lakalenyu:

blackma:

We owe many iconic images of American Indians to photographer Edward S. Curtis. Growing up in Wisconsin and Minnesota, Curtis began photographing Indians in 1895 and, in 1906, was offered $75,000 by JP Morgan to continue documenting their lives.  The 1,500 resulting photographs inevitably impacted the image of Indians in the American imagination.Later it came to light that Curtis’ photographs weren’t exactly pure representations.  In some photographs, for example, he erased signs of modernity. 

Follow the source to read more and see the altered images.

[image: sepia-toned portrait of an indigenous person. They have brown skin and deep wrinkles, greying hair that appears to be about chin-length, partially covered under a check-printed(?) cloth hat. They are wearing numerous beaded necklaces and medallions. The photograph is the work of world class fuckface Edward S. Curtis.]

Fixed the link. Hate this guy. Important read. Too tired for clever commentary. Or unfragmented sentences, apparently.

Curtis not only erased signs of modernity, but also carried around clothing and wigs he though were quintessentially “native american.” This is why you’ll see photos of pueblo women wearing cider vests… or just really non-traditional style clothing to various different tribes (i.e. cider was used in clothing and what not to the tribes in the Pacific Northwest… not in the southwest or any/most other parts of the country).

People need to be cautious of the representations of Natives that they see… folks don’t realize that stereotypes and misrepresentations of Natives have been around literally since 1492.