a newspaper man adjusts his pen

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

California glitter


A traveler to the U.S. West Coast in the early 1900s could have stumbled on this postcard of the “Belles of California.” These Indians were over the age of 100, if you believe the publisher. The postcard has glitter glued across the skirts and hats, as if that was how they dressed. Today, however, we know that such photographs were staged in ways that portrayed Native Americans in scenes that did not represent their culture.

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