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, ca. 1939. Marquette University Libraries, Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions Records, Negative No. 0860.

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 Libraries, Bureau of Catholic Indian Mission Records. (See http://www.jerrydj.com/Racism/sockalexis/ for more information)