Reply to Laura Ingalls Wilder

Forum Index » Entertainment and Pop Culture

Reply to "Laura Ingalls Wilder"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/books/laura-ingalls-wilder-book-award.amp.html

[quote]Despite their popularity, Ms. Wilder’s books contain jarringly prejudicial portrayals of Native Americans and African Americans.

In the 1935 book “Little House on the Prairie,” for example, multiple characters espoused versions of the view that “the only good Indian was a dead Indian.” In one scene, a character describes Native Americans as “wild animals” undeserving of the land they lived on.

“Little Town on the Prairie,” published in 1941, included a description of a minstrel show with “five black-faced men in raggedy-taggedy uniforms” alongside a jolting illustration of the scene.

“There’s this subtle but very clear fear generated throughout the books,” said Debbie Reese, a scholar whose writing and research focus on portrayals of American Indians in children’s literature.

Dr. Reese, who belongs to the Nambe Pueblo tribe in New Mexico, said that the books could be used to educate high school or college students, but were inappropriate for young children.

“People are trying to use them and say, ‘Well, we can explain them,’ and I say: ‘O.K., you’re trying to explain racism to white people. Good for those white kids,’” she said. “But what about the Native and the black kids in the classroom who have to bear with the moment when they’re being denigrated for the benefit of the white kids?”
[/quote]

[/quote]

It is important for even children to understand this stuff, the history of it, the why and how we are where we are today and where we have come from.

Kids are smarter than you give them credit for, and way smarter than the person you quoted could even imagine.[/quote]
My child of color doesn’t need to hear people of color referred to as “wild animals” so a white kid can have a Teachable Moment.  There are other books that depict pioneer life without offending everyone who is  non-white.[/quote]

By this logic, children shouldn’t be taught about slavery, Jim Crow, or any other times in history when groups were treated badly. 
Better not read about red heads being executed as witches, or books by black authors that (understandably) portray white people poorly & unworhy of trust. [/quote]

I teach history. When I discuss slavery and other horrific issues, I teach them from the perspective of the people who experienced it, not from a white gaze on “the other”. Would you teach the American Revolution only using a novel with a wealthy British child as the protagonist? [/quote]

No one here or anywhere has said that Laura's books are the only perspective.

Her books present a variety of perspectives that are accurate for the times and is a valuable historical teaching tool for children.

Her Little House on the Prairie book has everything from Mr. Scott who says "The only good Indian is a dead Indian" and Mrs. Scott who is terrified throughout the book that the settlers will be massacred just like in Minnesota, to Ma who is afraid of and does not like Indians, but won't talk about it and keeps changing the subject.

On the other side is Pa who respects the Indians greatly and argues their side throughout the book, telling Mr. Scott, Ma and Laura that the Indians are right to be angry at the whites for taking their lands, and if the white people would only treat the Indians fairly the Indians would be just as peaceful as everyone else.

And then there is Laura who questions all of them throughout the book, with her constant "Why" and repeatedly saying, including to Ma "If you dislike Indians so much why did you move to Indian Country?"

Little House on the Prairie is an incredibly nuanced and well written book that does an exceptional job capturing the time and showing the whys of history.

History has many sides.

If you as a history teacher feel that it is morally superior to teach only one side, be it that of only the conqueror or only the conquered, then you are doing a huge disservice to your students and society, and you are completely, 100%, failing your students.
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics