Summation. While the majority of all the tribes were forced to emigrate to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi, some of the Indian nations negotiated with the Federal Government to allow some of its members to remain behind. In addition, some groups hid out in the swamps, mountains, or forests. Before emigrating to Indian Territory or soon afterwards, some portions of the various nations went to live in Texas. When White people went among the Indians who remained behind, they saw Indians who were determined to have a different life style than those who had emigrated. These Indians who remained behind did not encompass only one "class" of Indian. Some of these were fugitives who had or were still hiding in the mountains or swamps, some were those who stayed behind and traded goods with the White man, and others were those who returned to the southeast. Some were in the southeast legally through treaty negotiations and some were fugitives. These Indians did not desire to live like the White man nor did many of them want to have dealings with the White man except when necessary. Some of these did have intercourse with their White neighbors but only in so far as they traded goods with them. It is important to have some knowledge of the dress of these Indians who remained behind or who returned to their homeland because much of the museum collections of clothing as well as likenesses captured by early anthropologists in the form of daguerreotypes or photographs represent this small remnant. It is basically agreed by museum curators, etc., that the earliest clothing in collections stems from the last third of the nineteenth century. Thus, if collected in the southeast, it most probably belonged to the small number of various tribal members who remained behind. When there is a small group or enclave of people that have broken away or through other circumstances, do not live in the proximity of the larger group, their habits, dress, and customs do not over a period of time, necessarily resemble those of the larger group. Although these splinter groups are historically important, other than the Seminole (whose dress has already been described), their dress will not be discussed individually. We (the authors) have been privileged to examine the exquisite collections of clothes and other artifacts from the Southeast at the Smithsonian, National Museum of the American Indian (The Heye), the Museum of Natural History, and many excellent regional museums both in Oklahoma and in the southeast. We were able to photograph many of the specimens for study purposes. These garments and photographs of these garments have been looked at in conjunction with the information attached to them namely: collection date, museum acquisition date, identity of collector, location of acquisition, and identification of person or tribal affiliation who, in the case of garments, wore the garment. In studying all the Southeastern Indians, the authors of this book have intentionally steered away from relying or putting much weight on oral histories and museum specimens of Southeastern Native American clothing even though both have been studied by the authors. Non-recorded oral histories at the end of the twentieth century have passed through too many generations for their content to be either reliable or accurate. Even those collected earlier while some of the informants were of an age to remember events in the late nineteenth century, have been carefully evaluated. The only oral histories used in this manuscript were those that pertained specifically to the nineteenth century dress from the Pioneer-Indian Papers collected as a WPA project in the nineteen thirties. This material, though, has been contextually evaluated. Where it differed from the majority of primary source documents, the material was evaluated as to possible authenticity and identified and presented in that context. Unfortunately, when specimens were donated to museums from the late nineteenth to the mid twentieth century, often their origin was not clear. Thus, their date of creation, tribal affiliation, and purpose is frequently not correct. With intermarriage between tribes, constant dislocation, as well as the loss of articles during all the removals, many of the garments can only be looked upon as general representations of what was worn in the southeast in the late nineteenth century and twentieth century. How it represents what was worn earlier in the decade as well as in previous centuries must be analyzed garment by garment knowing the historical development. The Seminole dress, collected from the late nineteenth century and early twentieth, is the only exception for, as stated earlier, what is known as Seminole dress did not materialize until the late nineteenth century. What makes analysis of these garments even harder is that it is known that some were created especially to sell to traders or White people. In addition, the missionaries introduced certain needle skills that were not known nor utilized historically by the Indians. This does not mean that these latter articles are not Native Americannor does it mean that they do not belong in museum collections. However this statement does mean that these articles need to be annotated and their history identified. Grant Foreman in his papers mentioned that: "A full Indian suit of dressed buckskin beautifully embroidered with silk by the ladies of the family of Mr. J. M. Payne had been sent to New York for exhibition."1 It must be remembered that the Cherokee Indians did not wear silk embroidered buckskin clothing. Another similar reference can be found in the letters of Cassandra Sawyer Lockwood: "About five years since, [circa 1837] a Female Benevolent Society was formed at Dwight. The principal object was to raise money to print tracts in the Cherokee language. The members met once in four weeks.....The meeting was opened during the afternoon & continued the remainder of the day. The older women & the children made quilts, while the larger girls belonging to Miss Stetson's school, made needle-books, pin--cushions, braided pretty mats, besides a variety of other fancy work. Some specimens of their work upon lace & muslin would reflect honor upon any young lady."2 Even when a piece of clothing is accurately identified, it must be considered as a part of the whole outfit and not studied in isolation. Individual pieces only tell part of a story. The integration of these articles and period in which they were worn is critical to understand the significance of either the one garment or the compilation of all the garments. As stated earlier, collectors were not always accurate in labeling their garments. This presents many problems for twentieth century curators. If a collector attributed the clothing to a specific period of time and a specific group of people, how can a curator even a half century or century later challenge this information? These statements do not imply that the