{"id":9971,"date":"2021-01-21T07:11:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T14:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/?p=9971"},"modified":"2021-01-18T21:12:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T04:12:46","slug":"history-through-the-lens-of-the-teller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/history-through-the-lens-of-the-teller\/","title":{"rendered":"History Through The Lens of The Teller"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Guest Blogger, Bev Scott<\/a>, has an interesting perspective on bias of our history. She brings up provocative questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following is based on a session Bev attended at the Historical Novel Society<\/a> Conference in June 2017 by James J. Cotter, titled \u201cThe Lone Ranger was Black: Reintegrating Minority Viewpoints into Historical Fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The title intrigued me,” wrote Bev. “Was the Lone Ranger modeled after\u00a0Bass Reeves, the first black U.S. deputy marshal\u00a0<\/a>who worked thirty-two years in the Arkansas and Oklahoma territories in the late 1800\u2019s?\u00a0 He may have been.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History Is Biased<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conference session addressed the issue of bias in our history. That bias impacts authors of historical fiction. Today we no longer view history as \u201cthe truth.\u201d Rather, history is a story told through the lens of the teller.\u00a0Did you love the Lone Ranger when you were growing up?\u00a0I did.\u00a0Audiences assumed he was a courageous (and white) lawman.\u00a0 That\u2019s how the story was told.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Readers of historical fiction express their fondness for this genre because they like a particular historical period. Plus, they enjoy learning from fiction set in an historical context. Readers also expect accurate history in the stories they read. So, historical fiction writers have a responsibility to the historical record. But what record?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding Alternative Viewpoints<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so arises the key question for authors of historical fiction. How do we tell stories and develop characters with lives extremely different from our own given the bias of historical sources? How do we find alternative viewpoints? And, how can we do justice to the painful experiences of non-dominant characters in our stories?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider the story of\u00a0Custer\u2019s Last Stand<\/a>\u00a0or the Battle of the Little Bighorn.\u00a0The Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne people believed they were betrayed. The U.S. government ignored their treaty rights after gold was discovered on native lands.\u00a0White Americans believed the Indians were wild, bloodthirsty and stubborn, refusing to move to the reservation.\u00a0Many of us learned only the white American history version growing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bass Reeves and The Lone Ranger<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we watched and admired the fictional Lone Ranger as children, we accepted how he was portrayed.\u00a0Yet, he probably reflected the real-life story of Bass Reeves, <\/a>a former slave. Reeves gained fame through his exploits and imposing stature of 6\u20192.\u201d The first black lawman west of the Mississippi,\u00a0he cut a striking figure<\/a>\u00a0on his large gray (almost white) horse. Reeves wore his trademark black hat and twin .45 Colt Peacemakers cross-draw style. Bullets never touched him, although he brought in 3000 criminals alive and 14 dead, whom he killed in self-defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reeves earned the name \u201cthe Indomitable Marshall.\u201d He left silver dollars behind as his calling card. Similar to the fictional Lone Ranger, Reeves developed friendships with Native Americans and learned their languages. He also used disguises to capture those he pursued. The racism in our culture probably prevented the Lone Ranger hero from being portrayed as a black lawman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho WAS that Masked Man?\u201d Was it Bass Reeves?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multiple narratives combine to become a complete historical narrative.\u00a0We often learn only one limited narrative part.\u00a0For example, most stories about homesteaders portray them as white. They settle on the prairie, risk their lives and battle extreme conditions.\u00a0Yet, in researching my historical novel,\u00a0Sarah\u2019s Secret<\/a>,<\/a>\u00a0I discovered a little-known town in Kansas called\u00a0Nicodemus<\/a>.\u00a0<\/a>This town drew freed slaves to homestead in the surrounding area after the Civil War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Offering an Opposing Voice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As writers of historical fiction, we have an obligation to readers to offer an accurate portrayal of both our characters and the historical context.\u00a0Our discussion in this conference session emphasized the importance of deep knowledge and experience of the culture in which our story is set. And further, writers must recognize the historical biases of the sources we are using.\u00a0This is especially important if the writer is writing in a cultural context other than her own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing historical fiction gives an opportunity to balance the bias of history by including an opposing voice of the non-dominant group in the story. Since my protagonist, Sarah was traveling north by wagon through Kansas to return to Nebraska and her family, I chose to add such voice. Thus, Sarah and her children unexpectedly encounter a black family in the middle of Kansas living near Nicodemus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah follows a narrow path with her seriously ill daughter to find help.\u00a0She discovers a welcoming family descended from former slaves. Luckily, the family shares their modest home for several days while Sarah nurses her daughter back to health.\u00a0Her sons have fun with the son of the family. The plot gives an opportunity to include an opposing voice to traditional bias. Sarah tells her concerned son stories about her own and her father\u2019s rejection of slavery. She tells of their support for the Union in the Civil War and her family\u2019s generosity toward \u201cNegro\u201d families when she was a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally posted on Bev Scott\u2019s blog on July 11, 2017<\/a>, with photos that are not included in this post.
Bev Scott will be one of the Writers Forum<\/a>‘s presenters on February 18, 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest Blogger, Bev Scott, has an interesting perspective on bias of our history. She brings up provocative questions. The following is based on a session Bev attended at the Historical Novel Society Conference in June 2017 by James J. Cotter, titled \u201cThe Lone Ranger was Black: Reintegrating Minority Viewpoints into Historical Fiction.\u201d “The title intrigued […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[104],"tags":[1485,1481,1486,1483,343],"class_list":["post-9971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-bloggers","tag-bev-scott","tag-beverly-scott","tag-historical-writing","tag-sarahs-secret","tag-writers-forum"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43Dj8-2AP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9971"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9982,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9971\/revisions\/9982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}