Fort Marion Prisoners and the Trauma of Native Education

Diane Glancy is an emerita professor of English at Macalester College and is currently a professor at Azusa Pacific University in California. She is the author of numerous novels, including Claiming Breath (Nebraska, 1992), Designs of the Night Sky (Nebraska, 2002), and The Reason for Crows: A Story of Kateri Tekakwitha.

"Glancy is not only an insightful historian but a gifted storyteller. The craft, creativity, and imagination with which she renders this amazing text powerfully draw the reader into the world of the Fort Marion prisoners. Few texts to date have portrayed their experiences with the upheavals of a changing world with such intimacy and humanism."-Steven Williams, American Studies "A memorable book. Intuitively and perceptively connecting the difficult journeys of late nineteenth-century Southern Plains Indians and her own difficult journeys more than one hundred years later, Glancy gives us valuable, evocative ways of imagining the Great Plains and its peoples in motion, undertaking often painful and traumatic journeys to understand who they are, where they have been, and where they might be going."-Eric Gary Anderson, Great Plains Quarterly "Diane Glancy inhabits a world of images that breathe life and voice for the voiceless men, women, and children. . . . No simple history lesson, this, as Glancy examines how language is both captor and savior, another means of imprisonment and also liberation."—Gina Ochsner, author of The Necessary Grace to Fall "This book is mesmerizing and will stay with you for lifetimes."—Jackie Old Coyote, Apsaalooke Nation, former director of education and outreach at the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development  "The survival of Indian people represents one of the most important subjects in American history. Glancy creates a multilayered narrative about the Kiowa, Cheyenne, Comanche, and Arapaho Indians, who became prisoners of the United States government during the late nineteenth century. She invites readers to contemplate the bleak realities and the difficult choices presented by historical circumstances."—Brad Lookingbill, professor of history at Columbia College of Missouri

• Ledger Book Drawing: The Catch, Bear’s Heart    Fort Marion Prisoners    Photograph of Fort Marion Prisoners    Ride to Prison    The Train Ride    Ledger Book Drawing: Buffalo Hunt, Bear’s Heart    The Animal Show    The Morning Had a Bugle in Its Mouth    Night    Digging a Hole in the Water    Ledger Book Drawing: Boarding the Steam Boat, Bear’s Heart    Backtrack    Ledger Book Drawing: Chart of Goods for Sale, Buffalo Meat    The Ax in my Hand    Ledger Book Drawing: Military Formation at Fort Marion, Bear’s Heart    Fort Marion    Ledger Book Drawings (1)     The Life Casts    Photograph of Life Casts    The Process of Writing (1)     The Ocean Dogs    Ledger Book Drawings (2)     Ledger Book Drawing: Bishop Whipple in his Shark Suit, Bear’s Heart    Schooling    Ledger Book Drawing: The Schoolroom, Bear’s Heart    A Snapshot of the History of Native Education    The Testimonials (1)     The Process of Writing (2)     Pow Wow at the Seaside    The Escape    Ledger Book Drawing: Trees with Hair Standing Up, Bear’s Heart    Trying to Walk while Holding Marbles on a Board    I Was Herded into School with a Big Chief Tablet under My Arm    There Were Clouds    The Testimonials (2)     The Letters (1)     The Weight of Fire    The Process of Writing (3)     I Will Send My Choice Leopards    Letters for Release     Ride from Prison on a Painted Horse    The Argument    Captain Pratt to the Commissioners    The Process of Writing (4)     An Educational Experience    Ledger Book Drawing: Crossing Eads Bridge, Bear’s Heart    Undermath    Photograph of Former Fort Marion Prisoners at Hampton Institute    Acknowledgments    Bibliography