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| The Huntington Herald 8/8/1912 |
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1915, January 16th - Cleveland wants a new name
Does anybody else wonder why you would pull in sporting writers to help name a baseball team? And given THEY had so much input, wouldn't they be choosing a name that they could use creatively in their articles? And if they, say, picked the 'Indians' - they could conjure up headlines about scalping, massacres, slaughtering, and going off the reservation... right???
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| New Castle Herald |
1920, October 6th - Fake Indians are warhooping and scalping along their war path
Those sports writers sure had a way with words.
Too bad they kept using the same words over and over - for more than a century. |
| The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 10/6/1920 |
1921, May 17 - As long as we're all entertained, who cares about risks and causalities?
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| The Courier Gazette May 17, 1921 |
All for the entertainment of others... right?
1921, July 17th - Indian woman in 1921 hated the fake Indians imitating war whoops, putting on a show. It made her blood boil.
For those people who say American Indians haven't said anything about being mocked for non-Indian entertainment, so why change things now -- then explain this. Yet ANOTHER early article with an indigenous person upset over being mimicked and mocked purely for a "show."
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1921, Nov 27th - Boston Braves are named after a man who liked to PLAY Indian - and nothing more.
So... what can we gather from this article?
1. Sportswriters were instrumental in the naming of many sports teams.
2. Boston Braves came from the owner of the team who was a Tammany man (meaning, he liked to dress up and play Indian with his friends).
3. Not a whole lot of thought went into naming some of these teams.
1922, Jan 4 - Sun Has Set on Career of Jim Thorpe, Wonder Athelete
"Few athletes received a unanimous vote when fans or experts vote on 'the greatest man' in any branch of sport. Jim Thorpe is one of these men who at some time or other have stood out so prominently in their profession that there is no doubt as to their greatness. Consequently the passing of the Indian wonder from athletic draws attention and regret."
"Thorpe announced when his professional football team played its final game that he had ended his days on the gridiron. And it is a good bed that he will not return to baseball. Time has taken its toll."
(Click below to view the entire article)
"Thorpe announced when his professional football team played its final game that he had ended his days on the gridiron. And it is a good bed that he will not return to baseball. Time has taken its toll."
(Click below to view the entire article)
1922, Nov 12th - a good luck mascot craze was all the rage
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| Springfield Missouri Republican 11/12/1922 |
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| A close-up of the "Honolulu Doll-Mascots" Springfield Missouri Republican 11/12/1922 |
Article Text:
The latest crazy of fashionable women for mascots and good-luck charms has suddenly centered itself on - an elephant hair!
A single hair from the mud-spattered tail of an African elephant has become more desirable, if you are superstitious, than diamonds or rubies!
And these elephant hairs are being set, like precious stones, in rings and bracelets of gold or platinum.
1926 - Students dressed as "blanketed Indians" perform the teams Scalp Song.
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| In 1926, this image by Frank Snyder appeared in the Alumni Newsletter. It's of the Miami University Glee Club performing the Scalp Song prior to a football game. These singers would perform dressed in blankets, and to the beat of a tom-tom. The caption read, “The Miami Men’s Chorus, dressed in feathered headgear and bright blankets, from under which linen knickers and golf-socks incongruously peeped out, sang the stirring war song of the Tribe.” |
Scalp Song Lyrics (1916)
The tribes go forth to war,
Their scalp songs ring afar;
Bright the blood-red camp-fires gleaming,
Mad with thirst the war-hawks screaming;
Signal smoke soars high,
Beckons in the sky,
Old men shake their calabashes,
Warriors dance amid the ashes,
Maidens sobbing, war-drums throbbing,
War!
Far and wide their host is scattered,
Spears are broken, shields are battered;
Miami! Yuh! Yuh! Yuh! Yuh!
Miami! Yuh! Yuh! Yuh! Yuh!
Race them, chase them, pound them, hound them
Wow!
Their scalp songs ring afar;
Bright the blood-red camp-fires gleaming,
Mad with thirst the war-hawks screaming;
Signal smoke soars high,
Beckons in the sky,
Old men shake their calabashes,
Warriors dance amid the ashes,
Maidens sobbing, war-drums throbbing,
War!
Far and wide their host is scattered,
Spears are broken, shields are battered;
Miami! Yuh! Yuh! Yuh! Yuh!
Miami! Yuh! Yuh! Yuh! Yuh!
Race them, chase them, pound them, hound them
Wow!
1926, Oct 30th - First appearance of Chief Illiniwek
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| Chief Illiniwek and his first appearance 10/30/1926 - with Penn States mascot, William Penn |
1963. "Great White Fathers" of the Hillsboro Indians. With war paint, Indian braves, scalping parties, and White Man's Magic.
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| 1963, Sep. 6 - The Press Gazette. |
1938 - Miami University in Ohio starts yet another Indian tradition
The marching band at Miami University (Ohio) was formed in 1937, with the inclusion of an Indian-theme. It included two "Indian dancers" with tom-toms to play to the crowd, along with the new drum-majors and majorettes. The band wrote the "Scalp Song" and the dancers would entertain with a "war dance."
Other photos from this time, that have been linked to Miami University, are below (1938).
Other photos from this time, that have been linked to Miami University, are below (1938).
1941, April 6th - Jim Thorpe forms Hollywood group to make characters more authentic
From the Arizona Independent Republic - Movie Indians Form New Units.
From Hollywood, a new organization has formed comprised of 44 American Indian men and women who make their living in motion pictures called the Native Redmen of Hollywood. Their goal is to all authentic touches to movies that portray Native people and to act as technical advisers. Athletic star Jim Thorpe got them together "because most of the Indians in Hollywood know less about their tribal customs and traditions than the average Boy Scout."
From Hollywood, a new organization has formed comprised of 44 American Indian men and women who make their living in motion pictures called the Native Redmen of Hollywood. Their goal is to all authentic touches to movies that portray Native people and to act as technical advisers. Athletic star Jim Thorpe got them together "because most of the Indians in Hollywood know less about their tribal customs and traditions than the average Boy Scout."
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