[Michlib-l] Wilder

[Anne Heidemann]

Boozhoo (hello), Michigan library community,



I wanted to share some information about Wilder and her Little House books that not everyone may be thinking about. In my role serving as the Tribal Librarian for the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, I have had the opportunity to study and think about this issue in depth and humbly share this with you.



The content of Wilder's works is actively harmful, not just to Native readers whose ancestors are supposedly portrayed in them, but to everyone who reads them and takes in those damaging depictions. They portray a vision of history as seen from a settler colonialist perspective that did not allow any room for the humanity of people who were not white settlers (in addition to the inaccurate depictions of Indigenous peoples, there is also anti-Black content).



Many of us working in libraries may have fond memories of reading or having these books read to us when we were kids, but it is possible to separate those memories from the harmful content that accompanied them - to make a different choice when recommending books to today's young readers.



My suggestion here is that we choose to celebrate writers and books that include everyone's humanity, and chose not to celebrate those which do not.



There is quite a lot of writing out there about the damage that Wilder's books do.  Please contact me off-list if you'd like me to provide suggestions.



Miigwetch,

Anne


Anne Heidemann, Tribal Librarian (she/her)
Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Gindaaso-gamik - Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Libraries
aheidemann at sagchip.org<mailto:aheidemann at sagchip.org> - aheidemann at sagchip.edu<mailto:aheidemann at sagchip.edu>
989-787-0651 * 989-775-4519 * 989-317-4789
ploud.saginaw.net<https://ploud.saginaw.net/>
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