Library blog

Indigenous Peoples' Apparel Are Not Costumes

by Karen Jury on 2021-10-25T12:37:00-04:00 | 0 Comments

When we were kids, my mother often made Halloween costumes for my brothers and me. Some of the outfits that I remember and/or have seen photographic evidence of included nurse, tiger, rabbit, and eventually Jedi robes when my brothers were a little older. My favorite costume that I remember my mother making, however, was a Pocahontas dress. (I'll age myself by admitting that this was before Disney's Pocahontas movie was made.) To me in my incompletely-educated state at 6-8 years old (I don't remember exactly what year it was), I thought Pocahontas was one of the few female heroes I had heard about, learned about in history class. And Native American apparel was beautiful, with all the beadwork that I remembered as a hallmark at the time. My dress was not fancy or beaded--it was tan-colored peachskin fabric, very soft, and my mom cut fringe into the edges of the sleeves and hem. I had no idea then how inappropriate it was for me to attempt to imitate Native American apparel--I just thought Pocahontas was a great person (which is often why we choose people to dress up as), and I liked the pretty dress that my mother made me.

Now, in 2021, at least some of the world is acknowledging that the apparel worn by indigenous peoples (not just Native Americans in the U.S. but all over the world) should not be used for costuming and/or Halloween. One of the many reasons non-indigenous people should not wear what they think is, for example, a "Native American" costume is that most of the commercially available costumes--as well the ideas behind most homemade costumes like the one my mother made for me--are based upon stereotypes that lump all Native Americans into one large group. The truth is that there are numerous tribes with widely varying apparel traditions. For some tribes, certain apparel is only rightfully worn by certain members who have achieved a specific status. Some indigenous peoples regularly wear the same apparel that has been worn by their tribe for hundreds of years, while others choose to wear traditional apparel only for special events.

The National Museum of the American Indian, which is part of the Smithsonian, has a number of different resources on its website--including lesson plans for classroom teachers and other educators to use to help students learn about Native American apparel accurately by focusing on a specific tribe(s) and the meaning behind the creation of certain pieces of apparel. One that I found that discusses the extensive beadwork that I remember admiring in Native American dress is "A Life in Beads: The Stories a Plains Dress Can Tell."

To learn more about indigenous peoples of the United States, check out some of the following titles in our current library display--which includes some titles about the Native Americans who lived in Pennsylvania.