[Nfb-seniors] A blind American Indian story - FW: Indian Summer
Annely Rose
annely53r at yahoo.com
Sun Sep 9 20:38:03 UTC 2018
I agree. I will check out more. Thank you.
Annely
--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 9/4/18, Sherri Brun via NFB-Seniors <nfb-seniors at nfbnet.org> wrote:
Subject: Re: [Nfb-seniors] A blind American Indian story - FW: Indian Summer
To: "'NFB Senior Division list'" <nfb-seniors at nfbnet.org>
Cc: "Sherri Brun" <flmom2006 at gmail.com>
Date: Tuesday, September 4, 2018, 1:44 PM
This was fascinating! Thank
you.
Sherri
-----Original Message-----
From: NFB-Seniors [mailto:nfb-seniors-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Robert Leslie Newman via NFB-Seniors
Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2018 9:21 AM
To: 0senior division listserv <nebraska-senior-blind at nfbnet.org>;
NFB Senior Division list <nfb-seniors at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Robert Leslie Newman <robertleslienewman at gmail.com>
Subject: [Nfb-seniors] A blind American Indian
story - FW: Indian Summer
I
get these from the Blind History Lady; you could sign up
too!
From: The Blind History Lady
[mailto:theblindhistorylady at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 4, 2018 6:45 AM
To: robertleslienewman at gmail.com
Subject: Indian Summer
One of many Blind American Indiaa
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<http://files.constantcontact.com/e7aa3c44701/2f7c3972-1a96-480c-bc44-915b6b532714.jpg>
.
.Greetings
Blind History Lady fans:
Thoughts of September
remind me of the Indian Summer days in late September back
in Minnesota when the weather warms up for just a few days.
So, I thought I would bring to you this month, a story of a
blind Indian.
When looking at blind
minorities in the United States, the American Indian is most
difficult to trace, even more so than Black Americans before
the Civil War. Language, attitudes and cultural barriers,
led to incomplete or inaccurate census and government
records listings. In far too many cases, just a first name
for the individual Indian, even if it was just a white name
given to the individual by a few white settlers or
government agents but never used by the tribes. A lack of
understanding of naming traditions also disconnected an
individual from their previous records. Families were not
always listed together, making it hard to track how many
children that each family may have had or what family each
belonged to biologically.
One Indian man has left a
bit of a trail for us to get a glimpse of his life. This is
“Blind Jim”, the chief of the tribe called the Columbia
River Renegades. (there were other blind Jim’s in the area
as well). So far, I find no indication of his Indian name,
just what the White residents called him.
Blind Jim’s tribe traveled through the Blue
Mountain region of Oregon/Washington State, settling
primarily near the town of Heppner, Morrow County, Oregon
area. Morrow County is located on the northern border of the
state, in the mid-eastern section. There is no indication of
when “Blind Jim” was born for certain or when he went
blind.
The first mention of “Blind
Jim” comes from the diaries of the white settlers in the
Heppner area, Melvina Ferguson. An ancestor of Melvina’s
wrote in a remembrance;
“In 1870 the Indians
went on the war path. The Chief, Old Blind Jim they called
him, (didn't know his real name) came by the cabin and
told Melvina not to be afraid, they would not harm her. She
could hear them with their war paint and war hoops riding by
their cabin. She was so afraid, she took her little baby
girl (Mollie) Mary Elizabeth, 4 months old and hid in the
old log corral with a blanket and spent the night.”
Melvina and her husband James took the time to
learn the Indian language when they moved into the area
about 1869. Blind Jim also learned to speak the language of
his new neighbors, the white settlers.
It was said,
even by the whites, that Blind Jim could recognize almost
anyone he had previously talked to. His ability with his
knife was said to be just as good, if not better than a
sighted man. Notes from others indicate that he used his
knife to hunt and kill as well as cut off his cooked meats
to eat. He had a good sense of direction, taking charge
of where he wanted to go.
Blind Jim
chose a brave to travel with him. When visiting with some
of the settlers around the area, would take a ‘squaw”
with him. He did not let others speak or visit for his tribe
when visiting. The guide was just that, his guide.
He, and whom every he chose to lead him would
visit the white settlers and frequent the white people’s
towns as they began to build up. When negotiating with the
military leaders, he brought a brave with him. A photo of
one of Blind Jim’s guides has been saved in a California
collection, however, there does not seem to be a picture of
Blind Jim, himself.
Reviewing old news
articles of the time gives a clear view of the opinion of
the whites at the turn of the century towards the Native
Americans. These attitudes were not lost on Blind Jim. To
get the best of a bad situation, Blind Jim often used the
prejudices of the town’s people against the whites. Today,
we look back at Blind Jim and must question who was the more
superior, he or the educated, “civilized” settlers.
Blind Jim kept his temper, tried to get along with all,
white or Indian. He demonstrated respect to the town’s
people and tried to respect their laws.
An example
of this comes from an article in the Heppner Gazette dated
May 22, 1902. One of his tribe had been arrested. Blind Jim
went to visit him in the jail before the trial and was
present in the courtroom during the trial. He acted as
interpreter for the family of “George”, the Indian on
trial. Not only did he visit in jail, but also tracked down
the attorney’s and spoke on behalf of his friend to the
attorneys and the press.
Quotes such as the
following accompanied the article. “That the Indians
have affection for one another and have shown some of the
finer sensibilities that belong to the human race has been
demonstrated in this case.” and later in the article,
“good live Indian”.
The winter of 1902-03 was
very cold for Heppner. Many of the white and Indian ranchers
lost their stock. For Blind Jim and his people, who recycled
everything, they went into the fields and pulled the wool
from the dead sheep they came across. In April, the band
loaded up the wool into bags, strapped them to their horses
and road into town to sell the wool. They did very well,
netting more than $300.
No one could say that
Blind Jim and his tribesmen had not learned from past
mistakes. When they brought in the wool in 1903, they would
only accept payment in silver or gold. No paper money or
credit at the local businesses.
Today, the
traces of Blind Jim and his people along with the other
tribes that lived in that area for millennia’s are only
found along the petroglyphs near The Dells in Washington
State along the Columbia River. Local history museums have
nothing on Blind Jim.
Many may have forgotten Blind
Jim. But today, we will help keep his memory alive.
.
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