Jennie and Nellie and Occupy Wall Street
Indian Givers series vol. 4
Jennie Bobb of the Lenni Lenape nation (also known as the Delawares) has now had her picture used for a poster promoting a campaign of resistance. The slogan "Occupy Wall Street" now reads "Take Back Wall Street: Occupied Since 1625." The Lenni Lenape were the indigenous people of New York City.
Her image was cropped from her portrait taken with her daughter, Nellie Longhat, in Oklahoma in 1915. This picture is from the Library of Congress collection.
Since we know her name and her daughter's name, and the time and place when they lived, do we feel quite the same to see her picture used to stand in for all Lenni Lenape people as we would for a completely anonymous subject? Do we see her more as an autonomous individual than an interchangeably generic iconic Indian image? Would she have supported Occupy Wall Street, if she were around today? We have no way to know. What about her descendants? Somehow I doubt anyone has contacted them for permission.
Jennie Bobb of the Lenni Lenape nation (also known as the Delawares) has now had her picture used for a poster promoting a campaign of resistance. The slogan "Occupy Wall Street" now reads "Take Back Wall Street: Occupied Since 1625." The Lenni Lenape were the indigenous people of New York City.
Her image was cropped from her portrait taken with her daughter, Nellie Longhat, in Oklahoma in 1915. This picture is from the Library of Congress collection.
Since we know her name and her daughter's name, and the time and place when they lived, do we feel quite the same to see her picture used to stand in for all Lenni Lenape people as we would for a completely anonymous subject? Do we see her more as an autonomous individual than an interchangeably generic iconic Indian image? Would she have supported Occupy Wall Street, if she were around today? We have no way to know. What about her descendants? Somehow I doubt anyone has contacted them for permission.