One day one of the crabs tried to teach his child. He told the young crab how he must put one foot just in front of the other and walk straight. The young crab tried several times but didn’t succeed, because nobody show[ed] him how.
The young crab can learn how if he goes some where and stay with some one who know how and is able to show him day by day. After the young crab once learn he will always walk straight and be able to teach, or show, his brother how to walk straight. I am going to compare this story with the “Indian question.” The walking straight business is a very difficult lesson to learn. We all see that the young crab tried to walk straight but did not succeed because no one could show him how. We also see that the old crab had dreadful time to show his son, but yet he didn’t make his son walk straight because he does not know how himself.
The young crabs are the Indian youths and the old crabs are the old Indians. The old Indians want to make their children walk straight ahead through the path of civilization and Christianity. They tell their children and they try to show them how, but often times walk sideways instead of walk[ing] straight themselves.
The old Indians are too old to learn how to walk straight in the way of civilization, but the youths are not too old, therefore they need to go somewhere, where some one will not only teach, but show them.
If the Indian youths once learn how to walk straight, they will always do it and show their brothers or their race.
So, good walkers, come and show us how to walk the way of civilization.13
The Sun Dance, 1893
I am going to explain or tell you what [the] Sun Dance is. I was asked good many times by my northern friends while I was up there. Sun Dance is a kind of religious festival among the Indians of old times.
They meet together in a special place which is appointed by the greatest men of that time. This festival is held once a year. It comes on summer time when all the plants and flowers spread out their beautiful green leaves to the nice warm air and the sun light. The Indian name for Sun dance is Wiwanyag wacipi. Wi means sun, and wanyag means to see or looking, and Wacipi to dance. So it is really means, to look at the sun and dance. Their dance is kept for seven days only. The place in which this dance is held is made of branches of trees and bush. They also have a long pole right in the middle of the camp. This pole has good many ropes tied to it way on top.
These ropes hang down to the ground. When the dance is begun, some of the men cut a hole or two in their flesh just below the collar bone, and then take one or two of the ropes and tie it to the flesh where [it] is cut, and dance all day long. They keep their eyes on the sun from morning until night and at the same time they bless the Great Spirit. Some of the men cut holes in their backs and draw a head of a cow or a horse all day long. They do this to show their people that they can endure hardness and also to please the Great Spirit or their God who they thought have made the sun, moon and stars.14
Robert Placidus Higheagle (Standing Rock Sioux)
Robert Placidus Higheagle (born ca. 1873), whose Indian name was Kahektakiya, entered Hampton in the early 1890s and was editor of Talks and Thoughts from 1893 to 1894. After graduating from Hampton, he became a teacher at Lower Brule and then returned to Standing Rock Reservation, where he taught school. During this time, Higheagle also assisted Frances Densmore, an expert in tribal music, in her efforts to record and transcribe traditional songs of the Teton Sioux for the Bureau of American Ethnology. (Barrett et al., American Indian Biographies, 216–17; Littlefield and Parins, American Indian, 358; Littlefield and Parins, Biobibliography: Supplement, 229)
Tipi-iyokihe, 1895
In the olden times, when the Indians used to live together in their villages of white tents, which sometimes extended for five or six miles, there prevailed certain customs that were very much like those of civilized nations. Among these there existed one among the Sioux tribe called Tipi-iyokihe.
The village was built up in a circular form. In the center of the circle no animals were allowed, only people. Sometimes some rich Indian would present a large tent, large enough to accommodate two or three hundred people. In one of these enormous tents the old men would gather. Another would be given up to old women, and another to children.
Each tent had its special amusements. The tent for the young people was generally used for dancing, while those used by the older people were given up to councils and other public exercises. These tents were not obtained by taxing the Indians, but were given by individuals who were interested in certain classes of people. In some cases the donor gave it for fame; while others gave for their kind spirit towards others, that were not able to enjoy the advantages of the giver. Some of these benevolent men are yet in the minds of our people. In some places these very tents have been kept and are now used for better purposes. I remember before coming here some of those tents were used for outdoor prayer-meetings, where many souls were converted.
This old custom resembles that of many benevolent people in the North. They have shown their interest in certain classes of people and their welfare.
Here in this school I think that these friends are doing this same good work in helping us to get an education. When I go around and see the different buildings and the grand work that is carried on in them, I thank God that there are people who are interested in us and are trying to elevate us.15
Samuel Baskin (Santee Sioux)
Samuel Baskin (born 1870) was from Santee, Nebraska, and entered Hampton in 1890 at the age of twenty. After graduating in 1895, he attended Kimball Academy at Meriden, New Hampshire. He later worked as a mechanic at the Santee Normal Training School in Nebraska. (Littlefield and Parins, Biobibliography: Supplement, 171; Southern Workman, April 1918, 208)
What the White Man Has Gained from the Indian, 1896
(Delivered on Indian Day)
We all know that what has brought us to be what we are and where we are, is the spirit of American civilization, and it is constantly blotting out our Indian manner of living and in place of it, has given us American rights, homes, citizenship. So we come together this afternoon to show our appreciation to our friends and to our God. But we must also look back to our old time Indians and thank them too for what little they have given toward building up this great nation of ours.
