Additionally, it is helpful to point out that Wilder presents a more favorable point of view using Pa as a counterpoint. Learn about Martin Luther King Jr., W.E.B. It is based on memories of her early childhood in the Big Woods near Pepin, Wisconsin, in the early 1870s. To read the thoughts, beliefs and experiences of people who once were alive and living their lives every minute of every day is fascinating. Farmer Boy, published in 1933, covered Almanzo's childhood in New York. In the fall, I teach The Birchbark House, by Louise Erdrich. Charles Ingalls sold his farm in Wisconsin in 1868. I have the whole collection of Little House on the Prairie books. She was not racist. In an article with the jarring title “Little Squatter on the Osage Diminished Reserve”, Francis Kaye states “Wilder, writing as honestly as she knew how, spun a tale that, because of her very decency, makes ‘ethnic cleansing’ appear palatable.”. Teaching at Age 15 In Little Town on the Prairie, we read how Laura earned her teaching certificate when she was just 15. He freely cut logs to build a house, hunted wild game for food and furs, dug a well and broke the land for farming. In 1868, the Osage were facing dire economic circumstances. As we read Little House, we stop often and reflect on the similarities and differences between the main characters, their families, and their life styles. In the early pages of Little House on the Prairie, Laura quotes Pa as saying that animals wandered “in a pasture that stretched much farther than a man could see, and there were no settlers. I have books from my childhood that I read to my kids. This is why it is important to be present when our children are reading things that may not reflect our own values. Copyright © 2015-2020 Friendly Family Productions, LLC Contributors | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Licensing | Newsletters. Ma saw it as an intrusion by uninvited guests. I’m glad to see it addressed. It might already be open to settlement. She shares the cabin with her Pa, her Ma, her sisters Mary and Carrie, and their lovable dog, Jack. Laura lives in the little house with her pa, her ma, her sisters Mary and Carrie, and their trusty dog, Jack. This beloved story of a pioneer girl and her family begins in 1871 in a log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods of Wisconsin. The Little House books are among those. We can explain this to children as we read the books. This story held no intention of racism. I am part American Indian and I loved them as a kid. I’m working on addressing this now. Why are some people trying to erase history and rewrite to suit their views??? Whether Pa knew this or not is open for debate, but it is highly unlikely that he would have been ignorant of this fact. In 1932 Laura Ingalls Wilder's first book Little House in the Big Woods was published. I first read the books when I was about 12 or so. I remember as a girl listening to my parents read these books to us as kids. She married Gillette Lane in 1909 and became Rose Wilder Lane; the marriage ended in divorce in 1918. The story is illustrated by Garth Williams, whose drawings of the Ingalls family are often considered iconic and an integral part of the reading experience. Little House in the Big Woods kicked off the series in 1932 and Farmer Boy, an account of Manly's childhood in New York state, followed in 1933. And of course every treaty the U.S. Government made with Native Americans was never upheld. The theme that runs throughout Little House in the Big Woods is that life is hard and serious work, but that it's OK to have fun at times and important to keep a twinkle in your eye. I am not going to attempt to give a complete history of the Osage people or the sad legacy of the systematic removal of Native Americans by the government of the United States. Wilder gave birth to her daughter Rose in 1884 in the Dakota Territory. It is called “Man-eating Killer Sharks.” My kids love it – even though today we know that sharks do not hunt for humans. This is where they finally settled down and where Wilder wrote her books. I call them teachable moments. Historical Perspective or Racism in Little House on the Prairie. I’m glad we share a love for the Ingalls. This footnote explains that when Wilder introduced her nickname in Chapter 2 of Little House in the Big Woods, it had become “little half-pint of sweet cider half drunk up.” Even when she was fully grown, Wilder was only 4 feet 11 inches tall; however, that was not considered exceptionally short for women of that time. I agree with them completely. When I was a child it did not occur to me that the books were racist since she was repeating what she heard or remembered hearing as a way of preserving the stories. Yet without the help of her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, the series may never have reached a wide audience. Undeterred, she spent the next several years working on her memoirs, asking relatives for their accounts of what happened during her childhood years and changing the story to the third-person perspective. Based on the real-life adventures of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House in the Big Woods . I don’t care who you are or how mad you can be at someone but killing women and children and babies YES babies, makes it a massacre! At this time, she began using the androgynous pseudonym A. J. Wilder to give her work more credibility among male readers. Does racism still exist and if so, is it found in every race? To punish Laura Ingalls Wilder for not keeping within the standards of acceptability in 2020 shows lack of perspective and education. The stories in the books are told through the eyes of an intelligent, curious, answer seeking young girl who lived a life none of us are now living. I enjoyed it vry much. NELLIE OLESON WASN'T A REAL PERSON. When I was 8-9 in the ’70’s, my mom read the books to me, and I re-read them many times myself. I read them to our son when he was little. We usually think of Oklahoma as being Indian Territory. Two years later, Little House on the Prairie appeared on the shelves. Before we begin to read the book in my classroom I take a few moments to talk about Wilder’s real life and the historical accuracy of her books. You don’t find any, of them, any worse than someone, who drives a car. Based on the real-life adventures