The Sashabaw Project

The legend of kindly white settler Oliver Williams tenderly caring for a fragile Chief Sashabaw has a certain appeal, portraying Native Americans as warm and welcoming, unlike so many portrayals that demonize them. So even if the whole thing is a myth, it’s best to let be, right?

Maybe. On the other hand, it portrays the white settlers as kind and caring, and omits little details, such as how they stole the Indians’ land and shipped them off to distant reservations. It also casts the white man as the hero in the story. That’s fine. If it’s true. If not, it’s demeaning.

What drives me in this quest is that if the legend is true, it should be celebrated because it has lessons about living in harmony that we could learn from today. But if it’s false, it also contains a lesson we could learn from today: Assuming that white invaders will be welcomed by those they conquer can lead us to do some stupid things …

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 12:31 pm and is filed under The Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.