Author: Amanda Skenandore
Publication Information: Kensington. 2018. 336 pages.
ISBN: 1496713664 / 978-1496713667
Book Source: I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.
Opening Sentence: "Her past arrived that morning on page ten, tucked between a cross-hatched cartoon of striking trolley workers and an advertisement for derby hats."
Favorite Quote: "You see life as a straight line. But for us, life is a circle. After something or someone enters our circle, they travel with us foever, influencing us even if they are not physically present. To us, there is no such thing as a goodbye."
Tasunka Ota "Plenty Horses" was a man from the Lakota tribe. In the 1880s, as a child, he was separated from his family and sent to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. The school, founded in 1879, was a boarding school for the single purpose of assimilating Native American children into the "civilized" world of the white. No consideration was given for honoring the culture or traditions of the Native Americans. Children were removed from their families and dropped into the schools, and they were expected to be happy at the opportunity.
Plenty Horses was a resident of the Carlisle School for a number of years. He then left and was expected to make his own way in the white world. Years later, in the days following the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1891, Plenty Horses shot and killed Army Lieutenant Edward W. Casey. The history, the why and what happened after is the basis of this fictional account.
Note that the ending is not historically accurate, but the fictional story portrays the sad history in a powerful way. This is history we need to remember and ensure that it can never ever be repeated.
"Nine years I attended Stover School for Indians and was educated in the ways of the white man. But all the education in the workd could not change the color of my skin. I was not a white man and would never be treated as a white man. So I returned to my people. But even there I was an outcast for I no longer remembered the ways of the Indian. For years I lived a lonely life. A shadow life."
These are the words of Asku Muskrat, the main character in this book formulated from Tasunka Ota. The book, however, is more than his story. It centers around Alma Mitchell. She was the daughter of the man who founded and ran the assimilation school which Harry (his given white name) was forced to attend.
Alma's perspective in the book bring power to the message. As a child, she found friendship and acceptance amongst children even as she was taught that she did not belong with them, that she was separate, apart better. Throughout her childhood, she struggled between the taught idea that this school was trying to do its best for these children and the inequities and questions she witnessed. As an adult, guilt and sorrow follows her as she is confronted with the reality of a murder accusation.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” This quote has been attributed to different people. The idea comes to mind today in this book as it does today. In the misguided attempt to assimilate Native Americans, homes and families were destroyed. Children were uprooted from their traditions and thrust into a world that would not accept them no matter what the assimilation lessons. Evil was perpetrated purposefully but also a tragedy was allowed to happen and enabled by those with seemingly good intentions. That is the sad, sad reality of this story and perhaps also of today. A powerful message.
Tasunka Ota "Plenty Horses" was a man from the Lakota tribe. In the 1880s, as a child, he was separated from his family and sent to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. The school, founded in 1879, was a boarding school for the single purpose of assimilating Native American children into the "civilized" world of the white. No consideration was given for honoring the culture or traditions of the Native Americans. Children were removed from their families and dropped into the schools, and they were expected to be happy at the opportunity.
Plenty Horses was a resident of the Carlisle School for a number of years. He then left and was expected to make his own way in the white world. Years later, in the days following the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1891, Plenty Horses shot and killed Army Lieutenant Edward W. Casey. The history, the why and what happened after is the basis of this fictional account.
Note that the ending is not historically accurate, but the fictional story portrays the sad history in a powerful way. This is history we need to remember and ensure that it can never ever be repeated.
"Nine years I attended Stover School for Indians and was educated in the ways of the white man. But all the education in the workd could not change the color of my skin. I was not a white man and would never be treated as a white man. So I returned to my people. But even there I was an outcast for I no longer remembered the ways of the Indian. For years I lived a lonely life. A shadow life."
These are the words of Asku Muskrat, the main character in this book formulated from Tasunka Ota. The book, however, is more than his story. It centers around Alma Mitchell. She was the daughter of the man who founded and ran the assimilation school which Harry (his given white name) was forced to attend.
Alma's perspective in the book bring power to the message. As a child, she found friendship and acceptance amongst children even as she was taught that she did not belong with them, that she was separate, apart better. Throughout her childhood, she struggled between the taught idea that this school was trying to do its best for these children and the inequities and questions she witnessed. As an adult, guilt and sorrow follows her as she is confronted with the reality of a murder accusation.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” This quote has been attributed to different people. The idea comes to mind today in this book as it does today. In the misguided attempt to assimilate Native Americans, homes and families were destroyed. Children were uprooted from their traditions and thrust into a world that would not accept them no matter what the assimilation lessons. Evil was perpetrated purposefully but also a tragedy was allowed to happen and enabled by those with seemingly good intentions. That is the sad, sad reality of this story and perhaps also of today. A powerful message.
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