The newspaper Indian : Native American identity in the press, 1820-90
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The newspaper Indian : Native American identity in the press, 1820-90
（The history of communication）
University of Illinois Press, c1999
- pbk.
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Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Contents of Works
- Discovery, destiny, and savagery : imagining Indians in America
- Romance and rumor : the Indian in the antebellum press
- Explaining Indian removal
- The Rocky Mountain news and the scandal of Sand Creek
- The war in words : reporting the Fetterman fight
- The making of an Indian villain : Sitting Bull in war and peace
- Indian reformers and the idealized indian
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
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ISBN 9780252024320
Description
Newspapers were a key source for popular opinion in the nineteenth century, and The Newspaper Indian is the first in-depth look at how newspapers and newsmaking practices shaped the representation of Native Americans, a contradictory representation that carries over into our own time. John M. Coward has examined seven decades of newspaper reporting, journalism that perpetuated the many stereotypes of the American Indian.Indians were not described on their own terms but by the norms of the white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant society that wrote and read about them. Beyond the examination of Native American representation (and, more often, misrepresentation) in the media, Coward shows how Americans turned native people into symbolic and ambiguous figures whose identities were used as a measure of American Progress.
The Newspaper Indian is a fascinating look at a nation and the power of its press. It provides insight into how Native Americans have been woven with newsprint into the very fabric of American life.
- Volume
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pbk. ISBN 9780252067389
Description
Newspapers catalyzed public opinion in the nineteenth century, and the press's coverage and practices shaped the representation of Native Americans for white audiences. John M. Coward delves into the complex ways journalism both perpetuated and created the many stereotypes of the American Indian.
The newspaper Indian emerged not only from centuries of stereotypes but also as an Other standing in the way of economic growth and national expansion. As economic entities hungry for profits, newspapers sought colorful and exciting stories that attracted readers and confirmed the correctness of American values and goals. Journalists came to rely on easily understood formulas and cliches to explain American Indians while the changing technology of newsgathering promoted a fact-based but narrow native identity that standardized the representations of indigenous peoples. The result was a harsh, paternalistic identity that dominated American newspapers for decades-and still influence misrepresentations of Native American people in our own time.
Fascinating and thought-provoking, The Newspaper Indian shows how the press wove Native Americans into the fabric of a modernizing America.
by "Nielsen BookData"