Andrew -- Final Paper

My final paper will analyze the use of Native Americans as sports and university-related mascots. I decided that I wanted to analyze an aspect of racial identity that “hits close to home” (i.e. Jewish American identity or Native American identity since I live approximately 45 minutes from the Navajo Reservation). After our class discussion during the week where we read Playing Indian, I thought that this concept would be an interesting topic to delve into.

The topic of Native American mascots also conveniently fits into the history of Stanford. During the period from 1930 to 1972, the official mascot of Stanford University was the Indian. Many people still do not know this aspect of the history of the university (including the librarian who helped me at Green Library). After completing this research paper, I hope to answer the following questions: What is the history of using Native Americans as mascots, and why are they symbolized in this way? Where and how does Stanford fit in to the broader story?

I first explored the resources located in Green Library related to this subject. I was able to find numerous articles on microfilm from the Stanford Daily in the 1970s (when the issue of the Native American mascot was brought to a head). 1972 was a particularly vivid year for this mascot controversy, as a proposal from 55 students sought to relinquish the Indian mascot in February, and by April of 1972, President of Stanford Richard Lyman revealed that the mascot would be dropped. These articles will serve as my primary sources where I hope to explore both sides of the argument and to connect Stanford to the thoughts and concerns of using Native Americans as mascots as a whole.

My secondary sources include Playing Indian by Philip Deloria, a book I found in Green Library entitled Team Spirits: The Native American Mascots Controversy (serving as a collection of essays people have written about Native American mascots for sports teams), The Jazz Singer (1927), and possibly other scholarly articles. Deloria’s book will provide historical context for using Indian “dress-up” as a way of exploring themes like aggression, violence, and otherness. Team Spirits serves as a historical comparison of the mascot issue across a wide range of institutions and sports teams. I would like to tie The Jazz Singer into the idea of escaping from oneself and acting in the stereotypical way of another.

Overall, I seek to understand Stanford’s role in the Native American mascot controversy and whether or not Stanford’s mascot change affected the nation’s overall thought toward this issue.

Primary Sources

Numerous Stanford Daily articles from 1972

Secondary Sources

Deloria Jr, Vine. Team Spirits: The Native American Mascots Controversy. Eds. C. Richard King, and Charles Fruehling Springwood. University of Nebraska Press, 2001.

Deloria, Philip J. Playing indian. Yale University Press, 1999.

The Jazz Singer. Dir. Alan Crosland. Perf. Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland, and Cantor Rosenblatt. Warner Bros., 1927. Film.