M1 Academic Journal Blog

SAVAGERY TO "CIVILIZATION"
THE INDIAN WOMEN: We whom you pity as drudges
reached centuries ago the goal that you are now nearing

The use of Indian women to provide an exemplar of feminist liberty continued into the nineteenth century. On May 16, 1914, only six years before the first national election in which women had the vote, Puck printed a line drawing of a group of Indian women observing Susan B. Anthony, Anne Howard Shaw and Elizabeth Cady Stanton leading a parade of women. A verse under the print read:

"Savagery to Civilization" We, the women of the Iroquois Own the Land, the Lodge, the Children Ours is the right to adoption, life or death; Ours is the right to raise up and depose chiefs; Ours is the right to representation in all councils; Ours is the right to make and abrogate treaties; Ours is the supervision over domestic and foreign policies; Ours is the trusteeship of tribal property; Our lives are valued again as high as man's. [67]

Figure 38, from Exemplar of Liberty, Native America and the Evolution of Democracy,
Chp.11, "The Persistence of an Idea, Impressions of Iroquois liberty after the eighteenth century"

                The role of Native American women has always been as an equal to that of the man.  Although they were looked at as equal within the group, they each had a different role.  The Native American population would refer to this equality more as a way of keeping balance, rather than referring to it as equality.  The role of the woman varied depending on which tribe the woman belonged to.  For example, in the Ojibwe tribe, women and men would sit on opposite sides during their ceremonies.  By sitting on opposite sides, the men and women were able to show that each group owned half of the lodge.   This is completely different than the what American women have experienced throughout history and in some way still today.  As stated in Treuer, “Indian thinking about gender developed in ways dissimilar to European gender dynamics, where different duties often mean different and unfair treatment of women” (p.23).  An example of how the roles of Native American women differed is that they often took on home ownership.  The shared roles of the Native American men has always been this way, far different than that of European culture.  What culture shock these men and women must have felt when the European’s entered their land and expected them to take on their same roles.  It must have been so disturbing to them as they are so connected to the earth and everything living with in it.  As stated above, by sharing roles they created a sense of balance amongst the group.

            In the drawing, Savagery to Civilization, the Native American women are making a point to the white women.  During the time of the drawing, white women are fighting for their rights, trying to receive the same rights as men.  Here they are trying to fight for their rights, yet the Native American’s were not being treated equal.  They are making a point to let these women know that they had equal rights long before the white man came to their land.  It’s like they were trying to prove a point to the white women who were treating them unequally.  The poem and drawing are showing to me that they letting them know that they accomplished this goal many years before and here you are looking down on us?  They are angry at these white women and trying to show them that they deserve to be treated equally as well.

Treuer, Anton.  (2012).  Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians But Were Afraid to Ask.  Minnesota:  Minnesota Historical Society Press.