of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House in the Big Woods is the first book in the award-winning Little House series, which has captivated generations of readers.This edition features the classic black-and-white artwork from Garth Williams. But I suggest that rather than banning books or refusing to read them, we use them as a platform for examining the history of the United States. I have read them so many times! We don’t all think alike, nor do we always agree with others’ views of our world. © 2021 Biography and the Biography logo are registered trademarks of A&E Television Networks, LLC. In late 1862 during the Civil War, many men left their families in Minnesota to fight in the war. Reading Little House on the Prairie with children today requires explanation. Concerning Caroline Ingalls, I think she just feared what she did not know. Laura’s grandmother makes maple sugar candy. They could not know because Washington was so far away.” Pa was most likely betting that the government would allow squatters to claim homesteads once the Osage were removed. Proud of you my friend. The chapter about “Little Crow’s War” provides important context to the Dakota uprising in Minnesota. In 1932, at the age of 65, Wilder published the first of her eight Little House books, Little House in the Big Woods. Thank you for this article! Told from four-year-old Laura's point of view, this story begins in 1871 in a little log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods of Wisconsin. Her mother read Little House in the Big Woods in second grade and named her second daughter after the beloved author. I never read racism into the words, but I also knew, even at my young age, that times were different in Laura’s day. Do you decry the author as a racist and vow to never read another word? Five more books followed that took the reader through Wilder's courtship and marriage to Manly: On the Banks of Plum Creek (1937), By the Shores of Silver Lake (1939), The Long Winter (1940), Little Town on the Prairie (1941), and These Happy Golden Years (1943). 5 out of 5 stars 2,145. Most act on the belief that they have the moral superiority. As Amy Fatzinger writes in her dissertation Indians in the House, Wilder raises “a great issue that was still problematic in the 1930s, when Little House on the Prairie was written and remains so today: the Euro-American preemption of lands occupied by Native Americans.” And, Wilder uses the voice of 7-year-old Laura to do so. We may feel today, given our 21st-century sensitivity, that Ma was wrong to fear the Osage or that Mr. and Mrs. Scott were racist. Most fear of someone “different”, or another color, than ourselves, is because people are afraid, of the unknown. For example, in chapter 21 of Little House on the Prairie, Pa must go to Independence to sell his furs. Well before fans began tuning in for their weekly fix of Ma, Pa, Mary, Half-Pint, Carrie and their Walnut Grove neighbors (Nellie Oleson, give us a smirk! Re-naming an event does not give one side or the other greater legitimacy. Laura had to rely on letter writing or long, slow trips to do on-site research as she did for Little House on the Prairie. One last observation, I took from Laura’s books that she portrayed or tried to portray first nations with dignity and provided positive examples, such as the Long Winter and how an elder tried to help the townspeople by warning of the impending winter. Little House in the Big Woods is the story of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life living on an 1800’s frontier with her homesteading family. There is the truth as Laura wrote in her books and there is the truth of her real life. I cannot express how refreshing it is to read the previous comments. Other worthwhile books are Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862 edited by Gary Clayton Anderson and Alan R. Woolworth and Over the Earth I Come: The Great Sioux Uprising of 1862 by Duane P. Schultz. While one may assume that we’re all going along in 2019, you never know what children are being exposed to at home, as evidenced by our current rise in racially motivated attacks. By the 1920s, Lane had established many connections in the publishing world and was well known as a ghostwriter. Your comments are very interesting. From the perspective of the white settlers, I am sure it did seem like a massacre. The Ingallses leave their cabin in the big woods and travel by covered wagon to Kansas Territory where they accidentally settle on land belonging to the Osage Indians. Her father was a storyteller and Laura herself said that her first books were an attempt to preserve the stories she grew up hearing. Motorcyclist are ordinary, people. She did not have information at her fingertips. I came to this post exactly as one of the readers you described: an adult revisiting a beloved childhood story …then coming upon “the only good Indian is a dead Indian.” My knee jerk reaction was “okay scratch this of the list to share with my future kids!” But you are completely right: Ingalls’ work is a great platform to discuss racism and xenophobia. The Osage saw it as collecting rent. In order for readers to understand Ma, you need to understand where she was coming from. These things should not be swept under the rug or ignored. Excellent work! This treaty said that the Osage would sell their land to the Leavenworth, Lawrence, and Galveston Railroad and buy land from the Cherokee further south and move there. What a breath of fresh air in these tumultuous and divisive times. If there’s a villain in the Little House books, it’s Nellie … As an adult I cringe when I read the books but I have to remind myself that society has made progress and I’ve grown as a person to recognize racism. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The book takes place from 1869 to 1870. Little House on the Prairie, published in 1935, is the third book in the Little House series but only the second that features the Ingalls family; it continues directly the story of the inaugural novel, Little House in the Big Woods. Obviously, she was cast as older than that in both Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie. Your email address will not be published. But, to understand Laura’s story, we must understand the history behind the story. