Two Myaamia professors recently received a national award for an article the pair wrote on a renowned Miami chief’s representation in the media.
The Miami chief Little Turtle was known for his military prowess, leading Native American victories against U.S. forces in the late 18th century. But the piece also explores Little Turtle’s transition to American ally and prohibitionist.
The professors, John Bickers and Melissa Greene-Blye, analyzed 115 archived newspaper articles mentioning Little Turtle to write their piece “War Chief, Friend of the President, Prohibitionist: Would the “Real” Little Turtle Please Stand Up?”
"Little Turtle has this collective memory image based on news reports and the idea that that narrative has changed over time was something that was really fascinating."
Both scholars are enrolled citizens of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. The American Journalism Historians Association gave them the award in October.
Little Turtle became the “exemplar Indian,” because he eventually became friendly with American politicians seeking to remove Myaamia peoples from their homelands, said Bickers, an assistant professor of political history at Case Western Reserve University.
“He's trying to respond to that in the best way he can, but in a way that's not always accepted by the community, and in ways that the community often actively disagrees with,” Bickers said.
Little Turtle eventually conceded because he, as well as other leaders, had to think about the price they were willing to pay to stay and defend their land, said Greene-Blye, University of Kansas professor and co-author.
“There were very active campaigns to make it untenable for Miami people to stay in our homelands, burning our fields, essentially starving us out,” Greene-Blye said.
The award was given to them by the American Journalism Historians Association. Their article was selected out of 24 potential pieces by an advisory board of 16 scholars.
Their piece stood out to the board as something important to honor, said Pamela Walck, editor of the American Journalism Historians Association’s journal.
“Little Turtle has this collective memory image based on news reports and the idea that that narrative has changed over time was something that was really fascinating,” Walck said.
