Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Brinton Darlington


The last post mentioned Brinton Darlington and the agency named after him.

Brinton Darlington, a Quaker, was appointed the agent for the Southern Cheyennes and Arapahos of the Upper Arkansas Agency, Oklahoma, in 1869.

In 1870, the Agency moved to what became its permanent location near Fort Reno. Darlington pursued what was known as the "peace policy", attempting to gently coerce his charges towards Christianity, farming and euro-centric education. Although well intentioned, he appears to have lacked an understanding of the damage that this policy was doing to native society and culture.

Darlington was the Agent for the Cheyennes and Arapahos for nearly three years. He died on May 1st 1872. He was buried at the Agency that bore his name and his grave is still sited at the Concho cemetery.

1 comment:

AudioriJ said...

"...he appears to have lacked an understanding of the damage that this policy was doing to native society and culture." This is highly debatible. Quakers were opposed to a couple more aspect of American society and culture, slavery and unequal rights for women. Just because something is part of a culture doesn't make it valuable and it doesn't mean that the people that want to change it lack understanding of the 'damage' they are doing. Sometimes progress has to be spurred by enlightenment.