To Be Indian

by Porter, Joy; Fenton, William N.

• ISBN13: 9780806133171
• ISBN10: 0806133171
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-12-01
• Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr

Summary

Born on the Seneca Indian Reservation in New York State, Arthur Caswell Parker (1881-1955) was a prominent intellectual leader both within and outside tribal circles. Of mixed Iroquois, Seneca, and Anglican descent, Parker was also a controversial figure-recognized as an advocate for Indians but criticized for his assimilationist stance. In this exhaustively researched biography-the first book-length examination of Parker's life and career-Joy Porter explores complex issues of Indian identity that are as relevant today as in Parker's time. From childhood on, Parker learned from his well-connected family how to straddle both Indian and white worlds. His great-uncle, Ely S. Parker, was Commissioner of Indian Affairs under Ulysses S. Grant--the first American Indian to hold the position. Influenced by family role models and a strong formal education, Parker, who became director of the Rochester Museum, was best known for his work as a "museologist" (a word he coined). Porter shows that although Parker achieved success within the dominant Euro-American culture, he was never entirely at ease with his role as assimilated Indian and voiced frustration at having "to play Indian to be Indian." In expressing this frustration, Parker articulated a challenging predicament for twentieth-century Indians: the need to negotiate imposed stereotypes, to find ways to transcend those stereotypes, and to assert an identity rooted in the present rather than in the past.

Author Biography

Joy Porter is Senior Lecturer in American history at Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xi
Foreword	xiii
William N. Fenton
Preface	xv
Acknowledgments	xxiii
Introduction	3	(4)
Beginnings	7	(19)
Contemporary Thought and Influences	26	(21)
Entering the World of American Museums Parker's Early Work as Ethnologist and Archaeologist	47	(23)
The Limitations of Parker's Anthropology	70	(21)
A Leadership Role Within the Society of American Indians 1911-1920s	91	(52)
Being Indian and Being a Mason Parker and American Fraternalism	143	(22)
Maturing as a Museum Man 1924-1935	165	(25)
Success in the Indian New Deal Years and Beyond 1935-1946	190	(27)
Retirement, Pageantry, and Writing for Children Retirement Years	217	(26)
Notes	243	(36)
Selected Bibliography	279