thoroughly scold them. I have never seen children treated so. . . Only if a woman is crazy might she turn on her own child, not knowing what she did.’” [i]
In her novel Waterlily, Yankton Dakota ethnologist Ella Cara Deloria recounted the reactions of mid-nineteenth century Dakota people to their new American neighbors. Although a fictionalized account of a Dakota person’s life during this pivotal period, the story is based on Deloria’s extensive research on pre-reservation Dakota lifeways. The narrative follows a child named Waterlily as she grows up, and readers learn about the beliefs and behaviors that shaped Dakota society along with her. Dakota people did not believe in the corporal punishment of children, and Deloria provides examples of how Dakota adults taught discipline, respect, and industriousness through demonstration, explanation, and praise. According to Deloria’s research and informants, Dakota people were horrified when they saw Americans beating their children. The Dakota woman listening to the speaker above felt “sick with sympathy for the unknown children” at that American post on the northern Plains. [ii] When I first saw the pictures of the lacerations and bruises on his little body, I felt “sick with sympathy” for Adrian Peterson’s young son.
This post originally appeared on the UNC Press blog.
Most American parents would rather give their kids the awkward “birds and bees” lecture than talk about money. In a study published in April 2011 by investment firm T. Rowe Price, researchers also concluded that parents think they do a poor job modeling fiscal skills. No wonder that experts lament Americans’ financial illiteracy and that our general lack of economic know-how contributed to the real estate and debt crises. We can look to the rich and famous for role models, but the fabulously wealthy sometimes didn’t earn their fortune. Also, a sizeable bank account doesn’t equate to skill at managing money, and living the good life often comes at the cost of being a decent human being. Where can we turn for better examples? History.
This post originally appeared on the First Peoples blog.
“The family is God’s unit of society.”–Merrill E. Gates, philanthropist and educator, in an 1878 report for the Office of Indian Affairs
As the US gears up for the 2012 election, the composition of an appropriate family according to the law will remain a hot topic. While the New York legislature debated whether to recognize same-sex marriages, a spectrum of opposition emerged that attempted to universalize definitions of marriage and family. In a blog post entitled “Marriage: The Core of Every Civilization,” Timothy Dolan, the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, asserted that the “most basic, accepted, revealed truth [is] that marriage simply means one man + one woman + (hopefully) children.” Dolan maintains that “History, Natural Law, the Bible (if you’re so inclined), the religions of the world, human experience, and just plain gumption tell us this is so. The definition of marriage is hardwired into our human reason.”
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