Who has the right to represent history, who has a story that is considered worth telling, and what does that mean for our culture as a whole right now?

Drawing directly from their own family’s history, authors Lara Neel and Lisa Neel critique the misrepresentation and erasure of Native American history. Exploring the intersection of womanhood and identity in the Cherokee Nation, Representing the Fashion of Our Nineteenth Century Cherokee Ancestor: Culture Not Costume follows Lara and Lisa’s investigation into the life and murder of their maternal ancestor and the misrepresentative discussions that have followed. By using academic research to unravel deeply ingrained historical contradictions and construct a woman-focused Native American history, Lara and Lisa make a case for the importance of perspective and representation in the modern living history community, and the lasting effects misrepresentation has on one of the largest Native American tribes in the United States.

Providing an invaluable critique into incomplete depictions of Native American communities and their women’s stories, this book is ideal reading for students of Indigenous Studies, Women’s History, Gender Studies, Textile History, and Ethnic Studies.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright Page
• Acknowledgements
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• Note on language
• Content warning
• Introduction
• Learning objectives
• 1 “Tell them who you are”
• 2 Cherokee culture in the nineteenth century: Negotiation, self-presentation, and calico dresses
  • Nineteenth century Cherokee identities: Adaptation, expansion, and boundaries
  • Divisions creating dead Cherokees, live Cherokees, and legal Cherokees
  • Ruth Margaret Muskrat Bronson and the American cultural memory of nineteenth-century Cherokees
  • Polly’s removal story: The suits of legal Cherokees
  • Stitching it all together: Cherokee women’s adoption of European-American clothing and textile skills
  • A history of photography and self-presentation in Indian Territory
  • Discerning color in early photography
  • Lisa’s experience with wet plate photography
  • Conclusion: What did all this do to inform our depictions of Polly?
• 3 Why it matters: Investigating the archives and embracing all legal Cherokees
  • The Cherokee Nation as an enslaving state
  • The Dawes Commission defined legal Cherokees
  • Publicly acknowledging specific oppressions
  • The survivor Rachel Ward
  • Her enslaver Joe Beck
  • The survivor Nancy Sheppard
  • Her enslaver Michael Hildebrand
  • We Are Cherokee
• 4 How we “dressed” Polly to bring her into the picture
  • How would Polly have followed fashion?
  • Would Polly have used a sewing machine?
  • Working out the details
  • Lisa’s comments on the start of the project
  • Choosing years to depict
  • What goes into these ensembles
  • Lisa’s comments on her 1838 Biedermeier “Calico”
  • Shift
  • Under-petticoat
  • Corded petticoat with lining
  • Tucked sateen petticoat with lace flounce
  • 1830s corded stays
  • Small bustle
  • Chemisette
  • Gown
  • Lisa’s comments on her 1845 work dress
  • Lara’s comments on her early 1870s ensemble
  • Corset
  • Chemise
  • Corset Cover
  • Bustle
  • Bodice and Outer Skirts
  • Chemisette and Sleeves
  • Other Accessories
• 5 Living anti-racist history and opening the archives
  • Living “vintage style, not vintage values”
  • Booker T. Washington High School, Greenwood, Black lives matter, and Juneteenth
  • Walking the walk
  • Not your Mamma’s history and Cheyney McKnight’s Afrofuturism
  • Wearing the dress: Finding and creating appropriate venues for dressing Polly
• 6 Honoring Polly Beck
• Recommended discussion questions
• Notes
• References
• Recommended further reading
• Index

Lara Neel holds a Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College in Physics and a Master of Arts from Ohio University in Visual Communication. She is the author of several non-fiction books, including Sock Architecture, an exploration of sock knitting techniques.

Lisa Neel holds a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and a Master of Public Health from George Washington University in Maternal and Child Health. Her independent research focuses on exploring textile history through making.