Nebraska, Omaha children, Omaha -- Education, Francis La Flesche -- 1857-1932, Omaha -- Biography, Indigenous children -- Nebraska, Indigenous peoples -- Education -- Nebraska, Indigenous children, Indigenous peoples -- Education, Omaha, Missions 

"The Middle Five is an account of Francis La Flesche's life as a student in a Presbyterian mission school in northeastern Nebraska about the time of the Civil War. It is a simple, affecting tale of young Indian boys midway between two cultures, reluctant to abandon the ways of their fathers, and puzzled and uncomfortable in their new roles of "make-believe white men." The ambition of the Indian parents for their children, the struggle of the teachers to acquaint their charges with a new world of learning, and especially the problems met by both parents and teachers in controlling and directing schoolboy exuberance contribute to the authenticity of this portrait of the "Universal Boy," to whom La Flesche dedicated his little book. Regarded by anthropologists as a classic of native American literature, it is one of those rare books that is valued by the specialist as an authentic source of information about Indian culture and yet can be recommended whole-heartedly to the general reader, especially to young people in high school and the upper grades, for whom it can serve as a useful corrective to the often distorted picture of Indian life seen in movies, comics, and television.

Francis La Flesche, born about 1857, was the son of Estamaza, or "Chief Joseph" La Flesche, himself son of a French trader and an Omaha mother. In a lifetime devoted to the study of his people and their customs, Francis La Flesche achieved great distinction as a scientist and scholar, his most important work being two great series of studies on the Omaha and Osage tribes.

For this new edition, David A. Baerreis, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, has written a Foreword which sketches the life and career of Francis La Flesche and gives background information on the Omaha tribe and the teaching in the mission schools of the period."--Back cover. 

xxiii, 152 pages, 2 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 21 cm. 

Contents:
The mission --
Brush --
Edwin --
Little Bob --
Warren --
Lester --
The splinter, the thorn and the rib --
Fraudulent holidays --
William T. Sherman --
A runaway --
A new study --
Ponka boys --
The secret of the big seven --
A rebuke --
Joe --
The break.