Let us go back to our first acquaintance with the white people and see what lessons they have learned from our fathers. The red man, as you all know, was found in this country a wild man but there is one thing about him, he was very active in his own country. I mean he knew the waters, the hills, the woods, and the forces of nature, such as the rain, and the snow, the sun, and the stars of the heaven and he respected them for they were his schoolmasters.
He made his canoe from a log, or birch bark, in which he navigated the waters. He made his snowshoes on which he could travel and hunt in time of winter and not be shut in to starve. He made his sugar from the maple by boiling the sap. He cleared the woods not with such tools as we have today but by burning down the trees, for his tools were made of chipped or finely polished stones; yet with these he was able to plant his corn, tomatoes, squashes, beans, and tobacco. I suppose tobacco is something I ought not to count, but in the time of Capt. John Smith, it was one of the chief products of cultivation and since then has been a profitable trade to the world.
The Indian’s method of planting, hunting, cooking, and fishing was imitated by the early settlers and so saved them from starvation and enabled them to gain a foothold in this country. These are some of the lessons the white made learned when he first came to this country. We might say we were the first instructors of this country and afterwards we received the white man’s method of living. The knowledge of nature and knowledge of books, these two elements have combined and have made America what it is today.16
Alonzo Lee (Eastern Band Cherokee)
Alonzo Lee entered Hampton in 1894 and left without graduating in 1900. He published several essays on the Cherokees in Talks and Thoughts and was editor from 189
6 to 1897. (Littlefield and Parins, American Indian, 358; Littlefield and Parins, Biobibliography: Supplement, 243)
The Trail of the Serpent, 1896
When I came to Hampton in September 1893, the Government still near our reservation was just being built.17 This still is the greatest downfall on the Cherokees that ever occurred in our part of the country. As we all know, the red man has a great appetite for strong drink and when he is tempted will generally take it unless trained to withstand the temptation.
The men who are running this still are old moonshiners. They are getting all the Indians’ money, yes, more than that they are taking the red man’s life.
It seems to me the government is helping the Indians up with one hand and down with the other. We get our education by the help of the government and our whiskey from a government licensed still. Which is the stronger influence, we can know only when we go back home and try to change the discouraging state of things described in a letter from a former Hampton student.
“I am glad that the Cherokees there are doing well. I wish they could all get good places there or up north and never come back to this dreadful place. The Indians drink nearly all the time. Last week two white men and a Negro jumped onto a drunken Indian and cut him terribly so that he died before morning. They have the Negro in jail but the two white men are not caught yet. There is a reward for six hundred dollars out for them. The Indians hunt them day and night. Whiskey is killing Indians and making this place unfit to live in.”
I think all the educated Cherokees ought to go back home and try to help their friends up and out of darkness into light. We may find it discouraging at first but if we will stick to it we can do a great deal of good.18
Indian Folk-Lore, 1896
In Georgia there is a swamp that has a large quicksand in it. The red men who remained in Georgia in the beginning of this century declared that the swamp was holy ground, that in the vast morass were islands inhabited by a peculiar race of Indians who did no evil and who were ruled by beautiful winged women. This was the land of peace and pleasure.
No hunter could ever visit these islands. When his boat entered the river that penetrated the swamp the shores vanished from before him until, starving and homesick, he died. Then his body was carried to this happy land.
On the Blue Ridge there is a peak that the Indians also held as a holy place. Upon this peak is a rock in which were to be found deeply indented tracks of animals and human feet. There were nearly five hundred of these footprints, of every size, from that of a baby up to a large mark ten inches in length.
The Indians thought the Great Spirit had destroyed all the living creatures but one family, who escaped in a large canoe to this high peak. Whenever a hunter succeeded in climbing the mountain and reaching the top, heavy rain fell. The Great Spirit wept remembering the destruction of so many living creatures with water.
Modern civilization, churches, and ministers are rapidly destroying such superstitions as these which our forefathers believed. It is worth our while to preserve them, for they have value. They furnished a clue to the past history and religion of the Indians.
In these few lines are remembrances of the flood and a promised heaven. Nothing is useless which shows that red, or white, or black, we are children of one father and therefore we are brethren.19
An Indian Naturalist, 1897
A good many Cherokees live in the northeastern part of Tennessee and once I visited a friend there for two weeks.
One bright sunny day my friend said,
“Come, I am going to take you to a show.”
“Is it far?” I asked as we started out.
“The first house up the road about five miles,” replied my friend. “That is near for this part of the country.”
“Is this neighbor the show?” I inquired as we walked along the path.
“Yes, he’s an odd stick and the people about here think he is not quite bright, but I think he is a first-rate fellow. He and his mother have lived here many years. She is a root and herb doctor and he is a naturalist. Hark! He is at home, you can hear his shingle-saw going. He has a little sawmill on the brook and makes his living by putting up fine shingles. He keeps cows and raises an acre of corn and potatoes every season.”
