One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus

Our book club is full of all women I'm sorry to say (our token man just left for Nigeria), so I think this book will make an interesting discussion. The story is based on one, small, little-known fact: that during the Native American conflicts of the 1800's, a Cheyenne chief suggested to the president that to alleviate white-Indian tensions, the whites should hand over 1,000 of their women in exchange for 1,000 horses. This way, they could become Cheyenne wives and bear children, and these children would then help to intermix the two "nations" thereby making them one. Cool idea, or just plain insanity?

In real life, the idea, of course, was rejected out of hand by the president and all the whites as ludicrous in the extreme. In this novel by Jim Fergus, the president rejects it at first, and then secretly puts the idea into motion. When he can't find enough willing, "able-bodied" women folk, the president begins to recruit those in insane asylums and prisons. Some of these women go for it, seeing the program as a way to gain their freedom. May Dodd, the main character,  is a woman unjustly sentenced to an asylum for her "promiscuous" ways who gains entry into the Cheyenne program as way out of that dismal world and into the land of the living. She must leave behind her illegitimate children whom she loves dearly, but she hopes that after she does her time with the Cheyennes that she will be able to return to them a new woman with new freedoms.

The journals that May writes are full of hardships on the prairie, friendships with the other white women and the Cheyennes, and descriptions of her new life. Her open-mindedness is a great strength, as is her perseverence and determination to make the best of her time in the tribe. She becomes a leader of the white women and respected by the Cheyennes. In short, she is a portrait of strong women throughout all history who have had to go about the business of living while trying to change the evils in the world that men have created. Although a fictional character, her journals read like the real thing: full of drama, emotion, and true grit.

So, while the premise of this book is a bit wild, and perhaps unrealistic, I think that's what novels are for: to put forth wild ideas and take our minds away from the harsh realities that we have to live every day. So, I would recommend One Thousand White Women for its strong characters, its historical setting, and its interesting cultural examinations. Give it a try, and let me know what you think.