Honoring Youth
Through Native Heritage
By Mark Thiel

Indian Givers

Black Elk (Lakota, 1863-1950), a holy man famous for his book Black Elk Speaks, was one of many Native Americans who shared his cultural heritage. Photo by W. Ben Hunt, Black Hills, South Dakota, 1937. Marquette University Special Collections, Walter Bernard "Ben" Hunt Collection and Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions Digital Image Collection, No. 01287.

Native Americans bearing gifts weren't always respected. The Cleveland Indians' nickname and pseudo-Indian logo and performances evolved not as honor but as ridicule, taunts, and anti-Indian racism from fans against Louis Sockalexis (Penobscot, 1871-1913), a Cleveland baseball player (1897-1900), who succumbed totally to alcoholism by his third and final season. Photo by A.F. Orr, Old Town, Maine, 1912. Marquette University Special Collections, Bureau of Catholic Indian Mission Records.