Five myths about American Indians

Thanksgiving recalls for many people a meal between European colonists and indigenous Americans that we have invested with all the symbolism we can muster. But the new arrivals who sat down to share venison with some of America’s original inhabitants relied on a raft of misconceptions that began as early as the 1500s, when Europeans produced fanciful depictions of the “New World.” In the centuries that followed, captivity narratives, novels, short stories, textbooks, newspapers, art, photography, movies and television perpetuated old stereotypes or created new ones — particularly ones that cast indigenous peoples as obstacles to, rather than actors in, the creation of the modern world. I hear those concepts repeated in questions from visitors to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian every day. Changing these ideas is the work of generations. Here are five of the most intransigent.

Myth No. 1: There is such a thing as Native American culture.

This concept really took hold when Christopher Columbus dubbed the diverse indigenous inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere “Indians.” Lumping all Native Americans into an indiscriminate, and increasingly threatening, mass continued during the era of Western expansion, as settlers pushed into tribal territories in pursuit of new lands on the frontier.

Yet vast differences — in culture, ethnicity and language — exist among the 567 federally recognized Indian nations across the United States.

Myth No. 2: American Indians get a free ride from the U.S. government.

The notion that indigenous people benefit from the government’s largess is widespread, according to American Indians: Stereotypes and Realities, by Choctaw historian Devon Mihesuah. Staff and volunteers at our Washington and New York museums hear daily about how Washington “gave” Native Americans their reservations and how the Bureau of Indian Affairs manages their lives for them.

But Native Americans are subject to income taxes just like all other Americans and, at best, have the same access to government services — though often worse. … As for reservations, most were created when tribes relinquished enormous portions of their original landholdings in treaties with the federal government. They are what remained after the United States expropriated the bulk of the Native estate. And even these tenuous holdings were often confiscated and sold to white settlers. The Dawes Allotment Act, passed by Congress in 1887, broke up communally held reservation lands and allotted them to Native households in 160-acre parcels of individually owned property, many of which were sold off. Between 1887, when the allotment act was passed, and 1934, when allotment was repealed, the Native American land base diminished from approximately 138 million acres to 48 million acres.

Myth No. 3: “Native American” is the proper term.

Commentaries and corporate guidelines address the notion that “Native American” is preferred or that “American Indian” is impolite. During the 1492 quincentennial, Oprah Winfrey devoted an hour of her show to the subject. At the museums and on social media, people ask at least once per day when we are going to take “American Indian” out of our name.

The term Native American grew out of the political movements of the 1960s and ’70s and is commonly used in legislation covering the indigenous people of the lower 48 states and U.S. territories. But Native Americans use a range of words to describe themselves, and all are appropriate. Some people refer to themselves as Native or Indian; most prefer to be known by their tribal affiliation — Cherokee, Pawnee, Seneca, etc. — if the context doesn’t demand a more encompassing description. Some Natives and non-Natives, including scholars, insist on using the word Indigenous, with a capital I.

Myth No. 4: In 1626, Indians sold Manhattan to the Dutch for $24 worth of trinkets.

This myth — repeated in textbooks and made vivid in illustrations — casts Native Americans as gullible provincials who traded valuable lands and beaver pelts for colorful European-made beads and baubles. According to a letter to Dutch officials, the settlers offered representatives of local Lenape groups 60 guilders, about $24, in trade goods for their homeland, Manahatta. But it is unlikely that the Lenape saw the original transaction as a sale. Although land could be designated for the exclusive use of prominent Native individuals and families, the idea of selling land in perpetuity, to be regarded as property, was alien to Native societies.

Myth No. 5: Mascots honor Native Americans.

Many people, including some American Indians, hold that naming sports teams after Native American caricatures, such as the Redskins and the Braves, recognizes the strength and fortitude of Native peoples. “It represents honor, represents respect, represents pride,” Redskins owner Dan Snyder told ESPN.

A little history: The use of Native Americans as mascots arose during the allotment period, a time when U.S. policy sought to eradicate native sovereignty and Wild West shows cemented the image of Indians as Plains warriors. (No wonder all of these mascots resemble Plains Indians, even when they represent teams in Washington, Florida and Ohio.)

What’s more, a growing body of social science research suggests not only that many Native people recognize the word “Redskins” as a racial slur and are offended by it, but that exposure to mascots and other stereotypes of Native Americans has a negative impact on American Indian young people.

Kevin Gover, a citizen of the Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, is the director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. He earned his law degree from The University of New Mexico. He wrote this commentary for The Washington Post.