Step One:
Working with two or three other people, have a brief (five-minute) discussion of how you think Native Americans would have been perceived and talked about by other Americans early in the 19th century. Write a brief summary of your conclusions as a response to this question, making sure to put all of your names in the title of the message.
Step Two:
With your group, review the paintings and illustrations listed below. How are American Indians represented? What seems to be the message of these pictures? Discuss these questions with your group, and then write a brief summary of your conclusions on the Discussion Board. Once again, be sure to list all your names in the title.
Thomas Cole.
"The Falls of the Niagara. (Twenty years ago)." UR: "III." From Our Globe. A universal picturesque album. Philadelphia: North American Bibliographic Institution, 1840. 3 3/4 x 5 3/4. Steel engraving. Dow: 893; Seibel1: 23.
"Indian at Sunset,"oil on canvas, c.1845-47
The Clove, Catskills, oil on canvas, ca. 1827
See "Indian Pass - Tahawus," , oil on canvas, 1847; "Indian Sacrifice," oil on canvas,1827; and Indian at Sunset, oil on canvas, 1845-1847 at Thomas Cole Artworks at The Athenaeum.com
Also, "An American Indian Contemplating the Progress of Civilization," A Pictorial History of the United States : With Notices of Other Portions of America / by S.G. Goodrich ; for the use of schools. Goodrich, Samuel G. (Samuel Griswold), 1793-1860. viii, 360 p. : ill., maps ; 19 cm. New York : Huntington and Savage, Mason and Law ; Cincinnati : H.W. Derby & Company, 1850, c1843
You may also find it interesting to look at THE ILLUSTRATING TRAVELER: Encountering Native Americans, a Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library Exhibition organized by William S. Reese and George Miles.
Step Three:
Read at least three of the stories or articles listed below. Once again, consider how American Indians are depicted in these schoolbooks. Working with your group or on your own, write a brief summary of your findings. Use quotations from the texts to support your arguments. In the conclusion of your report, comment on whether these texts confirmed or contradicted your expectations.
"Diminution of the Indian Tribes," and "The Indian and the British Officer" (you may want to look at the illustration), from Cobb's juvenile reader no. 3 : containing interesting, historical, moral, and instructive reading lessons, composed of words of a greater number of syllables than the lessons in Nos. I and II, and a greater variety of composition, both in prose and poetry, selected from the writings of the best American and English authors : to which are prefixed observations on the principles of good reading : designed for the use of larger children in families and schools / by Lyman Cobb. Juvenile reader no. 3. 216 p. : ill. ; 15 cm. Pittsburgh : Luke Loomis, 1831.
"The North American Indians," by Charles Sprague, 130; "Hymn of the Cherokee Indian," by J. McLellan, 131; "Black Hawk's Address to General Street," 379, from Osgood's progressive fifth reader : embracing a system of instruction in the principles of elocution, and selections for reading and speaking from the best English and American authors : designed for the use of academies and the highest classes in public and private schools / by Lucius Osgood.
480 p. ; 20 cm. Pittsburgh : A.H. English & Co., c1858. "D
"Lovell's Fight, Historical Collections," 84; "Reply to the Address of a Missionary, at a Council of Chiefs of the 'Six Nations'--by Sagnyn Wahthah, alias Red Jacket," by Philanthropist, 91;"Dialogue Between Mercury, an English Duellist, and a North American Savage--Dialogues of the Dead," 91'"Letter from the British Spy, in Virginia," Wirt, 325; "Murderer's Creek," Paulding, 135, from The American first class book, or, Exercises in reading and recitation : selected principally from modern authors of Great Britain and America, and designed for the use of the highest class in public and private schools / by John Pierpont. 480 p. ; 19 cm. Boston : Charles Bowen, 1836, c1835.
"The Grave of the Indian Chief," 103; "The Indian Hunter," 246; "An Indian at the Burying Place of His Fathers," 271; "Right of Discovery," 328; from The American speaker : containing numerous rules, observations, and exercises on pronunciation, pauses, inflections, accent, and emphasis : also, copious extracts in prose and poetry, calculated to assist the teacher, and to improve the pupil in reading and recitation / by John Frost.448 p. ; 20 cm. Philadelphia : Thomas, Cowperthwait, and Co., 1845, c1836
Step Four:
Here is an article on 19th century American reactions to Native Americans: Romancing the Indian. Does it reflect what you found in your own explorations? The essay largely focuses on depictions of Native Americans in late nineteenth century novels. Would you expect that to result in more positive or negative representations?
Return to the Syllabus