From: Debbie Reese <dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 16 May 2013 05:56:31 -0500

Two years ago I did a quick study of images of American Indians (always, of course, hoping to find tribally specific and accurate information) in Caldecott winners.

Here's my list:

1940 - Abraham Lincoln, by Ingri & Edgar Par in d'Aulaire Indian in profile (tiny), with tipi, on the end paper, top left corner. Lincoln as a young child is described as solemn, "like a papoose." On pages about Black Hawk, the illustration of an Indian is cartoonish. One page shows what I believe is meant to be Black Hawk, cowering behind the now-adult Lincoln. The Indians head is just above Lincoln's belt. Text says the man is "a peaceful old Indian" who the soldiers want to kill, but Lincoln says "Anyone who touches him must fight me first." I would LOVE to see a biography of Lincoln that includes information about the largest mass execution that ever took place in the US. It happened during his administration. People like to say that it would have been even bigger had he not intervened. That is true, but, the people he removed from the list included women and children who were then sent to prison. "Good" Abe? Not really. The radio show THIS AMERICAN LIFE featured the Dakota executions recently. Here's my
 post on it: ican-life-little-war-on.html

1941 - Lawson's THEY WERE STRONG AND GOOD has an Indian man and an Indian woman. I think Lawson depicted them accurately, in a mix of traditional and Western clothing. They've stolen a pie. In the initial book Indians were characterized as "tame Indians" but the "tame" was edited out in more recent publications of the book. There are additional references to white people being strong and good for having fought Indians in wars.

1945 - Field's PRAYER FOR A CHILD has a page inside that shows children from around the world. Trying to do that, then and now, is difficult. Many artists do what Field's did, which is to show Americans in modern dress (of whatever time period) but the children of other cultures are shown in the sort of things they'd wear traditionally. Only Americans, it suggests, are modern.

1946 - Petersham's THE ROOSTER CROWS has a rhyme "First's the worst, second's the same, Last's the best of all the game." I don't know the rhyme itself. The illustration shows three kids running, one of them is wearing a headdress. I don't think he's actually meant to be a Native person. Its just dress-up.

During that time period, lot of kids wanted (and got) play-Indian costumes. Here's an interesting illustration of it, from a 1947 issue of LIFE magazine: d-heap-much.html Leo Politi's LITTLE LEO (1951) shows that on the cover and lot of writers/illustrators showed that theme. is-little-leo.html There's less of it now, I think, because more people understand it is akin to Blackface, but it does still occur. Ladybug Girl is shown in a headdress on end papers. Alvin Ho does it in one of the books about him, and I was stunned to find Weetzie Bat in headdress.

1950 - Politi's SONG OF THE SWALLOWS talks about Indians but doesn't show any. Politi's text says "with the help of Indians" the mission churches were built, but no hint whatsoever that the "help" was coerced. Once in those missions, Politi tells us, the Indians learned how to make shoes, blankets, tools, pottery and other things they needed. Being sarcastic here... WTF DID THEY DO PRIOR TO THE ARRIVAL OF THESE 'GOOD BROTHERS'?! Obviously (right?!) they knew how to do all of that already, prior to the arrival of the "good brothers."

From the 70s are the two I mentioned already, Goble's THE GIRL WHO LOVED WILD HORSES and McDermott's ARROW TO THE SUN.

1993 - Allen Say's GRANDFATHER'S JOURNEY includes a page that says he saw "red men." The illlustration, similar to what Lawson did, shows the man in Western clothes.

2001 - St. George's SO YOU WANT TO BE PRESIDENT has one word in it referencing Indians: "Algonquin" - the name of the Shetland pony the Roosevelt's children had.

I'd love some comment from the list on historical context for each of those books!

One more title I want to mention is with regard to KT's question about honor books...

1942 - Clark's IN MY MOTHER'S HOUSE. I think this is the only book in which the author or illustrator is Native. The illustrator is Velino Herrera. I like the art very much but the story... not so much. Clark published lot of books like this, in which she was the author and a Native illustrator did the illustrations. Generally speaking, the illustrator was from the tribal nation that the book is about. Clark was teaching in Indian schools, so was living amongst Native people, but the outsider voice is very much present in her writing.

There are other honor books about American Indians but I haven't done a study of them. Several of the Baylor/Parnell collaborations are Honor's books, but I find their work to be flat and romantic and stereotypical, too.

Debbie
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Debbie Reese, PhD Tribally enrolled: Nambe Pueblo

Email: dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com

Website: American Indians in Children's Literature _at_ http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.net

Now: Studying for MLIS at San Jose State University Then: Assistant Professor in American Indian Studies, University of Illinois
Received on Thu 16 May 2013 05:56:31 AM CDT