Francis La Flesche facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Francis La Flesche
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Francis La Flesche
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| Born | December 25, 1857 |
| Died | September 5, 1932 (aged 74) |
| Occupation | anthropologist, ethnologist, musicologist |
| Known for | First Native American anthropologist, known for his studies of Native American Omaha and Osage culture and music. Worked at Smithsonian Institution. |
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Francis La Flesche (1857–1932) was a very important Native American scholar. He was the first professional Native American ethnologist. This means he studied different cultures and peoples. He worked at the famous Smithsonian Institution.
Francis focused on the cultures of the Omaha and Osage tribes. He worked closely with anthropologist Alice Cunningham Fletcher. Together, they wrote many articles and books about the Omaha and Osage. Francis also made special recordings of their traditional songs and chants. These recordings are very valuable today.
In 1908, he started working on an opera called Da O Ma. It was based on his stories of Omaha life. However, the opera was never fully produced. A collection of Francis La Flesche's own stories was published after he died in 1998.
Francis had Omaha, Ponca, and French family roots. His father was Joseph LaFlesche, a chief of the Omaha tribe. His mother was Ta-in-ne, an Omaha woman. Francis grew up on the Omaha Reservation. This was a time of big changes for his tribe. He studied law at the George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC. He spent his adult life working among European Americans.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Francis La Flesche was born in 1857 on the Omaha Reservation. He was the first child of his father Joseph LaFlesche's second wife, Ta-in-ne. Francis had five older half-siblings from his father's first marriage. Their mother was Mary Gale.
Francis went to the Presbyterian Mission School in Bellevue, Nebraska. Later, he moved to Washington, DC, for college and law school.
His father, Joseph LaFlesche (also known as Iron Eye), became an Omaha chief by 1853. He helped create an important treaty in 1854. This treaty led the tribe to sell most of their land in Nebraska. Joseph led the Omaha people as they moved to a reservation. He also guided them as they changed to a more settled way of life. Joseph La Flesche was of Ponca and French background. He grew up mostly with the Omaha people. He first worked as a fur trader. Later, the chief Big Elk adopted him as a son. Big Elk taught him the Omaha culture and chose him to be his successor.
Joseph LaFlesche believed strongly in education for all his children. Many of them went to schools and colleges in the East. He wanted them to help the Omaha people. Francis' half-siblings became very successful adults. Susette La Flesche was an activist and speaker for Native American rights. Rosalie LaFlesche Farley also worked for Native American rights and managed the Omaha tribe's money. Susan La Flesche Picotte was the first Native American woman to become a doctor. She cared for the Omaha people for many years.
A Career in Anthropology
In 1879, a judge named Elmer Scipio Dundy made an important decision. He said that American Indians had rights as citizens under the U.S. Constitution. This ruling came from a case called Standing Bear v. Crook. The judge said, "an Indian is a person" under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Francis' half-sister, Susette "Bright Eyes" La Flesche, helped in this case. She was an interpreter for Chief Standing Bear. She also spoke as an expert on Native American issues. Susette invited Francis to join her and Standing Bear on a speaking tour. They traveled through the eastern United States in 1879-1880. Both Francis and Susette helped interpret for the chief.
In 1881, Susette and a journalist named Thomas Tibbles went with Alice Cunningham Fletcher. Alice was an anthropologist. They traveled to the Rosebud Indian Reservation to study Sioux women. Susette was Alice's interpreter. Francis La Flesche also met Alice Fletcher then. This was the start of their long professional partnership.
Alice Fletcher was almost 20 years older than Francis. She encouraged him to get more education to become a professional anthropologist. Around 1881, he started working with her in Washington, DC. He also worked as an interpreter for the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
Francis got a job with the Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution. Alice Fletcher also worked with the Smithsonian on her research. Francis started as a copyist, translator, and interpreter. He helped sort and classify Omaha and Osage artifacts. Soon, he began doing his own research with Fletcher. He also continued to translate and interpret for her.
