Osage Murders Of Native Americans During The 1920's

Dear Mr. Cole,

Once a man said, “There never has been a country on this Earth that has fallen except when that point was reached…where the citizens would say, ‘We cannot get justice in our courts.’”.

Around a generation ago, it was the time of the Roaring Twenties, flap dancers, innovation and excitement, and increased social and civil liberties. It was also the time of the first World War, prohibition, and injustices. The most prominent and unspoken of being the Osage Murders.

During the 1920’s, there was a series of malicious and clinical murders of Native Americans for their headright money. There are only eighteen deaths recorded over a period of five years. There is tenable proof of hundreds more. Over these five years, known as

In 1877, the assimilation of the Osage resulted in a ration system that resulted in the starvation of many tribe members. In 1877, the commissioner for Indian Affairs refused to speak with the Osage tribe leader about the ration system and its subsequent effects. In 1906, the Osage Allotment Act prevented future Osage Native Americans from legally joining the tribe and receiving a headright. In 1921, the first recorded murder for an Osage headright was committed against Charles Whitehorn. It wasn’t until 1925 that the murders were investigated, despite pleas from the Osage for help and intervention. The negligence against the Osage was continuous, deliberate, and

Grandchildren learn about their family members being shot in the back of the head, slowly being poisoned, or having bombs detonated in their houses at night. They learn of the paranoia of having spouses and friends deliberately kill to legally receive a headright. They learn how the U.S. government deemed the Osage too incompetent to handle their own money, and how the government systematically allowed (and encouraged) the demise of their People. They learn how only three men were convicted (and let out on parole), and the majority of killings went unprosecuted. The grandchildren of the Osage today say, our “land is saturated with blood; the blood cries from the ground”. The blood does cry from the ground, and the Osage today are constantly seeking closure and peace for the injustices done against their families.

It is said that history remembers all, but it is true that we as a people have forgotten. No reparations or apologies have been made to the Osage for the government’s neglect in the murders. The Reign of Terror is not taught in schools or most history books. And, one of our only comprehensive records of the crimes is a novel, made through years of research. The United States government needs to make reparations to the Osage people for their stolen headright money and the pain and suffering that ensued from the negligence of the judicial and law