October 19. 2011
Sacagawea
No one knows when Sacagawea was born. No one knows precisely when and where she died. The Shoshone claim that she was born Shoshone. The Hidatsa claim at least her name. There is even controversy about what she really contributed to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The paradox is that Sacagawea is perhaps the best known Indian woman in American history, and yet we actually know very little about her. Using the University of Nebraska edition of the Journals of Lewis and Clark to establish her historically, Clay Jenkinson and Larry Skogen will discuss the ways in which Sacagawea is a construction of a non-Indian culture seeking Indian heroines, guides, diplomats and accomodationists.