"One Thousand White Women" Book Review
Fergus, Jim; One Thousand White Women, St. Martin's Griffin, New York; 1998, pp. 434 ISBN 978-0-312-19943-2
I read a fair amount of printed material offline and regard myself somewhat as a naturalist, so I respect American Indian stories and culture. Imagine my delight when I came upon this story based on a proposal Cheyenne Chief Little Wolf, realizing the plight of his people, made to the United States Government in 1874. In factual history, the proposal was flatly and outrightly refused.
Fergus, however, creates May Dodd as the female protagonist who, along with 49 other women, the first of an experimental installment plan, accepts Chief Little Wolf's offer and volunteers to marry a Cheyenne brave and bear a child(-ren). The purpose was for peace the women would have sex and marriage with Red Indian brave and conceive Children from them
The original proposal was not one-sided. The women were to be accepted in exchange for 1,000 horses, half of them tamed and the other half-wild. Chief Little Wolf based his offer on the Cheyenne matriarchal structure, which assigned children to the mother's tribe. He knew his people must assimilate into the white man's culture or be annihilated. To the chief, the plan was the most humane and expeditious means of accomplishing this daunting task..
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