John M. Coward
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040269
- eISBN:
- 9780252098529
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040269.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Native American Studies
This introductory chapter argues that Indian illustrations in the pictorial press were part of the social and cultural machinery that produced and reinforced an enduring set of Indian stereotypes and ...
More
This introductory chapter argues that Indian illustrations in the pictorial press were part of the social and cultural machinery that produced and reinforced an enduring set of Indian stereotypes and visual tropes in the American popular imagination, reinforcing the ways that white Americans understood Native Americans and their place in U.S. society. Such pictures were a significant part of this meaning-making process because they frequently depicted Indians and Indian life in popular but narrowly conceived ways. By describing and analyzing the various themes and visual tropes across the years of the illustrated press, this book provides a deeper understanding of the racial codes and visual signs that white Americans used to represent Native Americans in an era of western expansion and manifest destiny.Less
This introductory chapter argues that Indian illustrations in the pictorial press were part of the social and cultural machinery that produced and reinforced an enduring set of Indian stereotypes and visual tropes in the American popular imagination, reinforcing the ways that white Americans understood Native Americans and their place in U.S. society. Such pictures were a significant part of this meaning-making process because they frequently depicted Indians and Indian life in popular but narrowly conceived ways. By describing and analyzing the various themes and visual tropes across the years of the illustrated press, this book provides a deeper understanding of the racial codes and visual signs that white Americans used to represent Native Americans in an era of western expansion and manifest destiny.
John M. Coward
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040269
- eISBN:
- 9780252098529
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040269.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Native American Studies
In the second half of the nineteenth century, Americans swarmed to take in a raft of new illustrated journals and papers. Engravings and drawings of “buckskinned braves” and “Indian princesses” ...
More
In the second half of the nineteenth century, Americans swarmed to take in a raft of new illustrated journals and papers. Engravings and drawings of “buckskinned braves” and “Indian princesses” proved an immensely popular attraction for consumers of publications like Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and Harper's Weekly. This book charts a social and cultural history of Native American illustrations—romantic, violent, racist, peaceful, and otherwise—in the heyday of the American pictorial press. These woodblock engravings and ink drawings placed Native Americans into categories that drew from venerable “good” Indian and “bad” Indian stereotypes already threaded through the culture. The book's examples show how the genre cemented white ideas about how Indians should look and behave—ideas that diminished Native Americans' cultural values and political influence. The book's powerful analysis of themes and visual tropes unlock the racial codes and visual cues that whites used to represent, and marginalize, native cultures already engaged in a twilight struggle against inexorable westward expansion.Less
In the second half of the nineteenth century, Americans swarmed to take in a raft of new illustrated journals and papers. Engravings and drawings of “buckskinned braves” and “Indian princesses” proved an immensely popular attraction for consumers of publications like Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and Harper's Weekly. This book charts a social and cultural history of Native American illustrations—romantic, violent, racist, peaceful, and otherwise—in the heyday of the American pictorial press. These woodblock engravings and ink drawings placed Native Americans into categories that drew from venerable “good” Indian and “bad” Indian stereotypes already threaded through the culture. The book's examples show how the genre cemented white ideas about how Indians should look and behave—ideas that diminished Native Americans' cultural values and political influence. The book's powerful analysis of themes and visual tropes unlock the racial codes and visual cues that whites used to represent, and marginalize, native cultures already engaged in a twilight struggle against inexorable westward expansion.
Nancy Shoemaker
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469622576
- eISBN:
- 9781469623351
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469622576.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This chapter explores how race informed native New England men’s participation in the whaling industry, as employers in search of a large, flexible workforce drew on racial presuppositions ...
More
This chapter explores how race informed native New England men’s participation in the whaling industry, as employers in search of a large, flexible workforce drew on racial presuppositions selectively. The Indian harpooner stereotype simultaneously restricted and enhanced native men’s position in the industry. By attributing Indian whalemen’s successes to racial characteristics, this characterization hid from view what made them valuable as officers. And yet at the same time, being imagined as the ideal boatsteerer put them in the right place for promotion. For ship owners, whose primary objective was to make a profit, favoring familiar racial hierarchies that would have kept native whalemen in the forecastle because of their color made less sense than promoting native whalemen into positions of authority.Less
This chapter explores how race informed native New England men’s participation in the whaling industry, as employers in search of a large, flexible workforce drew on racial presuppositions selectively. The Indian harpooner stereotype simultaneously restricted and enhanced native men’s position in the industry. By attributing Indian whalemen’s successes to racial characteristics, this characterization hid from view what made them valuable as officers. And yet at the same time, being imagined as the ideal boatsteerer put them in the right place for promotion. For ship owners, whose primary objective was to make a profit, favoring familiar racial hierarchies that would have kept native whalemen in the forecastle because of their color made less sense than promoting native whalemen into positions of authority.
