The Osage Indian Murders took place between 1910-1930.  New research suggests there were hundreds of murders.  The birth of the FBI came about through the investigation of the Osage murders. The National Archives wrote a great blog post titled Researching the Osage Murders. https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2017/11/20/researching-the-osage-murders/ 

As you read the primary sources you will read references to “Indian Incompetency”.  The practice of deeming Indian people incompetent is a crucial piece of how and why the murders took place. All tribes were subject to the Competency Commissions established by the Burke Act of 1906.  This article will give you some background knowledge.  1906 - Incompetent Indian https://project1492.org/competency-commissions/ .  

“In the 1920s, after the discovery of the presence of millions of dollars in oil under the Osage reservation, a man named William Hale hatched a plot to kill Native Americans so he could take the profits for himself.

The Osage had “headrights,” meaning they received the money from the oil. Although he was behind the murders of at least 60 Native Americans—including nearly an entire family—Hale was put on trial for only one of his victims, Henry Roan.

These crimes occurred in the early years of the FBI, which investigated and arrested William Hale and his accomplice, John Ramsey, for Roan’s murder. The other cases went unsolved; however, the FBI strongly believed Hale was responsible.” - National Archives

I am including primary sources from Chronicling America in the resource list.

Overview

• National Archives - National Archives Records Lay Foundation for Book and Major Motion Picture https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/killers-flower-moon-nara-sources 
• CBS Sunday Morning  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYllsqLcgi
• Oklahoma Primary Sources from the Library of Congress

https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/usa-oklahoma/ 

• Osage Murders https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014519/1927-08-18/ed-1/seq-19 
• Bismark Tribune https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042243/1926-01-29/ed-1/seq-8/
• Osage Nation - Reign of Terror https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/news-events/news/did-you-know-osage-murders 
• The Osage Murders https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akT8eq2lRk0 
• The Indianapolis https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015313/1926-01-06/ed-1/seq-12/ 
• Osages and Allotment #  https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.osagestheirnames01thom/?st=gallery 
• The Osage in Historic Newspapers Envy Ridicule and Racism https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2021/11/the-osage-in-historic-newspapers-envy-ridicule-and-racism/ 
• The Bismarck January 1926 https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042243/1926-01-20/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1756&index=16&date2=1963&words=murders+Osage&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&rows=20&proxtext=osage+murders&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 
• William Hale. (2024, August 1). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_King_Hale 

 William Hale

Osage Indian murders. (2024, July 22). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osage_Indian_murders

 https://www.newspapers.com/topics/crimes-mysteries/osage-murders/ 

Two Teaching Strategies to Explore 

S-I-T: Surprising, Interesting, Troubling  https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/s-i-t-surprising-interesting-troubling
An activity based on the S-I-T strategy provides a quick and straightforward way for students to engage with a text, image, or video. In this activity, students identify what they find surprising, interesting, and troubling about the material. Because the activity gives students an opportunity to process and articulate a short response, it’s especially useful when students are encountering material they find shocking or an outcome that is counterintuitive.

The ‘SOAPSTone Technique’ Teaching Strategy https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-eight-ways-to-teach-with-primary-sources/2021/03 

“Once students have mastered the ability to analyze individual primary sources, teachers can begin the process of teaching them how to work with multiple primary sources. A teacher can do this by putting five or six documents in a folder and then asking students to answer a question about the documents by physically manipulating them into groups.

In my own classroom, I do this by organizing my students into groups and giving each group a folder full of documents related to a particular topic—say, the Industrial Revolution. In this case, the prompt, which appears on the front of the folder, asks them to analyze the impact of the Industrial Revolution on American society during the 19th century. By reading the documents and working together, my students are able to recognize that some of the documents specifically discuss the negative effects of air and water pollution created by the Industrial Revolution; some of the documents specifically discuss the rise of labor unions in response to the terrible working conditions created by the Industrial Revolution; and some of the documents specifically discuss the growth of cities. Then, using evidence from each of the documents, my students can write an essay in which they argue that the Industrial Revolution led to urban growth, air and water pollution, and the rise of labor unions in the United States during the 19th century.”  - by Kevin Thomas Smith

  Michele Granger    Cheryl Best    Neme Alperstein    Mary Johnson  

  Cheryl Davis    Osage Murders    Osage    Burke Act 1906    Ask a Mentor Aug 2024