A few pages later, another drawing shows many of those same Indians now imprisoned, waiting for a train to take them to a fort in Florida.
The final pages--focusing on those same American Indians--show them dressed as U.S. soldiers and sitting in a church listening to a sermon.
The images are the work of Etahdleuh Doanmoe, an American Indian who more than 125 years ago was taken from his home in Oklahoma and imprisoned in an Army fort in Florida along with 71 other Indians. The Army removed them because it said they were raiding nearby settlements.
Outlined with pens and pencils and shaded with colored pencils, his drawings depict the transformation of 72 Kiowa American Indians from their "uncivilized" life on the Great Plains to their "civilized" life in Florida.
1 comment:
Writerfella here --
First of all, writerfella trusts not any writer who has used the word "counsel" when the writer should have used "council." It doubtfully is the case that Kiowans either sought lawyers or psychiatrists. The Kiowan Doanmah people still exist but writerfella would have to consult with them to see if the story has a basis in fact. In any case, 'how the Kiowans got civilized' mainly was due to their being handed over part and parcel and piecemeal to various religious sects just before their reservation was dissolved and then ordered to become converts and Americans. Else, they were told they would be shot down where they stood. In other words, "You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile..."
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
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