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Martin Scorsese’s film “Killers of the Flower Moon” is about a series of murders in Oklahoma in the 1920s.
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At the center of the conspiracy was the Osage Nation, an Indian tribe living in the state.
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This is what the real Osage Nation looked like a century ago.
The Osage Nation is a Native American tribe in the Midwestern United States that originally settled in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys around 700 BC.
After the Osage were forcibly expelled from their original territory in Kansas by the US government, they found a new home in Oklahoma in the 19th century.
In 1894, the Osage discovered that the land they had been given was rich in oil. So rich, in fact, that the Osage became the richest people in the world per capita.
“In 1923 alone, the tribe took in more than $30 million, equivalent to more than $400 million today,” wrote David Grann in his 2017 book “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
The film of the same name, starring Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, follows the gruesome story of what happened next: a vast conspiracy of white Oklahomans who murdered dozens (if not more) members of the Osage tribe to gain control of their land.
This is what the real members of the Osage Nation looked like before and during the so-called “Reign of Terror.”
Circa 1860: There are photographs of members of the Osage Nation from before the Civil War, such as this one of Wincombone, which translates to “far-sighted.”
Circa 1918: However, most photographs show the tribal members decades later. This photo shows three members of the Osage Nation sitting outside a store in Pawhuska, the city where the Osage tribal government still operates today.
Source: The Osage Nation
Circa 1920: Some Osage women dressed more modernly, such as Rose Wagoshe (center) and Mary Red Eagle (right). Others, such as Mrs. Red Eagle (left), chose traditional clothing.
Circa 1918: Three Osage women in traditional Osage dress sit for a portrait.
Around 1918: A member of the Osage Nation has his photograph taken in Pawhuska. The portrait studio plays a role in “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
Circa 1918: A woman and her two children are photographed in Pawhuska. New York City residents can view an Osage blanket like this one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1920: This photo shows an Osage wedding. In the past, weddings involved four days of negotiations between the two families.
Source: Examiner-Enterprise
1926: This is Mollie Burkhart, played by Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon”. Her entire family was murdered because of their oil taxes – or died under suspicious circumstances.
1915: Mollie’s sister Anna Kyle Brown was killed in 1921. In the film she is played by Cara Jade Myers.
Her sister Rita was killed in an explosion in 1923 along with her husband Bill. Rita is played by JaNae Collins in “Killers of the Flower Moon”.
1924: A group of Osage traveled to Washington, DC to meet President Calvin Coolidge.
1925: The Osage returned to the White House to meet with Coolidge again. In the film, Mollie also makes this trip to ask the federal government for help in solving the murders in her community.
Circa 1922: An Osage family poses for a portrait in Pawhuska. While some of the murders during the Reign of Terror were solved, many others remained unsolved. Today, 26% of the land in the area is owned by non-Osage or institutions, something the tribe is trying to change.
Source: The Osage Nation
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