Osage Nation and Why Oil Changed Everything

Martin Scorsese film, Killers of the Flower Moonis receiving a wave of praise from critics and is based entirely on the history of the Osage, a Native American nation that lived through a certain time.

The Osage are a tribe settled in the county of the same name in what is now Oklahoma and belong to the linguistic family of the popular Sioux.

They originated in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys around 700 BC. C. together with other members of your family. In the 18th century, they expanded westward and settled in the Great Plains, where they came into contact and came into conflict with other tribes and European settlers.

What do the Osages have to do with oil?

In the early 20th century, the Osages became the richest people in the world thanks to the discovery of oil on their reservation in northeastern Oklahoma. However, this wealth also attracted greed, racism, and violence from white settlers, who used legal and illegal means to seize their land and rights. Between 1918 and 1931, more than 60 Osages were killed or died under suspicious circumstances during the so-called “Reign of Terror” or “Reign of Terror.”“The Moonflower Murders”. These crimes were among the first cases investigated by the newly created FBI, which was able to convict some of the perpetrators.

Many Osage sold the land, but through a skillfully negotiated treaty overseen by Osage Principal Chief James Bigheart and a half-Native lawyer named John Palmer, the nation entered into an agreement with the United States government in which every full-blooded Osage retained rights to any mineral and oil deposits. on the reservation territory. Moreover, these head rights, which allowed quarterly apportionment of Osage mineral production, could not be sold, but only bequeathed.

Some of the land came under the control of lawyers and guardians appointed and paid by the government to control the dispersal of funds. Undertakers often mistakenly believed Osage deaths were the result of laziness and/or corruption.

This entire story, as well as the one that inspired Scorsese’s film, can be found in David Grann’s book: Killers of the Flower Moon: An American Crime and the Birth of the FBI .

The history of the Osage people is one of resistance, survival, and the fight for justice. Despite adversity, the Osage maintained their culture, their language, and their sovereignty. Today the Osage Nation has more than 20,000 members and has its own government, constitution, supreme court and congress. The Osage Nation also has several cultural, educational, health, and economic programs aimed at preserving and improving the quality of life of its people.