Diversity 101: Not Injun Joe

Native American Stereotyping in Literature

Contributed to CBC Diversity by Joseph Bruchac 

No group in American culture has been more stereotyped than Native Americans. While other ethnic stereotypes now meet with disapproval, harmful images of native people are still accepted or defended within majority culture, even when Native Americans complain. There are images and characters in books and other media, expressions in current usage, the naming of places and sports teams, and negative expectations about the behavior of Native Americans. It is so pervasive that non-natives often don’t realize they’re saying or doing things hurtful to Native Americans. (And when it is pointed out, the response is often disbelief or denial.)

My Personal Connection
I’m of mixed blood. Native American and European. My Abenaki grandfather who raised me often told me how he left school in fourth grade by jumping out a window because his classmates kept calling him a dirty Indian. Not acting like an Indian--denying a tribal identity--was his way to survive, while working as a laborer, a lumberjack, running a general store.

I started school in upstate New York in 1947. All the kids played cowboys and Indians. I wanted to be a cowboy. I did not want to be one of those howling redskins who rode in circles around wagon trains and were shot off their horses by John Wayne. However, there were also “good Indians.” At Thanksgiving my classmates wore paper headdresses to look like the nice Indians who came to dinner with the pilgrims. In scout groups, my peers and I were taught “Indian ways” by grown-up counselors and given “Indian names.” The adult world of my childhood portrayed Indians as enemies and then urged us to be like them. It was confusing.

Stereotypes/Cliches/Tropes/Errors

Native Americans, as the media portrayed us then, were distant and exotic creatures, not human beings or neighbors—though numerous families in my home town were of native descent. Indians were either noble, vanishing savages, such as Chingachook and Uncas in Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, or murderous savages such as Magua. Men were “braves.” Women were “squaws.” Children were “papooses.” “They” were different from “us.”

It was worse if (like me) a character in a book or film was of Native and European ancestry. That produced a treacherous half-breed. The classic example of that character is Injun Joe in Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer. Injun Joe is a drunk, a murderer, and threatens the life of Tom. Twain’s Injun Joe reflected and deepened public perceptions about Indians and alcoholism. While it didn’t create the cliche that Indians “cannot hold their liquor,” it reinforced it. In point of fact, alcoholism is common in economically and socially depressed communities throughout the world. And for over two centuries whisky was often introduced by white men into Native American communities to manipulate Indians into unfair land transfers.

Things have improved since my childhood. Because Twain’s book is no longer so popular among young readers, the character of Injun Joe is relatively obscure today. Thank goodness. I grew up sometimes being called “Injun Joe.” But, sadly, you do not have to look far to find images of the Indian as a savage, barely controllable being in contemporary writing for young people. Just open the door of The Indian in the Cupboard. Negative or inaccurate images keep being resurrected in the media or, in the case of sports teams with Native names and mascots, vigorously defended.

Things I'd Like to See
On the other hand, in the 21st century there are ways that we, as teachers, writers, and readers can get it right. Begin by avoiding not just stereotypes, but the generalities that lead to stereotyping. For example, don’t accept it when someone references a tale as a “Native American” or “American Indian” story. (Many stories published as “old Indian legends”--especially about doomed lovers from warring tribes--were concocted by non-Native writers.)

“Native American” and “American Indian” are collective terms. Over 500 recognized and distinct tribal nations exist within the United States. Languages, traditions, histories and overall cultures can be vastly different. Begin by identifying the specific tribal nation--such as Dine’ (Navajo). Don’t go first to Google or general reference books (which are loaded with inaccuracies about American Indians). Use well-researched, primary sources, especially those offered by Native groups and organizations. The National Museum of the American Indian, with branches in New York City and Washington, DC is a superb resource. The Dine’ nation is one of a number of American Indian tribal nations maintaining a very strong website. You can also turn to well-prepared Native American people themselves, teachers, librarians and writers, tribal leaders and respected representatives of their own nations. (But do not make the mistake of assuming that any random Native American will know everything about Indians or even about his or her tribal nation.)

I constantly turn to such well-qualified human resources. When I wrote my novel Code Talker, about the Navajo marines who used their language during World War II to send secret messages for the United States, I did not limit my resource to books. I spoke with actual code talkers. My drafts were reviewed by the Navajo Code Talkers Association, by Harry Walters who is a respected Navajo museum director, and by a Navajo language teacher.

It takes time to do it right. But as Swift Eagle, a Pueblo/Jicarilla Apache elder who was a friend and teacher, once reminded me, “Few good things happen fast. Be patient and listen.”

Resources
Two books offering useful guidelines and reviews of young people’s books by and about American Indians:

• Through Indian Eyes. Edited by Doris Seale and Beverly Slapin. New Society Publishers, 1987.
  
• A Broken Flute, The Native Experience in Books for Children. Edited by Doris Seale and Beverly Slapin. Altamira, 2005.

Joseph Bruchac is a writer and storyteller whose work often reflects the American Indian experience. Author of over 120 books, including Code Talker and Dragon Castle, he is a graduate of Cornell University, the Syracuse University Writing Program, and holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Union Institute of Ohio. Photo by Eric Jenks.