Indigenous Peoples’ Day
In solidarity with indigenous people in New York and the US, NY1920 is dedicating this post to Native American people and culture.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, 1920 NYC newspapers rarely invoke the pre-European populations of the region. The press looked far afield to report on Native Americans, and often did so in unflattering ways, engaging in stereotypes and dehumanization.
On May 14, Evening World columnist Marguerite Dean wrote about Luther Standing Bear, chief of the Oglala Lakota, a renowned figure of his time who would go on to be an influential essayist novelist. She portrayed Luther’s divorce with May Standing Bear to depict the “disillusionment” of the “Modern Indian.” The column included a caricature meant to represent current and traditional Native American appearances.
The Daily Magazine, The Evening World. 24 May 1920, p.1. Newspapers.com.
The New York Tribune covered the divorce on July 11, while reporting Luther’s lament for a time before the US claimed his people’s ancestral territories.
The New York Tribune. 11 July 1920, p.59. Newspapers.com.
Family matters also spurred the biggest news of the year involving Native Americans, the dispute over Richard “Boss” Croker’s will. A onetime Tammany Hall chief, Croker changed his will to leave his entire estate to his wife, born Kelaw Kaluntuchy, a woman of Cherokee descent, with whom he had been married since 1914. His children (by his first wife) responded by charging him with mental incompetence.
The Evening World. 1 April 1920, p.2. Chronicling America.
The Sun and Herald’s article on the case called Kaluntuchy, now named Beulah Croker, “an Oklahoma girl … from a line of Indian chiefs.” The paper reports Richard Croker’s daughter, Ethel White, gave a deposition in which she claimed that her father was “completely under the dominion and control of his present wife.” (“Call Croker Senile, Tie Up Vast Estate,” The Sun and New York Herald, 1 April 1920, p.2.)
Aside: According to a 1914 report about the Croker marriage, Ketaw Kaluntuchy had been living for some years in New York City as “Beulah Renton Edmondson, suffrage worker and lecturer” and had appeared in a suffrage parade “on horseback attired in the manner of the Indian princess.” It continues: “Her features are characteristic of her race, somewhat softened, so that she is considered very good looking.” (“Princess Kelaw Kalunichy, Now Mrs. Croker,” Press Democrat, 3 December 1914, p.1.)
Closer to NYC, local papers depicted native Americans working for alcohol traffickers.
New York Herald. 9 November 1920, p3. Chronicling America.
New Yorkers seemed to prefer close-ups of indigenous people via the big screen. Two movies portraying Native American culture made their NYC debut a century ago.
Behold My Wife opened at the Rivoli on October 12. Adapted from The Translation of a Savage, the 1893 Gilbert Parker novel, its plot revolves around Lali, a Native American woman who travels to London from her tribal home in Canada.
Lobby card, 1920. Paramount Pictures. Wikicommons.
Mary Julienne Scott, heavily featured in the film’s publicity images, starred as Lali.
Shadowland, August 1920, p. 58. Wikicommons.
Scott gave an interview recounting how she had prepared for the part. “I read books about the aborigines, and I experimented with costumes and makeup … Honestly, I felt like an Indian when I was playing Lali.” (“Actress Becomes Character She Plays, says Mabel Scott,” New York Tribune, 10 October 1920. p.44)
Premiering a week earlier was a documentary, The Heritage of the Red Man.
The Standard Union. 3 Oct 1920, p. 35. Chronicling America.
Little known of this film save that it used cutting-edge Prizma color technology.
Other traces of Indigenous culture can be seen in scattered appropriation of tribal names, such as by these steamships …
New York Tribune. 12 October 1920, p.18. Chronicling America.
… and by this clothing manufacturer.
The New York Times. 12 October 1920, p.12. Chronicling America.
We have previously mentioned the famous Algonquin Hotel on January 11, February 20, and February 22.
Of course, from October 1920, one appropriation of Native American identity stands out; the word “Indians” was much in the press and much on New Yorkers minds, as the Cleveland Indians baseball team was playing the Brooklyn Robins in the World Series. (See our October 3 post.)
By the way: One hundred years ago today was Columbus Day in the US. We at NY1920 are glad to support the movement to mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day, currently a holiday in fifteen US states, instead of celebrating a man who slaughtered and enslaved the natives he encountered in his voyages. That said, New Yorkers in 1920 commemorated Columbus Day with a variety of events:
New York Tribune. 13 October 1920, p.8. Chronicling America.
References/Further Reading:
Schumer, Lizz. “Some States Celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day Instead of Columbus Day.” Good Housekeeping, Good Housekeeping, 16 Sept. 2020,
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN AND MICAH RIMANDO, OCTOBER 12, 2020.
TAGS: Indigenous people, Native Americans, Algonquin, Lenape, Mohawk, movies, journalism, marginalized people