Alice Fletcher

I chose to review the content based on Alice Fletchers’ field diary from Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Alice Fletcher was born in Cuba in 1838. Her father had moved to Cuba do to health issues. After his death, her mother moved Alice back to the East Coast so her daughter could receive “the best” in education (Smithsonian). Alice pursued lecturing circuits that focused on the history of human life. She argued “the ancient history of man” was “best uncovered by archaeology and ethnography” (Smithsonian). She was discovered by Frederick Ward Putnam who asked her to become and understudy in Anthropology and Ethnology. He was the director of Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.

Alice began to research Native Americans. Her curiosity and research led her to live with the Sioux for 6 weeks. She was accompanied by Susette La Flesche, Thomas Henry Tibble, and Wajapa. She documented her experience in her field diary. Her conclusions focused on Americanizing Indians so that they may no longer be “stranded between two modes of life” (Smithsonian).

As I read this article it became clear that as Alice pursued her interest in Indian Affairs, her concepts and ideas may have done more harm than good. In 1883 she became an employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She helped create a bill that allowed the Omaha people the right to claim title to their own land. She did similar work for Winnebago and Nez Perces reservations.

What I took from this article was the her intentions were good and she did actually do good things like the title of land to reservations, and her publishing of Indian Story and Song From North America that contained numerous songs of Native music, however, I think the idea of “Americanizing” Natives rather than embracing and accepting them did more harm than good. For example, she set education as a priority for Native Americans. She intended to help them gain the characteristics and bits and pieces of civilizations by learning arithmetic, English and develop skills that would help them become “productive American Citizens” (Smithsonian). She was very involved in the Carlisle Indian School.

In my readings, I have learned just how detrimental these schools were. It is estimated that many languages were lost due to the smallpox epidemic, but it also believed that many languages were halted due to the government creating Indian boarding schools in the 1800’s to end “Indianness,” much like the Carlisle school that Alice associated with (Moore, 2003, p. 103).  It is said that this created a whole generation that did not speak their native language. As I read some of the first sources that recall living through this era or their children who have never spoken their native languages it becomes evident that in some cases they were taught to believe they would be better off not acknowledging their heritage. I read the story by Neil McKay in Genocide of the Mind where he describes asking his own mother why he doesn’t speak his native language. Her answer was simply “because we are better off without it.”(Moore, 2003, p. 161).  So looking at the work of Alice Fletcher who thought it was owed to the Natives to Americanize them and to civilize them into becoming part of the mainstream culture in order to elevate their suffering, we may find that this kind of mindset did more harm than good. Her thoughts and opinions were imposed on Native Americans rather than fighting to preserve and protect the very essence of Native culture. Could it have been the easier route for Alice? Was it the fight she could win? There are many questions that come to mind as to the mindset she had when she set forth to change Native Americans, rather than to change civilization. It is said that she herself may have recognized her errors.

Reference:

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Department of Anthropology. Alice Fletcher. Copyright © 2001 Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 26, 2017 from http://anthropology.si.edu/naa/exhibits/fletcher/foreword.htm

Moore,Marijo. Genocide of the Mind. 2003. Thunder’s Mouth Press. 161 William St. 16^th Floor. New York NY 10038