The Propaganda Machine

Founded on the principle that readers should be provided illustrations of the events reported, Frank Leslie's newspaper was published from 1855 through 1922.  Its reputation was established by hard-news stories about the Civil War, disasters like the 1860 sinking of the Lady Elgin and the Johnstown PA flood of 1889, and presidential elections; but fluff stories on mental psychics, and promotional pieces for various western cities looking for colonists, and reports on government projects carried the publication.

    The cover of this issue shows an Oglala Sioux girl with a pale complexion who has returned home to Pine Ridge in the Dakotas for a visit from Carlisle Indian School in PA.  Her image demonstrated to the American reading public that the American Government's effort to  "civilize" Indians by incarcerating the children in the new Indian boarding schools was working to turn out happy admirable Indians indistinguishable from Whites.  Notice that she is shown trying to keep her skin pale by using a parasol.
This dime novel capitalized on the fear of the unknown.  Americans living in eastern cities had no opportunity to assess the situation on the frontier for themselves.  This made them vulnerable to fear mongering as a marketing method. 

While there were horrible acts committed on both sides, the rape of White women by Indian men, as the cover of this novel suggests is under way, was rare.  Scholars suggest that rape was relatively rare in Indian America and that if this picture was to show a more typical event it would show the all too frequent rape of Indian women by White men.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                      

This sales poster offering Indian lands supposedly held in trust was one of many to circulate Eastern cities, particularly among populations of recent immigrants who had little idea that they were dispossessing the Native peoples of this land, much as they themselves had been dispossessed of their homelands in Europe.