David J. Silverman. Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America.

Cultural Appropriation in Historical Context: Native Americans in Firearms Advertising

“…The firearms connection provides a significant perspective on cultural appropriation. American Indians have had a very long and deep association with guns, one that had devastating consequences for them and their way of life (Silverman 2016). Thus, the portrayal of Native American characters in firearms advertising is both a visually and historically compelling topic.…”

“…They especially craved the weapons colonist brought across the Atlantic Ocean and quickly saw their utility for hunting, inter-tribal warfare, and marking personal status. Natives eagerly exchanged deerskins, beaver pelts, and other local resourcesincluding thousands of enslaved Indian men and their families captured from rival tribesfor muskets, shot, and powder supplied by British, French, Dutch, Swedish, and American traders (Hämäläinen 2022;Silverman 2016). Some of these guns were surplus or obsolete military arms, but starting in the late seventeenth century, gunmakers produced cheaper versions designed expressly for the Indian market.…”

“…Eastern woodland Indians who had been forced west of the Mississippi River provisioned the native Prairie Indians of the southern plains until the latter tribes formed their own connections with American gun merchants. To the north along the upper Missouri River, permanent trading posts had been established in the 1830s to supply the Blackfeet with munitions (Silverman 2016). Three miles east of present-day Chadron, Nebraska in the state's northwest panhandle, James Bordeaux opened a trading post in 1837 to exchange goods with American Indians who wintered in the area.…”

“…A vast literature has documented the suffering of Native Americans from imported diseases, armed conflict, confiscation of land, and removal and sequestration (see, e.g., Brown 1970;Deloria, Jr. 1969;Hämäläinen 2022). To this day their communities are afflicted by high rates of poverty, alcoholism, and mortality, especially on some reservations (Silverman 2016). Gun violence among American Indians, often directed at women, remains deeply troubling (Nguyen and Drane 2022;Salway 2018).…”

The U.S. Government's Program of Welfare for the Wealthy

“…This paper aims to extend historical research on the topic by investigating how Native Americans have been represented in firearms advertising and promotional ephemera. The firearms connection is important because American Indians have had a very long and deep association with guns, one that had devastating consequences for them and their ways of life (Silverman 2016). Evidence from three manufacturers will be examined.…”