Monday PSA: A Salute to Our American Indians!

October 9th, 2006

Filed under: Comics

A Salute to Our American Indians! Click for the full page.In a fit of irony — since it is Columbus Day here in America — I thought it would be appropriate to look at this classic DC PSA about American Indians. Alternately condescending and informative, this PSA gives a good picture of how Americans of fifty years ago viewed Native Americans (ot at least how high school drama teachers in the 1950s did).

Click on the image for the full PSA

I was familiar with Jim Thorpe, but I have to admit not knowing about Maria Tallchief. For those of you with the same lack of knowledge, here is the Wikipedia entry on Maria Tallchief (and here’s the one on Jim Thorpe).

Tags:

2 Responses to “ Monday PSA: A Salute to Our American Indians! ”

  1. Hube
    October 12th, 2006 at 6:16 pm

    Wow, that was the from the 50s? It isn’t surprising to read a kid uttering something like that back then, but what’s remarkable is the teacher’s reply from a PSA of that era. Bravo to DC for what HAD to be quite a non-PC advertisement at that time! :-)

  2. mpb
    October 12th, 2006 at 10:35 pm

    That student remark is still viable today, maybe even more so.

    However, the response by DC was not so remarkable, as I recall. The nabisco shredded wheat used to come in a box with carboard separators between the biscuits. Each liner had biographies of famous Indian leaders, such as Rain-in-the-Face; outstanding events and constructions, etc. (can’t remeber them all). Also, maria tallcheif was not only an outstanding ballerina but was accessible to the puiblic. (rock star). What is novel is the emphasis on living Indians, such as Mohawk, not just the famous few and the historical contributions.

    I suspect today, outside of Native areas (and even inside of Native areas) most people would emphasize the past-tense and the violence and the new Agey goobledy-gook.

    Now, if you thought Indians were stereotyped, take a look at Eskimo people in cartoons, Cartoon ethnic eldercare stereotyping 2 and Ethnic stereotyping and ageism

    and then there are those truly novel people described by the “factual” press, see entry about 29 down at http://www.apstylebook.com/ask_editor.php

Leave a Reply

« Thoughts on Annuals Doctor Strange — The Oath #1: A Medical Review »