I just finished reading Killers of the Flower Moon. To say that I am disturbed by what I learned is a gross understatement. This is a nonfiction work by a journalist who wrote about the “Reign of Terror” that was perpetrated upon the Osage Tribe in the early 20th century.

I had not heard of the murders or the wealth of the Osage prior to reading this book. I, like many people, am aware of the horrific treatment of the Indigenous peoples of North America. In return for kindness and knowledge, they were brutalized, murdered and land upon which they’d dwelled for centuries was taken. They were marched from ancestral lands to less desirable allotments, the buffalo killed and their men murdered as well as children stolen. In terms of the Osage, they were relocated to rocky and hilly land not suitable for farming and living.

But guess what? It was rich with oil! So rich that the Osage became millionaires back in the early 20th century! Then, they created laws so that a person could not own the headrights (the rights to own the underground deposits or land) unless they were Osage. Smart, right?

Of course, the oil drew fortune seekers, workers and thieves. What the Osage could not know is that it would draw murderers… but I guess they should have…. The US government, in all of its patriarchal wisdom, decided that the Osage were not fit to manage their own money and therefore appointed guardians to them who were white, of course, and routinely embezzled. But it didn’t stop there.

Over the course of 20 years, hundreds of Osage were killed for their headrights, and then their families were cheated of the inheritance. White lawyers, judges, appointed “guardians” and doctors colluded to kill and swindle these people. Even spouses. Generations of Osage (and those who dared to question) were systematically murdered. Generations. Let that sink in….

And you won’t find this in a history book.