Menominee Tribe Sparknotes

Patricia K. Ouranda published a manuscript in 1926 entitled The Menominee Indians: A History. This book covers the innumerable conflicts between the Menominee tribe and the federal government, other tribes, and itself, and invariably references the grandson of the Great Chief, Reginald Oshkosh. While the text refers to Chief Oshkosh the Brave with active language, such as stating he “ascended” to his position, “earned his title”, and “gained prestige within the tribe”, the language used to describe Reginald Oshkosh starkly contrasts the spirited language. The only characterization attributed to Reginald is his “quiet ability to confound those who asked him foolish questions”, and twice more is his “quiet” and “unassuming” nature commented upon.

Ouranda frames Reginald Oshkosh as a dramatic foil to his grandfather: a levelheaded, modern Indian who recognizes the need to cooperate with American government authorities where his grandfather “was ever suspicious of the American promise, feeling that the only time American shook hands was when they wanted another piece of Menominee land”. In example, the first mention of Reginald Oshkosh contextualizes him as one of “thirty three Indian chiefs from the western reservations” who “were guests of the United States at the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson”.

The lengthiest description of Reginald Oshkosh and his impact on the Menominee tribe revolves around this presidential interaction, as Ouranda quotes from a February New York Times article that fixated on Reginald. Ouranda inserts a block quote stating that “‘Oshkosh is of the purest Indian blood and a superb type of redman… It is doubtful if any garb could conceal the ancestry of which he is so proud… he looked like a composite picture of all the chiefs whom it took the flower of the federal army to subdue’”. This block text remains without any analysis or contingent historical admonishments for the uninformed language of the reporter or blatant American-centric perspective, instead further using the article to enumerate a ‘quote’ from Reginald himself. Ouranda clearly tries to convey Reginald’s unique perspective on American policies when she inserts part of the New York Times article where Reginald had explained to the reporter that “‘The Menominees were always loyal to the government under which they

lived. They were loyal to the French until the English won; they were loyal to the English government and when their land passed under the dominion of the United States they were loyal to this government… I suppose in a few years there will be no pure Menominees left. It is better so, perhaps… intermarrying with the whites is better for us morally, mentally, and physically. I believe that’”.

Once more, this block quote is unaccompanied by any analysis, Ouranda instead moving on to detail the other Native American representatives at the inauguration, leaving the reader to believe that the quote stands for itself. Regardless of the accuracy of which the New York Post journalist transcribed and published Reginald’s quote, Ouranda declines to address the cognitive dissonance of a Menominee leader that echoes the sentiment of white supremacists. Moreover, Ouranda’s treatment of Reginald Oshkosh de-legitimizes him as a leader, never once referring to him as a chief (as he was at the time of the inauguration) and allowing quotes that describe his defining feature as distinctly indigenous to be reprinted without skepticism. Later on when referring to a socio-economic crisis the Menominee Indians attempted to solve (which was not identified to be under the leadership of Chief Reginald Oshkosh as it truly was), Ouranda shifts the leadership capacity of Reginald to the tribe as a whole, recounting that ““Following the Meriam Commission’s recommendation[s of strategies to improve conditions among the tribe], the Menominees quickly issued a press release, prepared by Chief Reginald

Oshkosh”. Despite historical evidence suggesting Chief Reginald was the leading influence on the tribe’s implementation of solutions devised by the Meriam Commission, Ouranda shifts the credit to the Menominees as a whole, simply implying that Reginald Oshkosh only prepared the press release. Throughout the short period of her book focused on Reginald Oshkosh, three aspects are repeatedly emphasized: Reginald as a passive figurehead rather than a leader, Reginald being indigenous in appearance but not in mentality, and Reginald being a departure from the resistant and strong Menominee leaders of the past. While repeatedly characterizing Reginald as a modern (or at least modern to 1913) Native American, Ourandas’ reinforcement of Oshkosh’s alleged beliefs about the future of the Menominees being assimilation frames a clear argument that Reginald Oshkosh was a less legitimate and indigenous Native American than his grandfather Oshkosh the Great. The effect of this argument results in an impression that Native American authenticity is static, and because of that statism it is dying with leaders such as Chief Reginald Oshkosh.