I'll be be right back. Well, I'll be back after the holidays. Starting in January, Holy Cats will be up and running again with regular updates. No, really, I mean it this time. I've got lots of new stuff to share (aka "Spent all my Christmas money on eBay) and a new scanner. Until then, here's another fascinating diary to delve into:
Fletcher’s research inspired her to live among the Indians for scientific purposes, but her foray into Indian territory sparked her interest in the contemporary plight of Native Americans. Her companions, Susette La Flesche, Thomas Henry Tibbles and Wajapa, aroused her awareness of the difficulties and changes that encroaching white settlers and land-grabbers brought to Native Americans. She resolved to reform Congressional legislation regarding Native American affairs and to help Native Americans become Americanized. Fletcher felt, as did many Americans in the late nineteenth century, that the only way Native Americans could avoid extermination caused by civilization was by adapting to the "civilized" mannerisms of white Americans. Fletcher concluded, "Now, how can Indians do better, hemmed in as they are at the agency deprived of their native life, poor enough but having its compensation and not fully introduced to our ways, they are stranded between two modes of life."
Soon after she returned from her visit in the Midwest, Fletcher helped create and push through Congress a bill that allowed the Omaha people to claim title to their own land."
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