Category: Cost Of Indian Heads

"Just a Test"

11/30/2022

... Analyzing Tommy Orange's There There

Aiming a gun scope at an Indian Chief's head, in every home in America sent messages of nightly fear among U.S. citizens for 40 years in the 20th Century. This was a message about the "savage" Indian that enforced the massacre mentality among Whites. See and hear the actual recording of the test by clicking here.

Indian Head Test Pattern
Some believe this artist is unknown, however:

Designed in 1938 by Radio Corporation of American (RCA) artist named Brooks (no other name found).
Broadcasted 1930s - 1970s to millions of Americans' televisions at night after all the shows ran.
Ran for ~40 years during the events that were affecting our Indigenous peoples:
- 1930s - 1950s - Indian Reorganization Act - part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 'New Deal' policies designed to respond and focus on relief, recovery and reform for Native Americans. But it was not always a Good Deal.
- 1950s - 1960s - Indian Termination Era - U.S. policy designed to assimilate Native Americans by terminating our status as Indians, disband our tribes, relocate us and sell our land.
- 1953 - Urban Indian Relocation Program - trickery to relocate Indians from their homelands to cities. The book There There by Tommy Orange is a result and impact of this U.S. initiative.
- 1960s - Self Determination Era - Influenced by the American Indian Movement that breathed in a new era.

Just a Test

Meant to instill fear among American citizens.
Fed into the idea of “savage Indians” on a “warpath.”

A Target

The test-pattern was a "target plate" that involved focused beams of electrons, which were originally called cathode rays.
As the beam struck the image, the result gave information about image color.

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Work Cited
Wikipedia (Indian Head test pattern designer; target plate)

"Metacomet"

11/30/2022

... Analyzing Tommy Orange's There There

Metacomet was the son of Wampanoag Indian Chief Massasoit.
When his father died, Metacomet became Chief of the Wampanoags.
Metacomet was renamed “King Philip," by choice, through the Plymouth Court.
1676 was King Philip's War with the colonists.
Wampanoag Indian John Alderman (who used to be Metacomet's counselor) murdered Metacomet.
John Alderman served under Capt. Benjaman Church who led the first American Rangers.
Metacomet’s head was sold to Plymouth Colony for thirty shillings.

1772 Political Cartoon 0f Metacomet by Paul Revere

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Work Cited
Paul Revere's "Philip, King of Mount Hope", from Thomas Church's "The Entertaining History of King Philip's War": A Conservator's Analysis Author(s): THERESA FAIRBANKS HARRIS Source: Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin , 2013, Teaching with Art (2013), pp. 120- 125 Published by: Yale University, acting through the Yale University Art Gallery Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23612148

"Thirty Shillings"

11/30/2022

.. Analyzing Tommy Orange's There There

Sometimes it wasn't even real money!

Thirty shillings is equal to .83 cents in today's U.S. dollars. Human Indian Heads were of little value to Whites.

Colonists illegally minted counterfeit coins (shillings). Fake coins minted in the Massachusetts Bay Colony could pay for human Indian Heads. This 1652 silver shilling (left) sold at auction in 2021 for $351,912.

Examples of shillings from the Smithsonian collection and magazine.

Courtesy of Morton and Eden

Thirty Shillings note from 1776.

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Work Cited
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1591169
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/early-colonial-boston-coin-sells-for-350000-180979137/

Special Thanks

Best Friend Forever Angie Ford

Advisor, American Indian Literature
Dr. Zachary Laminack, Ph.D.
UNCP, Assistant Professor of English
Dept. of English, Theatre, and World Languages

Advisor, American Indian Studies
Dr. Jane Melinda Haladay, Ph.D.
UNCP, Professor Dept. of American Indian Studies

Dept. Chair, American Indian Studies
Dr. Mary Ann Jacobs, (Lumbee), Ph.D.
UNCP, Dept. Chair and Professor, American Indian Studies

Produced by
University of North Carolina at Pembroke Students as an American Indian Studies Student Project by Best Friends Rene' Locklear White (Lumbee) and Angie Ford

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Read about the Allusions and Truths ...

"Just a Test"

... Analyzing Tommy Orange's There There

"Metacomet"

... Analyzing Tommy Orange's There There

1772 Political Cartoon 0f Metacomet by Paul Revere

"Thirty Shillings"

.. Analyzing Tommy Orange's There There

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