Black Hawk's Archive

What is it about?

Previous studies of The Life of Black Hawk have questioned the text's reliability because it was translated and edited by non-Sauk others who may have misrepresented Black Hawk's words. Rather than discrediting the the text for its multiple contributors and producers, this essay argues that Life functions as an archive or storehouse of various Sauk and Mesquakie experiences of land dispossession and removal and should be recognized as legitimate evidence in US courts and land hearings.

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Why is it important?

Drawing from the specific case of Black Hawk's Life, this essay reframes American Indian oral traditions (and print forms of oral traditions) as archives of Native knowledge that deserve serious legal consideration. Courts responsible for indigenous land claims should acknowledge oral traditions as sophisticated forms of documentation, the equivalent of primary source historical documents, and sift through competing understandings of land contained in these records.