Why an Indian Head

[MikeKing]

This is not intended to be a political post, but does anyone know WHY they used an Indian head with the word liberty on it (for the Indian Head Pennies) when this country essentially decimated the Indian population? I mean....Liberty?

 

There must be an answer to this question that has historical accuracy.

 

 

[BillJones]

The mint did the same thing with the Type 2 and 3 gold dollars, the Three Dollar Gold Piece and the $10 Indian.

 

The $10 Indian I can answer. Teddy Roosevelt felt that the image of the Indian headdress was a better symbol for liberty than the Phrygian liberty cap. Roosevelt asked St. Gaudens to add the headdress to the design. Most art critics prefer the bare headed version.

 

As for the Indian cent, it’s kind of odd because the woman under the feathers is NOT a Native American; she’s Caucasian. Maybe it was way for the U.S. Government to feel better about itself after they screwed the Indians out of their land. I agree it’s weird.

 

[WoodenJefferson]

Wiki Coin Facts introduced by Rick Snow

[michael]

first of all it is not an indian on the indian head cent

 

it is some young white woman

 

and there is no such indian bonnet as the one she is wearing in american indian culture for women

 

it is ALL FICTIONAL AND MADE UP

 

 

[WoodenJefferson]

It's Lady Liberty on the war path.

 

Been there, done that.

[MikeKing]

Wiki Coin Facts introduced by Rick Snow

 

Thanks for this link.

As I get older I reflect more seriously on what originally seemed to be trivial things. Such as this.

 

Growing up in NYC, when we took trips to Long Island, so many streets had Indian names, yet I never thought it strange that I never saw an American Indian, until I reached adulthood. I mean, with all these roads named after Indians or Indian trails or whatnot, there was not one Indian probably, living anywhere near these streets.

 

The psycho-social disturbance revealed by something so obvious as this, and yet so un-obvious, unless we think about it.

 

American coinage can tell a lot of stories, for good and for bad.