Chief Seattle (17xx -1866) from the Suqvamish tribe, was called so by
the white, and became worldfamous under this name, because they used
his name for the town Seattle, Washington, USA.
Since the beginning of the nineteen seventies, a speech, which had
been made by him, has been a popular ingridient in the environment-
debate. The speech critizise the white mans lack of culture, called
civilization, especially our ruthless exploitation of nature.
Later on it has been proofed, that the speech was written as a films-
cript by a certain Ted Perry. The producer of this film "Home" was
Southern Baptist Convention, who suppressed the authors name to make
the impression more authentic!
He was inspired by a modernization of a report in Seattle Sunday Star
oct. 29, 1887. The original speech was given about 1853, and the report
was called "Scraps from a diary". The author of this was a physician
Dr.Henry A. Smith. He tells us, he was there himself, but no one has
yet found his notes.
His report from 1887, of which Ted Perry used let us say 10%, is more
in harmony with something Seattle could have been saying, than Ted
Perrys version which also by Perry himself is said to be fiction. But
this do not proof, that Dr. Smiths version isn't a fiction too!
Because of the popularity of the "homemade", notorius fiction called
"chief Seattle's speech", we need contribution til unshell the facts
about the report from 1887.
Why did this report appear just then?
Is there a local explanation?
The heading to the article in 1887 was: "Early Reminiscenes Number
10". Then it must be part of a serie. What is the subjects in the
other articles? What else do we know about Dr. Henry A. Smith?
Why does the painter Paul Kane, who travelled allthrough the area
1846-47, never mention a word about Seattle in his account of the
jouney, although he looked up every indian, who had a glowe of fame?
As a convert chief (catholic) , Seattle ougth to have been known in
the area at that time?
Who finds other good questions, and who's got the answers?
Please contact:
Per-Olof Johansson, p.o.box 58, DK-3450 Aller d, Denmark
or write to my internet adress sune@ruc.dk.
Sources: Rudolf Kaiser:Chief Seattle's Speech(es): American Origins
and European Reception.To bee found in: Brian Swann and Arnold Kru-
pat(ed):Recovering the World. Essays on native american literature.U-
niversity of California Press 1987.
Carl A.Roos: Vad sade indianh vdingen Seattle? To be found in: Seatt-
les Tal. Svensk-Indianska F rbundets Skriftserie, h fte 1.Hudiksval
1982.(Sweden)
IF YOU KNOW ANY SEATTLE BASED BBS'ES PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS MESSAGE
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* MENTAL GROUND ZERO: *
* The location where one visualizes oneself during the dropping of*
* the atomic bomb; frequently, a shopping mall. *
* Douglas Coupland *
* *
* sune@ruc.dk *
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