Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
1991
Abstract
Charles Curtis, a one-eighth Kansa mixedblood, was elected vice president of the United States in 1928, the highest station attained by a person of Indian ancestry. Earlier, while serving as a Kansas congressman at the tum of the century, Curtis was instrumental in many government actions that are now generally considered to be some of the worst abuses of Indians and their homelands under a forced assimilation policy. William Unrau demonstrates in this important work that it was no coincidence that a mixed-blood played such a pivotal role in the destruction of tribes. The government had a long-standing record of giving mixed-bloods special consideration in negotiations. This not only helped win desired treaty arrangements, but it was also intended to convince full-bloods of the value of acculturation.
Comments
Published in GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY 11:3 (Summer 1991). Copyright © 1991 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.