Biography
Slemhakkah, or Bear Claw, also known as Charlot, was a
Flathead Indian who resisted nonviolently the American government's
attempts to force his people from their homelands in Idaho,
Montana, and Washington onto an undesirable reservation.
Not until 1890 did the government overthrow him, when they
sent troops to force the last of Cochise's people onto the
Jocko reservation in Montana. Charlot also spoke in defense
of all native people when the government proposed to tax
reservation Indians in 1876. He eloquently condemned the
blatant greed of the white people in a speech that appeared
in the Missoula Missoulian.
Explorations
Charlot's speech contrasts strongly with Cochise's.
There are emotions and accusations here which are not evident
in Cochise's transcribed, translated discourse. Charlot was
a chief in the Flathead nation -- but his words may suggest
rhetorical strategies which we have seen before -- in Apess, Paine,
and other gifted earlier writers. And it is important to
note that Charlot and nearly a hundred others were producing
and signing a written document.
1. How is "the white man" personified and constructed
in Charlot's speech? Given the way that Native Americans
were portrayed by whites in newspaper reports, Capitol
Hill rhetoric, and other public discourse, are any ironies
or special strategies evident in Charlot's descriptions
here?
2. Compare the conclusion of Charlot's speech with that
of Cochise's. As persuasive writing,
and as the presentation of a dignified and compelling personality,
which seems to you to work better and why?
Other sites to consult:
Online
Kalispel resources. Part of the Internet
Public Library site on Native American authors.
Events
in the West. A timeline from the Ken Burns
PBS documentary The West providing a larger
perspective on the turbulence of Charlot's time.
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