I remember checking out school library books like Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, Wyatt Earp, Jeremiah Johnson . . . . And there were others, not all boy books.
Maybe the heroes were sugar-coated, but I got to know their names, locations, general accomplishments, and time in history.
The ‘evil’ side of their life was not needed. I wouldn’t have understood it anyway. And the culture at the time did not denigrate people publicly as a matter of course.
As I matured and learned of the ‘evil’ in us all, I could accept their foibles and incorporate them into their life history.
Things are so much different today.
OT:
Chief Joseph, when he surrendered, had his medicine pouch taken. Inside it was a small clay tablet which was handed down from his ancestors. The tablet was inscribed in Sumerian cuneiform writing.
Once again another proof that many peoples have come and gone from the North American continent throughout history perhaps starting with the Solutrean at 17,000BC and the Clovis Peoples at 11,500 BC and later the Red Paint Peoples around 3,000BC.
Columbus was just the last in s long line of explorers traders and hunters to come to the New World. And still older, there are sites in California and Mexico that go back 160,000 300,000 years. A very long line, indeed.
There was an attempt in the 1960s, to rehabilitate the American Indian into a form of early “Hippie”. Didn’t scalp or torture, made no wars till warred upon. Just did the “Happy Dance” all the time, till the Evil White Man showed up.
This thought made it’s way into movies such as Soldier Blue and Little Big Man, and some horrid Made-For-TV Movies becoming the “norm” for the 1970s.
Those of us who studied early history knew better.
On OETA TV(PBS in Oklahoma), a program called Images Of Indians, while showing the fabrications of early 1940s and 1950s Western movies also spewed about Indians not scalping or torturing, and all reports of such being white man’s “Lies”.
Then around 1980 or so, National Geographic had an article on Jamestown, showing, on the cover, two Indians scalping a white woman. BOOM! Talk about hot letters to the Editor!
it was then mentioned what some of us already knew, that early explorers, both Spanish and English found Indians scalping and butchering slain enemies all along the East Coast, before the whites began to settle there.
It was then also mentioned about a massacre at Crow Canyon long before the white man arrived, showing over 400 tribesmen butchered, scalped, tortured.
Then the archaeologists released old suppressed data showing there was cannibalism among the Pueblos in the 4-Corners area, and all hell broke lose.
Their cover had been blown and they didn’t like it.
Here are just a few of my links showing how Indians treated each other before the White Man arrived.
https://frontierpartisans.com/3942/crow-creek-massacre/
http://westerndigs.org/skeletons-in-utah-cave-are-victims-of-prehistoric-war-study-says/
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/trail_dust/trail-dust-massacre-at-awatovi-is-little-known-act-of-genocide/article_7231e60b-9897-50bc-992d-8d5344685d4c.html
http://westerndigs.org/mass-grave-of-prodigal-sons-in-california-poses-prehistoric-mystery/
https://www.archaeology.org/news/2269-140630-colorado-torture-evidence
https://ancientstandard.com/2007/07/17/csi-new-mexico-%e2%80%93-possible-genocide-ca-1275-ad/
https://archive.archaeology.org/9709/newsbriefs/anasazi.html
And some links to the engravings of Theodore de Bry, based on what he was told...
https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/de-bry-native-american-ritual-granger.jpg
https://www.historytoday.com/sites/default/files/cannibals.jpg.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/93/6c/8b/936c8bfb99918967b8b022534b81bd07.jpg
And to show the opposite side ...
https://www.art-prints-on-demand.com/kunst/theodore_de_bry/the_dogs_of_vasco_nunez_de_bal.jpg
We used the Robinson Curriculum to home-school our kids. Most books on the reading list were past copyright date and could be downloaded online for free. We also found many old books in thrift stores. Art Robinson recommended autobiographies as much as possible for history because they were written by people who lived it.
Biden rally.
History is always written by those who survived.....................
Interesting stuff. Good post.
