Myths and Misconceptions: the Indian Princess Stereotype

We've already run across two women who've often been called Indian Princesses.  Owl Woman of the Cheyenne, daughter of a Cheyenne chief and wife of William Bent.  Also Adeline, daughter of Chief Seattle of the Duwamish/Suquamish.  These were strong, capable women, respected by Natives and Whites alike, and we'll meet many more of them in future posts, but none of them were princesses.  The wives and daughters of chiefs did not bear titles.  There was no such thing as a Native royal family.  With some exceptions, the only women who carried any type of position or authority in a village were the clan matriarchs.  They could, in some tribes, choose and depose chiefs, veto actions of the council, or dispose of property and prisoners.  For these reasons, women often carried great authority in their tribes and could be perceived by outsiders as queens or princesses, but they weren't. 

The Indian Princess stereotype began in the nineteenth century with Longfellow's poems, or other novels, plays and poems describing how a beautiful Indian maiden named Pocahontas threw herself on top of an English adventurer named John Smith and begged for his life.  Whether she did or didn't is a topic for another blog.  The fact is that this beautiful maiden got more buxom and more royal every time her story was told.  The same went for Minnehaha, the fictionalized wife of the Iroquois leader Hiawatha, and the nameless daughter of Shenandoah, a real Oneida chief.  The stereotype perpetuates in fantasy art depictions of curvaceous Native women wielding bows, wearing war bonnets and commanding the elements of nature.  More on war bonnets later, but suffice it to say that such women do not exist.  Today, the only Indian princesses around are those who are chosen by their tribe to represent them in pageants. 

'But I've always been told great-grandma was a (insert tribe) princess.'  You may have had a Native woman in your ancestry.  She may have been documented as being of a certain tribe.  If she were lucky, she was someone like Nancy Ward, the last War Woman of the Cherokee and one of the few women who did hold an official title in their tribe.  More likely, she was a hardy, industrious woman who managed her family and her property and tried to survive as best she could.  Princess, no.  Worthy of respect, yes.  Worthy of researching the facts about who she really was. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did It Happen: Custer's Cheyenne Family

Image
Despite popular legends to the contrary, when Col. George Armstrong Custer's body was found after the Battle of the Little Bighorn/Greasy Grass in June 1876, he wasn't scalped or mutilated.  However, the corpses of many of the men nearby, including George's brother Thomas, were mutilated.  Although some White commentators at the time believed the lack of mutilation might have been the Natives way of showing respect to a brave enemy anyone who had rode and fought with Custer knew this idea held no water whatsoever.  No Native respected George Custer.  He had the blood of the Washita Massacre of 1868 on his hands.  There would have been plenty of Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors on the battlefield who would have taken the chance to show their disdain for him.  Other specular insists that it was because Custer wasn't in military dress, or that he'd cut his famous long, curly yellow hair prior to battle.  Still, someone could've recognized him and pointed him...
Read more

Trapper and Guide: Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, 1805-1866

Image
The only son of Sacajawea of the Shoshone and Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian fur trapper who may have been mixed-race himself, became a man of many talents.  Throughout his life, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, 1805-1866 was a trapper, trader, scout, guide and interpreter as well as a mayor, prospector and hotel operator.  He was also educated, well-traveled in Europe and America, and spoke English, French, Spanish, German and several Native languages including his mother's Shoshone. The life of this remarkable man began in 1805 at Fort Mandan, near present-day Washburn, North Dakota.  Toussaint Charbonneau had signed on with the Lewis and Clark expedition as a hunter, interpreter and guide, but the real draw was his pregnant teenaged wife, Sacajawea, a Shoshone by birth.  Lewis and Clark knew they would need to trade horses from the Shoshone to make it over the Rocky Mountains and they would need an in with the tribe when the time came.  Sacajawea went i...
Read more

Cameahwait and Sacajawea

Image
The story of Sacajawea's reunion with her family and tribe during the Lewis and Clark Expedition is a familiar one, told from her vantage point.  However, her brother, Cameahwait, by this time chief of the Salmon Eater band of the Lemhi Shoshone would have also had feelings in the matter. Little is known of Cameahwait's life or how he rose to a position of authority among his people.  Apparently, he was several years older than Sacajawea.  In their society, siblings and cousins are often considered the same relationship and spoken of in the same words.  Some sources suggest that they may have been cousins, or even half-siblings.  No matter what the exact familial rank, their actions when they met up again suggested a close family bond.  When Sacajawea was 12 and her brother much older and already an established warrior, the Hidatsa raided their hunting camp.  Four men, four boys and some elderly and children were killed.  Sacajawea and some othe...
Read more