Q&A With Greg Olson, Author of “Indigenous Missourians”

Greg Olson is a Columbia, MO author whose latest book is “Indigenous Missourians: Ancient Societies to the Present.” The book explores the Show Me State’s Indigenous past and presents it as one spanning twelve millennia of Native presence, resilience, and evolution. Greg Olson served as the Curator of Exhibits and Special Projects at the Missouri State Archives from 2000-2018 and has also published several articles and books about the history of Indigenous people in Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. He was kind enough to take the time to be interviewed via email.

Daniel Boone Regional Library: Can you tell us more about the research process for this book? Which part of the book was harder to research, the precolonial parts or the colonial & postcolonial parts?

Greg Olson: I think I was only able to write this book because I have been researching and working with the Indigenous people of the Midwest for three decades. The bulk of “Indigenous Missourians” is the culmination of all I have learned in that time.

I wrote the middle chapters of the book first because I was most familiar with Indigenous history between the first European contact in Missouri in 1673 and the Civil War. This is also a period that many historians such as William Foley, Carl Ekberg, Kathleen DuVal, Patricia Cleary and others have written about so well. So, there were a lot of great resources to lean on.

The chapters about ancient Missouri were the most difficult because I knew so little about that time period. I had to digest a huge body of research and literature. But it turned out to be fascinating even though archaeological reports can be a bit dry. I relied on the work of Michael O’Brien, Ray Wood, Carl Chapman, Tim Pauketat, Paulette Steeves, and Gayle Fritz, among many others.

The end of the book was the most fun. Because most people have assumed there were no Indigenous people in Missouri after the Civil War, almost nothing has been written about them. There was no historical road map for me to follow and as a result, I was able to cover quite a bit of new territory. For this section, I used census records, newspapers, oral histories, and government records to find out where Missouri’s Indigenous people were living and what they were doing.

It was Important for me to cover this entire 12,000-year span in this book. I wanted to make it clear that Indigenous people have always been an important part of the state of Missouri’s population and always will be.

DBRL: If you could clear up one common historical misconception about Indigenous Missourians, what would that be?

Olson: The general public has so many misconceptions about Native people that it is hard to know where to start. The most prevalent fallacy many people have is that there are no Indigenous people in Missouri today. This comes from the fact that the US forced all Indigenous Nations from the state by the late 1830s. Between 1839 and the early 20th century, it was technically illegal for a Native person to be in Missouri without the written permission of a government Indian agent.

Of course, even though the nations were forced to leave, thousands of indigenous individuals stayed behind. Most of them downplayed their heritage and tried to pass as White, Black, Southern European, or anything other than Native. During that time, many lost touch with their tribe and their culture.

Today, 27,000 Indigenous people live in Missouri. Through powwows, traditional ceremonies, and classes, many are keeping their culture alive and vibrant.

DBRL: As someone who is not of Indigenous descent, can you tell us about the process of including input from modern Indigenous communities into the book?

Olson: It is critical for researchers to actively work with the people about whom they are writing. About 25 years ago, I was conducting research on an Ioway leader from the 19th century named White Cloud (MaxúThka). At some point I realized I needed to speak with Ioway tribal historians for the project. I was nervous about approaching them at first but found people who were happy to help me. Since then, I have remained in contact with several tribal members. This has helped me tremendously as I’ve continued to write books for both adults and grade schoolers about Ioways. We have developed a two-way rapport in which I share my research with them so they can have for their archives or to use in their own projects.

Since then, I have continued to connect and work with many Indigenous people from other tribes. That connection has led me to become involved in a variety of cultural activities. I am now the volunteer chairperson of the committee that sponsors the For the People Powwow in Jefferson City each Memorial Day weekend. I also had the good fortune to have the late Larry Sellers, an Osage and Cherokee ceremony keeper, mentor me for more than a decade. These experiences have helped me better understand Indigenous world views that have informed my writing.

DBRL: Do you know if modern Indigenous tribes feel a close kinship to the people who lived in the ancient city of Cahokia, or is it too far in the past for a meaningful connection?

Olson: The Osages make a point of connecting themselves closely with the city of Cahokia. The Osage Nation now owns Sugar Loaf Mound, which is the last mound related to the Cahokia complex in the City of St. Louis (at one time, there were more than 20).

That said, there is quite a lot of debate about who lived in Cahokia and the surrounding area. At its height, it was home to about 15,000 people. Like cities today, it was probably made up of people from a variety of nations. These included Mississippian people who were related to the Chickasaws and Choctaws, as well as many others.

DBRL: Is there any particular mystery that you came across in your research that you would like an answer to, but you know that the answer is probably lost to history?

Olson: People have lived in Missouri for at least 12,000 years, yet we know so little about them. I would love to know more about the earliest settlers who called this part of the continent home. I am curious to know what they called themselves, how far they traveled to hunt and trade, how they lived, and what their spiritual beliefs were.

DBRL: Read anything good lately you’d like to recommend?

Olson: I read a lot of fiction by Indigenous writers. Native voices used to be rare in the literary world, so it is great to see so many Natives publishing these days. I recommend anything by Columbia’s 2023 One Read author Margaret Verble. We read “When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky” for One Read. She has published three other novels that I like as well, if not better, than that book. Louise Erdrich has a 40-year body of work that is well worth reading. I especially like “The Round House” and “The Night Watchman.” Right now I am reading Marcie R. Rendon’s “Where they Last Saw Her.” It is a mystery about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

DBRL: Where can readers get a copy of your book?

Olson: I usually send people to the State Historical Society of Missouri’s Richard Book Store here in Columbia. You can buy it locally at any book store or order it from the University of Missouri Press. It is also available from any online book retailer.

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