When we entered the door the old man was singing and seemed very happy. He was glad to see us and had my friend and me take a seat.
“Is old snoozer waked up yet?”
“Yes, he crawled out last Monday.”
“What did he think of the weather?”
“Wal, he didn’t know what to make of it. I laid down and laughed to see him snuff and smell the air and was so hot he almost melted. He was as poor as a shadow too.”
“Who is old Snoozer?” I ventured to inquire.
“It is my old groundhog,” said the Indian. “Come with me and you shall see him.”
We crossed the fence and went into a lot to the woodchuck’s hole. Then the Indian puckering up his lips gave a sharp whistle, prolonged in low quavers, almost exactly the sound which every country boy has heard a woodchuck make. Immediately we heard a slight rumble down in the hole, and the next moment a black head appeared in sight. Seeing his master, the chuck came out from the ground and rising on his hind feet, sat up and dropped his forepaws like a cat. Woodchucks are usually so shy that it seemed odd indeed to see this one sit docile at the threshold of its burrow and allow his master to scratch its head and pat its back. It seemed to enjoy these caresses and once or twice gave vent to a droll little chuck in its throat.
“We will go and see Drog next,” remarked the naturalist.
He led the way along the bank of the brook past the house and the little low barn. We went on for fifty or sixty yards up the brook, till we came to an old pine log lying among the rocks. Our showman then stopped and uttered a note which I cannot well describe, unless by the letters Oo-ee-ooo; droned out in a musical way. There suddenly dashed out of the hollow log a short legged and slim little creature, more trimly built than the woodchuck but not so large. It was reddish brown in color over the back, but light orange along the under part of its body. The tail was slightly bushy, the ears erect; the eyes like black beads in all of its movements. The naturalist called it a Sweet Marten.
From here we went down the brook to the mink’s hole.
“Do you feed your minks?” I inquired.
“No, they go off nights and get their own food. They killed the last old hen I had a few nights ago, but they always come back and stay under the banks during the day.”
He walked up near the bank of the brook, chirped a few times, then whistled between his teeth in a way that would be difficult to imitate. In response to this invitation first one little head appeared beside a rock then the second from beneath an old root. Again he whistled.
“There is one more but perhaps he is off on a hunt,” he said.
These two would allow the naturalist to approach them, but were more shy of us. Nearly every one has seen a mink, so I need not describe them. Next we went to see a bear, which was tied down near the mill.
As we were walking along down the brook, the Indian said, “There was [a] party of sportsmen up here last summer, and they brought a stock of nice supplies including two or three kegs of beer. They played a great deal with my bear; he was only a yearling then. They gave him beer and got him so that he would stand up, take a bottle in his paw, and drink it. They spoilt him for good, for after they had gone he would not eat anything, only sat and whined for that nasty beer.”
By this time we had reached the spot where the bear was. His last season’s coat of hair was still clinging to his sides in rusty patches and, as the Indian said, he would not play any now.
By this time it was getting late and we had five miles to walk home. I had learned many things from the old man, for he not only loved and cared for his pets, but he knew all their habits and, it seemed to me, even their thoughts.20
Transition Scenes, 1899
From the earliest h
istory of this country the Cherokee Indian has inhabited the South Atlantic States. In 1836 the white people decided that they must have this land, and the Government sent General Scott to convey the whole Cherokee nation west of the Mississippi River. About two thousand of these Indians refused to leave their homes but they were forced to go. Before many days they succeeded in escaping from the soldiers at night and fled back into the mountains. There they stayed in hiding until several years later they were permitted by the Government to remain.
These people are always spoken of as the disloyal part of the Cherokee Nation because they would not share the fate of their brothers, but who can dishonor them for love of home? Men of every race and of every age since the birth of Adam have been ready to fight, or even die, to defend their homes. It is human nature to love the place where you are born and brought up.
They had left their tribe and were no more a part of that great nation. Thus they became known as the Eastern band of Cherokees, and in 1838 they were admitted to the state as citizens of North Carolina.
The land these Indians now own was bought by them from the state of North Carolina. The reservation contains 8000 acres, lying in the beautiful valley of the Ocona Lufta River. The soil is fertile and is cultivated in some places to the summit of the hills.
The chief occupation of the Indians is agriculture, including stock-raising and gardening. Some of them make good baskets while others manufacture fine pottery. They raise and sell to the surrounding towns, corn, wheat, rye, oats, potatoes, and most all kinds of vegetables.
They are peaceful, law abiding citizens, and are anxious to improve their condition in every good and prosperous way. They work for their white neighbors and are considered honest men in all their transactions. I once heard a tax collector say that if white men would pay their taxes as promptly as the Indian, he would have no trouble to raise tax money. When they know that it is their duty to do a thing they go ahead and do it.
Recovering Native American Writings in the Boarding School Press Page 8