In response to an editorial regarding the Redskins, I have to wonder how much research the writer did on the subject. As you will see in a moment, the term Redskin was first used by Native Americans.

In 1933 the team changed it’s name from Braves to Redskins to honor it’s coach Lone Star Dietz, an American Sioux. The Boston Globe in July 6, 1933, wrote: “This new name is rather appropriate in more than one sense. The head and since the close of the 1932 season Pres Marshall and Coach Dietz have signed up a number of Indian players. Not only that, but the Boston National League ball park has long been called the Wigwam.”

From Oct. 3, 2005, Washington Post.com;

“Smithsonian Institution senior linguist Ives Goddard spent seven months researching its history and concluded that ‘redskin’ was first used by Native Americans in the 18th century to distinguish themselves from the white ‘other’ encroaching on their lands and culture.

“When it first appeared as an English expression in the early 1800s, ‘it came in the most respectful context and at the highest level,’ Goddard said in an interview. ‘These are white people and Indians talking together, with the white people trying to ingratiate themselves.’”

 

Tom Jacobson

Albert Lea