P
provisions of the General Allotment Act (see entry
for FEBRUARY 8, 1887).
1898Indians perform at the Trans-Mississippi
Exposition.
In Omaha, Nebraska, the Trans-Mississippi Exposi-
tion features an exhibit of about 500 Indians from
23 tribes. Dressed in Indian garb, they perform tra-
ditional activities—such as dancing, weaving, and
storytelling—for crowds of non-Indians. Anthro-
pologist James Mooney of the Bureau of Ethnology
praises the display as the “last opportunity” to see “the
red man in his primitive glory.” Richard Henry Pratt,
the founder of the Carlisle Indian boarding school
(see entry for AUTUMN 1879) and avid assimilation-
ist, offers another view, condemning the spectacle as
“a Wild West show of the most degenerate sort.”
“Under the old Cherokee re-
gime I spent the early days of
my life on the farm up here of
300 acres, and arranged to be
comfortable in my old age; but
the allotment scheme came
along.... I have 60 acres of
land left me; the balance is all
gone.... And I am here to-day,
a poor man upon the verge of
starvation—my muscular en-
ergy gone, hope gone. I have
nothing to charge my calamity
to but the unwise legislation of
Congress in reference to my
Cherokee people.”
—Cherokee allottee D. W. C.
Duncan, testifying before
the Senate in November 1906June 28The Curtis Act extends Allotment to the
Five Civilized Tribes.
Sponsored by Charles Curtis, the Kaw Indian con-
gressman from Kansas, the Curtis Act authorizes
the Dawes Commission (see entry for 1893) to
allot the lands of the Five Civilized Tribes in In-
dian Territory and to dissolve their governments
without the tribes’ permission. The act paves the
way for Indian Territory’s incorporation into the
state of Oklahoma (see entry for NOVEMBER 16,
1907).1899Simon Pokagon’s O-Gi-Maw-Kwe
Mit-I-Gwa-Ki is published.
In the year of his death, Potawatomi scholar
Simon Pokagon’s autobiographical romance O-
Gi-Maw-Kwe Mit-I-Gwa-Ki (Queen of the Forest)
is postumously published. One of the few novels
written by an American Indian during the 19th
century, the book was originally written in the
Potawatomi language and later translated into
English.1900AutumnCreek traditionalists join the Crazy Snake
movement.
Creek town chief Chitto Harjo begins a campaign
against the Allotment of the Creek Nation by
gathering followers among the tribe’s traditional-
ists. Chitto Harjo’s name is translated as “recklessly
brave snake” by Creek and as “crazy snake” by
whites. The group becomes known as the Crazy
Snakes.
The Crazy Snakes establish their own gov-
ernment, with its capital in the town of Hickory
Ground. The new government drafts laws that