PBS still seems to be the only major network who knows that Native American people actually are still part of the United States. (I was still surprised that Native pople were not mentioned during the 2008 presidential campaign,not even to mention how governor Palin is trying to take food out of the mouths of Alaskan Natives.) In April 2009, PBS aired
"We Shall Remain", a five-part series about Native Americans of what has become the United States.
Part One was about the true (er) story of the Pilgrims and the hosts they turned on, the Wampanoag. Part Two was about Tecumseh and his brother, the prophet Tenskwatawa, and the pan-Indian military coalition they almost succeeded in creating. Part Three was about how the Cherokees assimilated to White cultural ways and getting removed anyway. Part Four was about Geronimo. And Part Five was about the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee.
Each 90-minute segment had a different director, and each had a different style. The first three segments employed dramatizations, employing Native actors speaking real Native languages, which was refreshing.
Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa:
This segment corrected a usual historical emphasis on the Shawnee military genius of Tecumseh while downplaying the spiritual foundation of Tecumseh's cause--the spiritual prophecies of his younger brother, Tenskwatawa. It was the Prophet's vision that motivated Tecumseh to attempt to create a pan-indian coalition that would hold back the westward expansion of the United States.
Unfortunately, the segment portrayed Tecumseh's failure as mainly a military failure, due to his being outgunned by the U.S. In actuality, Tecumseh's vision might have come to fruition if the Choctaw leader Pushmataha hadn't kept the Choctaw out of his coalition, of if he had convinced the Muskogee/Creek Confederacy to join him resisting the "Americans." (The brothers Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa even discussed freeing slaves on the Anglo plantations and enlisting them to their cause. Tecumseh dismissed the idea, fearing that there would not be sufficient time to assimilate the newly-liberated slaves into Shawnee society.)
The segment also ignored that the mother who abandoned the brothers (and their five other siblings) was either a Creek or a Shawnee (among many) who resided in the Creek Confederacy. According to Joel Martin, the Creeks refused to join Tecumseh's coalition because at the time, the Creeks were still relatively secure from Anglo-American expansion and did not want to surrender any of their autonomy to Tecumseh. Ironically, the Creek connection was still obvious because two of the on-camera commentators were Shawnee with common Creek surnames, such as Harjo.
Sadly, this episode portrayed Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa's cause as a "lost cause," with no chance of success. By ignoring the very real chance that the Creek and Choctaw might have joined them and possibly prevented or delayed the westward expansion of the U.S., the producers over-estimated the strength of the U.S. at the time. Also missing was that even after Tecumseh's death in battle, Tenskwatawa lived twenty-five more years as a respected spiritual leader, moving west to Kansas with the Shawnee, who still have not disappeared despite some military setbacks.
Assimilation Blues--Jacksonian Doublecross:
Here's how the Cherokee were rewarded for helping Andrew Jackson defeat the Creeks in the Red Stick Revolt, and by their leaders adopting the slaveholding lifestyle of Andrew Jackson. When Andrew Jackson became president, he violated the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme Court and any sense of loyalty to his allies and forced the Cherokee people off their land. One Cherokee I know will only handle a $20 bill upside-down so he will not have to see the face of Andrew Jackson.
Fortunately, this segment barely mentions Jackson, and instead focuses on John Ross and the Ridge, two "assimilated" Cherokee leaders. One gem of this segment is seeing Hollywood actor, Wes Studi, speaking his first language, Cherokee, in a major role. We even see him giving orders in Cherokee to his African American servants, though what this means to the current Freedmen conflict is not mentioned.
Nonetheless, this episode explodes the myth of the Indian who must "vanish" in the face of white civilization and who cannot adapt to change.
The Geronimo episode:
The fourth segment, on Geronimo, employed the many photographs of the Chiracahua Apache leader, known as Goy-ath-lay in his own language, along with footage of stunning southwestern scenery. I suspect the relative recent-ness of Geronimo, and the numerous photos of him still available, made it hard to cast any actor who might portray him. I mean, who could "play" Geronimo compared to even still steely-eyed photos of the real McCoy?
I recently saw a 2001 video on YouTube, which featured a still-living old woman who had been a child in Geronimo's camp. Yes, he was that recent. And the controversy and hatreds surrounding his actions are still fresh in the southwest.
Wounded Knee '73:
No dramatizations needed in this one. There was plenty of film and videotape of the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, and plenty of living participants, among the protesters and FBI agents, who were willing to speak on camera. Without getting into AIM (American Indian Movement) politics, I was surprised to learn that AIM had been invited to Pine Ridge to help locals oppose the tribal government on civil rights issues. In many ways, this was my favorite segment, due to its immediacy. But after reaching the end of the standoff, there was only a brief mention of cultural and spiritual revivals that AIM helped bring about.
Symbolism and Disappointment:
The logo for "We Shall Remain" is a Plains teepee with an American flag flying atop one of its lodge poles. My Queen and I mused about that symbol. Did the US flag atop the teepee mean the flag dominated the teepee? Or does it mean that the owner of the tee pee is
choosing to fly the US flag, as in thousands of Natives who enlist in the U.S. armed forces?
All five episodes featured on-camera comments by living Native people, of the same tribe featured in each history lesson. At least we know some of these tribes still exist, though we are never told anything about their contemporary situation. How many of the tribe are teachers, doctors, traditionals, born-again Christians, astronauts or actors, democrats or republicans, country music singers or rappers? Yes, Indigenous people can be all these things and more.
Perhaps it was beyond the scope of this series to explore how much Native Americans continue to influence American life, and how Indigenous Peoples will
increasingly influence American life. There are several tribal colleges with growing enrollments. The Native vote is growing large enough in some states that forces are now working to suppress it. American Indians are the only non-immigrant group whose birth rate has been steadily
increasing in recent years. Exploring some of that would help answer the question about who shall remain.
**To its credit, PBS aired "The War that Made America," some years ago, narrated by Aboriginal Canadian actor Graham Greene, that showed the central role Native people played in the French and Indian war. As for accurate casting, there were visibly African people living with the Indians, and fighting as redcoated- British soldiers. This black presence is found in original documents but not usually in history textbooks and Hollywood movies.
Sources:
Joel Martin
The Sacred Revolt.
DL Birchfield,
How Choctaws Invented Civilization and Why Choctaws Will Conquer the World.
