We were told that the Nez Perce tribe numbered from eight hundred to two thousand souls and we were to convince them, man, woman and child, of the desirableness of breaking their tribal relations, giving up their tribal rights under U.S. Treaty, for American citizenship and a very moderately sized farm cut out of their tribal inheritance.

There might be a little time consumed in this simple preliminary work, but that accomplished, things would move quickly.

"It is not going to be a long job," said the callow clerk, "the Indians are all ready for allotment."

Jane Gay wrote this ironic assessment (in "Choup-nit-ki, With the Nez Perces") of the assignment to allot land to the Nez Perce Indians in Idaho shortly after she and her friend Alice C. Fletcher arrived on the Reservation in June, 1889.

Jane Gay's images and words entertain, educate, and move audiences. Viewers are introduced to the virtually unknown United States policy of allotment that was implemented on nearly all Native American reservations -- including the Nez Perce Reservation in north-central Idaho -- during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Page maintained by Louise D. Barber
Updated: Feb. 1, 1998