Cheyenne-Arapaho Ration Card Used During the Time of the Land Run, courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society
Winter had always been a time of scarcity for both agricultural and nomadic peoples. Even when crops were good and supplies safe, winter generally meant fewer food choices and dwindling stores of edibles that could not be replenished until spring arrived.
Native Americans faced extreme threats to their food supply by the twentieth century: Continue reading
Dipsomania (craving for alcohol)
One of the great tragedies of the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians was that many of its patients were not actually insane. Sometimes Indian agents or reservation superintendents (almost always white men) sent a disruptive or rebellious Indian to the asylum simply for convenience. Sometimes they sent old, indigent, sick, or helpless people there because they didn’t know how else to care for them. Canton Asylum accepted them all. Here are a few suspect diagnoses for Canton Asylum patients:
Sam Black Buffalo (Sioux) – mutism
Peter Good Boy (Sioux) – constitutional inferiority
Robert Hayes (Chippewa) – imbecility
Two Teeth (Sioux) – old man
Alex Zimmerman (Cheyenne) – hemiplegia (paralysis on one side of the body, usually from disease or injury to the brain)
Imbecility Scale
Moral Imbecile, (later called "moron")
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