Voyage of Domination, "Purchase" as Conquest, Sakakawea for Savagery: Distorted Icons from Misrepresentations of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Abstract

Imagery of Lewis and Clark as brave explorers making valuable discoveries between 1804 and 1806 in the vast and wild territories of the northwestern half of North America does great disservice to understanding the native peoples they met along the journey. Native societies in these areas lived in well-adapted social structures. With the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition rapidly approaching, many native scholars and traditionalists are making their own observations regarding the impact of these contacts. Particularly, we address notions of discovery (as in the Corps of Discovery), ideologies of purchase (as in the Louisiana Purchase), and misrepresentation of native women as bartered "squaws" (as in portrayals of Sakakawea).1 This essay will critique and reframe each of these terms or icons, countering them with imagery that stresses existing native nations in the early 1800s, cultural sovereignty of their societies, and the full participation of women as leaders and elders of their respective peoples.