Inappropriation

The Contested Legacy of Y-Indian Guides

Paul Hillmer, Ryan Bean

• Publisher: University of Missouri
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9780826223210
  9780826222794
• eBook ISBN:
  9780826274847
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

In 1926, Harold Keltner, a YMCA Boys Work secretary from St. Louis, and Joe Friday, a member of the Canadian Ojibwe First Peoples, channeled white middle-class fascination with Native Americans into what became the Y-Indian Guides youth pro­gram, engaging over a half million participants across the nation at the height of its 77-year history. Intended to soften the stereo­typical stern father, the program traced a complicated thread of American history, touching upon themes of family, race, class, and privilege.

The Y-Indian Guides was a father-son (and later parent-child) program that encouraged real and enduring bonds through play and an authentic appreciation of family. While "playing Indian" seemed harmless to most participants during the pro­gram's heyday, Paul Hillmer and Ryan Bean demonstrate the problematic nature of its methods. In the process of seeking to admire and emulate Indigenous Peoples, Y-Indian Guide participants often misrepresented American Indians and reinforced harmful ste­reotypes. Ultimately, this history demonstrates many ways in which American culture undermines and harms its Indigenous communities.

 

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter One. The YMCA and Social Change, 1844–1925
• Chapter Two. “White Men Raise Cities; Red Men Raise Sons”
• Chapter Three. The “Indian” in Indian Guides
• Chapter Four. A National Movement
• Chapter Five. The Promise of the Program
• Chapter Six. “The Real Feelings and Concerns of the Indian”: The Fracturing of Y-Indian Guides
• Chapter Seven. “We Couldn’t Fix It”: Removing the “Indian” from Indian Guides
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Index