The buffalo nickel; how un-politically correct was that?

americans almost wiped out both features of the nickel(native americans and the buffalo), then put them on our currency. what was the motivation? in hindsight, seems in bad taste.

 

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Good or bad, it's a part of American history.

 

I don't think it was politically incorrect to put them on the nickel. What we did to the native American's and the Bison, THAT is what was politically incorrect.

 

or just incorrect

edit: I did minor in history but I wonder if all tribes had been "dealt with" by 1913 or 1912 (assuming thats when the design started) ... I also wonder if the advent of movies and cowboys and indians had any effect and whether the normal joe schmo sitting on the east coast would even think about native americans out west ... I'm sure there had to be some dissent, but it was not popular. These are all hypotheses.

edit 2: world war i was also a concern after a few years

 

What is truly politically incorrect is having a bunch of pandering politicians on our money instead of real symbols of American liberty - like a Native American or the buffalo.

 

Most of the movies portrayed the indians as the bad guys and the cowboy/military slaughtering them were the good guys.

 

+1

 

Really? Cause George Washington or Abe Lincoln were just pandering politicians.

 

I never thought of an Indian as a symbol of American liberty. Or a buffalo for that matter. They do look cool on that nickel though. Imagine what a great world this would be if the past had only taken place the way I think it should have.

 

was it to honor them? or was it an attempt to pacify or try to atone? after all, the "indian new deal" didnt pass until almost the END of the series. DISCLAIMER: im a WASHINGTON redskins fan, so i hear a lot of grief about the name of the team and the logo(which i wear a lot), but i can at least take solace in knowing the name is truly intended as an honorific. but to colonize to a place, basically boot out the occupants, kill off their food supply, then plaster the images of both on this country's currency......... seems like bad taste.

 

The real bummer was becoming the main ingredient for Silz Poultry and Game's "Black Diamond steaks."

 

yeah, right. because i cant tell you HOW many times i have equated the plight of native americans to liberty.

 

This is true as well, to me. Symbols of American Liberty - Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell, Great Men of History who fought to end British Tyranny, etc. Getting into the dirty parts of North American History is always a sore subject, but at the same time it is how we as Americans learn from our past so as to not repeat it. Who knows what our country would be like had many things not happened; it's how we move forward knowing what did happen that makes us who we are. Did our ancestors and forefathers make mistakes, absolutely, that doesn't mean that they still weren't great men who fought for what they believed in.

 

1913 was one hundred years ago. It was also the first year the Buffalo nickel was minted. You have to put yourself in the mindset of the people of that era. The notion of Political Correctness wasn't even on their radar.

The parents of the Americans who minted the Buff, had fought a brutal, take no prisoners, fight to the death, war against the native americans. There was brutality beyond imagining on both sides. Read "Empire of the Summer Moon". Yet the descendants of European settlers, who became Americans, recognized the nobility and untainted wildness of their former enemy. And saw fit to commemorate that noble spirit with the image of a native american warrior.

Yes, these same people slaughtered the American Bison, colloquially known as the Buffalo, to the brink of extinction. Again, to them the wilderness was something to be tamed, an unlimited resource. When the settlers first made their way out west to California for the gold rush in 1849, there were millions upon millions of Buffalo on the great plains. Their slaughter is one of the great tragedies of man against nature. But again, in the mindset of the people of that era, the buffalo was just another resource to be exploited.

1913 was on the tail end of the era of the wild west. People recongized that with the advent of the industrial age, things had changed in this country forever. In my view the Buffalo Nickel was struck as an homage to a way of life that had passed into history, but was commemorative to two indelibly American Icons. I'm glad they chose the design. It's beautiful. I only wish the mint would be as creative and artistic nowadays with the designs on our circulating coinage.

 

Personally, I love the design and see it as two American iconic images. I don't want to get too deep here but what happened to the bison and native Americans happens still today. Look at what is happening to the forrests, rivers and oceans. As humans expand, we destroy everything in our path.

 

As someone who is part native American, I do not find it offensive at all. In fact, I am proud of coins like the buffalo nickel and Oregon Trail commemorative. Personally, I find the "indian head" penny offensive. I do not like a little white girl dressed up in a ceremonial native headress to be so "cute".

If you represent faithfully any group of people then I believe you are honoring them. If you take parts of their culture and intermingle it with others then I believe you are being condescending. To me, the IHC was a way for whites to try to say Natives Americans are childlike.

 

You'd really have to be in Frasier's mind to know why he picked that particular design. St. Gaudens was still chief engraver & the 5c would have been quite different if he's was chosen to design it. I believe it has to do w/the romanticism of the 'old west'.

The American Bison is believed to have been Fraser’s take on “Black Diamond,” an American Bison which was featured at the New York Zoological Gardens.
The Native American bust is the beautiful, artistic result when Fraser combined the features of three American Indian chiefs: Iron Tail, Two Moons, and John Big Tree.
Whatever the reason, it stands out as a series & is admired worldwide.

 

Howdy folks,

Interesting discussion. I too am part native (i.e. 3/16 cherokee) and don't consider the nickel images to be politically incorrect at all. Indeed, I'm not sure I really like the idea of things being politically incorrect or not. It's a completely subjective and time sensitive definition. edited How are people supposed to deal with that in their daily lives?

Much better descriptions of what the white settlers did to the native americans. Much better descriptions of what the white settlers did to the bison. Actually, the extermination of the bison was meant to deprive the nomadic plains indians of their basic economic base (e.g. food, clothing, shelter) in order to subject the tribes. What was done to the native americans was brutal and ugly and technically an act of genocide.

Nopers, you might say that the bison and indian on the nickels was ironic on an epic scale, but not politically incorrect.

peace,

rono