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West, Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862, Over the Earth I Come: The Great Sioux Uprising of 1862, documentary film about Laura Ingalls Wilder. is the first book in the award-winning Little House series, which has captivated generations of readers. It is appropriate to call it that because that’s what it was. Under the provisions of earlier treaties, the Osage had the right to charge squatters rent if they wanted to. The Little House Series. That myth first takes flight in “Little House on the Prairie.” Wilder depicts the family arriving in virgin Kansas territory, but, as the real-life Pa surely knew, the Ingalls were squatters. As a result, some of her writing isn’t accurate. It’s not my place to judge or justify them…but rather, to understand them from their perspective, to learn from them and mostly to enjoy the stories. Laura says “They drove away and left it lonely and empty in the clearing…They were going to Indian country.” But, they didn’t go there directly. Little House in the Big Woods was the first in the series, published in 1931. And yes, while there is more cultural and political sensitivity today, it does us no good to compare the mores of the 19th century to those of the 21st. (Pa) would come in from his tramp to his traps, with (icicles) on the ends of his whiskers, hang his gun over the door, throw off his coat and cap and mittens and call “Where’s my little half pint of cider half drank up?” That was me because I was so small. Little House in the Big Woods takes place in 1871 and introduces us to four-year-old Laura, who lives in a log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods of Wisconsin. Little House in the Big Woods was published in 1932 by American author Laura Ingalls Wilder. They include classic titles and newer works. There are two sides to the 1862 Dakota Conflict, the Dakota were starved by their Indian agents and were placed in a concentration camp for a year pending trial. Four-year-old Laura lives in the little house with her Pa, her Ma, her sisters Mary and Carrie, and their dog, Jack. Learn about the German brothers who made some of the most popular fairy tales of all time. Learn about the man and the legend that go well beyond his fruitful name. McLemore portrayed Laura Ingalls Wilder for the first time in 1993. In 1932 she published Little House in the Big Woods, which was set in Wisconsin. I grew up reading the books and I still read them since it offers a glimpse into a world that we just can’t experience. The first in a nine-book series, the autobiographical narrative relates the story of a family of homesteading pioneers living and laboring in Wisconsin. I when I was reading “Little House on the Prairie ” for the first time as a young girl about 22 years ago, I was concerned about Ma’s prejudices. And of course, she was writing historical fiction, not an autobiography. These books should be read, shared, discussed now and with future generations. It’s just like people were, and some still are, afraid of those who ride motorcycles. Learn about the woman whose autobiographical books inspired "Little House on the Prairie.". These books explore different areas of Wilder’s life and work, often bringing new and unexpected interpretations to a wide range of topics. I have their handwritten marriage certificate from 1860 in Brown County. Her mother read Little House in the Big Woods in second grade and named her second daughter after the beloved author. Teachers should do this. And we are right, in our times they are. Your email address will not be published. I think they are jaded by how very tough pioneer life was. I teach it in the spring. Wilder was 76 years old when she finished the final book in her Little House series. People need to be aware of the times of which they are reading, but to blatantly call it racism, seems inappropriate as well. Although Laura was too young to remember the details, she relied on the memories of her family. Few musicians remain as beloved and revered as the late Bob Marley, whose music continues to inspire and influence music, fashion, politics and culture around the world. Well- written! Laura, you never fail to amaze me. The “Little House” books were well received by the reading public and critics alike; their warm, truthful portrayal of a life made picturesque by its very … There was nothing to fear from Indians.” Later Pa balances Mr. and Mrs. Scott’s hateful declaration when he makes this statement about Soldat du Chêne: “That’s one good Indian.’ No matter what Mr. Scott said, Pa did not believe that the only good Indian was a dead Indian.”. It held the myriad of emotions and feelings that anyone of any age in time feels when we encounter difference in race and culture. I applaud you for stating that rather than ban the books it is better to introduce children to historical books and talk about the views of the times and what progress has been made and what we need to do to continue to combat racism in our society. This is history folks, good, bad, and ugly. December 7, 2018 By Laura McLemore This may contain affiliate links and we may receive a small commission on purchases. I didn’t read the actual book related to this topic but I am seriously wondering how much the modern day obsession with calling absolutely everything under the sun “racist“ and it unnecessarily often , has a play in this article of course it’s sad and devastating what happened to the native Americans because of European settlers but it seems to me there’s so much we will never know about It also hosts an annual celebration to commemorate its favorite and most famous resident. Because, of what they read, and heard about “The Hell’s Angels”. If anything I felt it embodied the exact opposite. When most of the settlers arrived in Indian Territory, the Osage people were off on their annual hunting trips further west and it may have appeared that the land was unoccupied. Since I learned that story, I’ve understood Ma’s feelings better and why they make sense given the time in history. The story of Almanzo … In her 40s at the time, she drew on her considerable expertise in raising Leghorn hens. Little House in the Big Woods is a children's novel. I find it appalling that people fail to understand cultural relativism and how it may be used to better understand history and the interaction of cultures.