He earned a law degree from the National University Law School in 1892. He then got a master's degree there in 1893. In 1891, Alice Fletcher informally adopted Francis.
In their joint books and articles about the Omaha, Francis described rituals and practices in great detail. He visited the Omaha and Osage tribes regularly. During these visits, he made recordings of their songs and chants on wax cylinders. These recordings are now very important. He also wrote down what he learned.
A young composer named Charles Wakefield Cadman became interested in Native American music. He was inspired by Francis La Flesche's work. Cadman spent time on the Omaha reservation. He learned many songs and how to play traditional instruments.
In 1908, Francis suggested working with Cadman and Nelle Richmond Eberhart. They planned to create an opera based on Francis' Omaha stories. Eberhart had written lyrics for Cadman's other songs. The team worked for four years on the opera, called Da O Ma. They later changed it to feature Sioux characters. However, the opera was never published or performed. Francis also helped with Cadman's opera The Robin Woman (Shanewis) (1918). But Cadman finished that project with Tsianina Redfeather Blackstone, a Creek singer.
In 1910, Francis La Flesche became a professional anthropologist at the Smithsonian's Bureau of American Ethnology. He worked there until 1929. This was the second part of his career. During this time, he wrote and lectured a lot about his research. His main focus changed to studying the music and religion of the Osage. The Osage are closely related to the Omaha.
Francis wanted to explain the Osage people's ideas and beliefs. He wanted his readers to see their world as it truly was. He showed that their traditions were as complex and smart as those of any other people.
Valuable Wax Cylinder Recordings
Francis La Flesche made many recordings on wax cylinders. These recordings are now kept at the Library of Congress. More than 60 of them are available online.
Today, Osage tribal members can listen to these recordings. Hearing their traditional rituals on these old recordings is very powerful for them. It's like Western scholars finding the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls.
Family Life
Francis La Flesche married Alice Mitchell in June 1877. Sadly, she died the next year. In 1879, he married Rosa Bourassa, a young Omaha woman. This was around the time of his speaking tour with his sister and Standing Bear. They separated shortly before he started working in Washington, DC, in 1881. They divorced in 1884.
For many years in Washington, Francis shared a house on Capitol Hill with Alice Cunningham Fletcher. They worked very closely together. Alice left money to Francis when she died.
Later Life and Death
Francis La Flesche passed away on September 5, 1932. He died in Thurston County, Nebraska. He was buried in Bancroft Cemetery, Bancroft, Nebraska. His grave is near those of his father and his half-sisters, Susette and Rosalie La Flesche.
Legacy and Honors
- In 1922, Francis La Flesche was chosen as a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
- From 1922 to 1923, he was elected president of the Anthropological Society of Washington.
- In 1926, the University of Nebraska gave him an honorary Doctor of Letters degree.
- Because Francis La Flesche and Alice Fletcher worked so closely, the Smithsonian Institution keeps their papers together.
Major Works
- 1900, The Middle Five: Indian Boys at School (a memoir about his childhood)
- 1911, The Omaha Tribe, written with Alice Cunningham Fletcher
- 1912, Da O Ma (an opera that was not published)
- 1914-1921, The Osage Tribe: Rite of Chiefs
- 1917-1925, The Osage Tribe: the Rite of Vigil
- 1925-1928, The Osage Tribe: Two Versions of the Child-Naming Rite
- 1927-1930, The Osage Tribe: Rite of the Waxo'be
- 1932, Dictionary of the Osage Language (a book about the Osage language)
- 1939, War Ceremony and Peace Ceremony of the Osage Indians, published after he died
- 1999, The Osage and the Invisible World, edited by Garrick A. Bailey
- 1998, Ke-ma-ha: The Omaha Stories of Francis La Flesche, edited by Daniel Littlefield and James Parins (stories published for the first time)
See also
In Spanish: Francis La Flesche para niños