museum collections of Southeastern Native American clothing are not important nor are they intentionally misleading. Some have been collected by reputable anthropologists or other informants who have supplied complete descriptions as to origination, use, etc. Also, many curators when placing them on exhibit go beyond the information specified with each piece and place them in contextually appropriate settings. What needs to be remembered by the viewer or researcher is that most of these pieces are representative of styles worn by mixed-bloods no earlier than the middle of the nineteenth century. It is, also, important to remember that these styles represent only a small segment of time in the history of dress and adornment. Throughout the book, the individuality of the Indians has been stressed. These Indians indigenous to the Southeast did not cloth themselves in tribally distinctive dress. According to the observations of the first explorers in the fifteenth century and early sixteenth century, their dress was, primarily, climate oriented. The Natives used the materials found in their environment and adapted them to their needs. Their clothing was minimal and their adornment consisted of permanent tattooing, painting, and the wearing of jewelry in and from selected appendages. Design Plate # 1 As the Europeans and, then, the Americans increased their power over the Indians through the control of market goods and land acquisitions and as a result of Native population decimation by war, disease, and slavery, Native society became socially and economically stratified; the leaders, usually, were of mixed blood. Wealth became an important factor and represented power and prestige. The Indians began to accumulate goods beyond those necessary for survival. These included jewelry and fancy clothes, many of which were adopted from the dress of the White man. Starting in the mid eighteenth century, clothing among Native American males became a status symbol. It, also, spurred on by the Christian missionaries, became a symbol of civilization and Christianity. However, as it has been shown, the dress of both sexes was still, basically, non-tribally representative. The type of clothing worn reflected the mixture of blood (White and Native) of the wearer; the proximity to Euro/Americans; the position within the Native community; the socio-economic status; and whether the person had been converted to Christianity or not. Design Plate # 2 The highly individualized adaptation of White Euro/American fashion, predominantly among the men, flowered from the mid to late eighteenth century and was not tribally sensitive. Women's clothing was never as intricate or inventive as was the men's. Theirs also was not tribally sensitive. The only tribe that had clothes unique unto themselves was that of the Seminole. This apparel, however, did not evolve and come into being until very late in the nineteen century. Documentation of the customs of the Southeast Indians shows huge areas for which there is little information. To compound this situation in 1906 and 1908 by two Acts of Congress, chapter 1876, section 11 (1906) and chapter 199, section 13 (1908), the individual tribes of the "Five Civilized" Tribes were instructed to turn over all tribal property to the Federal Government. Chapter 199, section 13: The original act, approved April 26, 1906 was entitled "An Act to provide the final disposition of the Affairs of the Five Civilized Tribes in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes."3 Design Plate # 3 "That every officer, member, or representative of the Five Civilized Tribes, respectively, or any other person having in his possession, custody, or control, any money or other property, including the books, documents, records, or any other papers, of any of said tribes, shall make full and true account and report thereof to the Secretary of the Interior, and shall pay all money of the tribe in his possession, custody, or control and shall deliver all other tribal properties so held by him to the Secretary of the Interior, and if any person shall willfully and fraudulently fail to account for all such money and property so held by him, or to pay and deliver the same as herein provided, prior to July thirty-first, nineteen hundred and eight, he shall be deemed guilty of embezzlement and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by fine of not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment, not exceeding five years, or by both such fine and imprisonment, according to the laws of the United States relating to such offense, and shall be liable in civil proceeding to be prosecuted in behalf of and in the name of the tribe or tribes in interest for the amount or value of the money or property so withheld."5 It was not until 1924 that they were made citizens of the United States. "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all non-citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States be, and they are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States: Provided, That the granting of such citizenship shall not in any manner impair or otherwise affect the right of any Indian to tribal or other property."6 As late as the 1950's and 60's, it was not popular to be known as an Indian. Donald Sanders (co-author) remembers how angry his grandmother was when he requested to learn Cherokee, a language she knew how to speak but would not acknowledge. She was emphatic in her belief that to succeed one must pretend one was not an Indian. Similar incidents have been reported to have taken place in many other families. Less than one hundred years after Oklahoma Statehood, it has become popular to be an Indian. Many people spend hours on genealogical searches to prove their Indian ancestry. In the last twenty years, the dress that these descendants of the Southeast Indians consider to be based on tribal association has evolved into a twentieth century tradition of its own. This is the dress that they don at public pow-wows or wear when representing a Native American from one of the "Five Civilized Tribes". The Seminoles are an exception since their present style of traditional dress is a direct out growth from their dress of the late nineteenth century. The dress that many other members of the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Tribes consider to have long standing traditional roots is in actuality a combination of the dress of the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws at the turn of the nineteenth century and artifacts from the Plains Indians in the form, for example, of feather headdresses, certain types of jewelry, and hair styles. The material used, especially by the men, is frequently a brightly colored, shiny synthetic fabric. This late twentieth century attire is both evolutionary and revolutionary for it encompasses modern day materials and elements of dress that reflect the Pan-Indian movement of the late twentieth century. |