Perpetuation of Native American Stereotypes in Children's Literature

Perpetuation of Native American Stereotypes in Children's Literature

Caution should be used when selecting books including Native

Americans, due to the lasting images that books and pictures

provide to children. This paper will examine the portrayal of

Native Americans in children's literature. I will discuss

specific stereotypes that are present and should be avoided, as

well as positive examples. I will also highlight evaluative

criteria that will be useful in selecting appropriate materials

for children and provide examples of good and bad books.

Children will read many books as they grow up. They take

from these books visual images and these images are their

perceptions, which can last a lifetime. There are too many books

featuring painted, whooping Indians wearing feathers and

attacking forts, or maliciously scalping peaceful settlers.

There are also too many books in which white benevolence is the

only thing that saves the day for the incompetent childlike

Indian. Teachers, librarians, parents, baby-sitters, relatives,

and anyone else who buys a child a book must be aware of the

perceptions each book will provide a child. In her book Through

Indian Eyes: The Native Experience for Children, Doris Seale

states, "It is no longer acceptable for children both Native and

non-Native to be hurt racist ideologies which justify and

perpetuate oppression."

There are many books in children's libraries today that

perpetuate the stereotypical Native American. By definition, a

stereotype is a "fixed image, idea, trait, or convention, lacking

originality or individuality, most often negative, which robs

individuals and their cultures of human qualities and promotes no

real understanding of social rea...

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...ay as to be needlessly offensive, insensitive, or inappropriate?

10. Does the material contain much of value but require additional

information to make it more relevant or useful?

(Library Services Institute for Minnesota Indians, 1970, pp. iv-v)

Works Cited

Berkhoffer, Robert F. 'The White Man's Indian. Alfred A. Knopf

Publishers, New York: 1978.

Dowd, Frances Smardo. "Evaluating Children's Portraying Native

American and Asian Cultures". Childhood Education; (68

Summer 92), pp. 219-224.

Library Services Institutefor Minnesota Indians. Guidelines for

Evaluating Multicultural Literature: 1970, pp. iv-v.

Norton, Donna. 'Through the Eyes of a Child. Prentice Hall

Inc., Englewood Cliffes, New Jersey: 1995.

Seale, Doris. Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience in

Books for Children. New Society Publisher, Philadelphia, PA:

1992.