Oo-Ma-Ha-Ta-Wa-Tah and Other Stories (1898) is a work of history and
folklore by Fannie Reed Griffen and Susette La Flesche. Written at the
end of a century of devastation, marked by the Western advance of
American political, industrial, and military forces, Oo-Ma-Ha-Ta-Wa-Tah
and Other Stories preserves as much as it can between the bindings of a
book the traditions and stories of the Omaha people. "In remembrance of
the Omahas, the tribe of Indians after which Omaha city is named, and
who, less than fifty years ago, held an uncontested title to the land
where Omaha city and the great Trans-Mississippi Exposition is located,
this book is dedicated, that the memory of the tribe, its chieftains,
its warriors and its maidens might be preserved." Combining biography,
historical documents, and folk tales, Oo-Ma-Ha-Ta-Wa-Tah and Other
Stories serves as an invaluable record of a proud people. Beginning
with the disastrous broken treaty of 1854, Griffen and La Flesche tell
the tragic story of the Omahas through the lives of the chiefs who
signed it. Concluding with a sampling of entertaining stories inherited
from an oral tradition, Oo-Ma-Ha-Ta-Wa-Tah and Other Stories remains a
masterpiece of fiction and nonfiction from two groundbreaking and vastly
underappreciated figures in American history. With a beautifully
designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of
Susette La Flesche and Fannie Reed Griffen's Oo-Ma-Ha-Ta-Wa-Tah and
Other Stories is a classic work of Native American literature
reimagined for modern readers.
