Illinois State University’s Department of History will present a panel discussion focusing on Native American and historical perspectives on the Oscar-nominated film Killers of the Flower Moon.
Martin Scorsese’s film focuses on a series of murders that occurred in the Osage Nation of Oklahoma in the 1910s through 1930s, which targeted Native people made wealthy from the discovery of oil on their land. Scorsese took pains to present the Osage people accurately and respectfully—Lily Gladstone may well be the first Native woman to win an Oscar for her performance—yet the film centers on the non-Native perpetrators of the conspiracy and was based on a novel written by a non-Native author rather than one of several books on the subject by Osage and Native authors. The panel will focus on the historical accuracy, as well as the representation and depiction of Native people by a non-Native filmmaker.
The panel will be led by Dr. Lindsay Stallones Marshall of the Department of History, and features Dr. Shannon Epplett (Chippewa) from the Illinois State faculty; Heather Miller (Wyandotte Nation) from the Illinois State Museum; June Carpenter (Osage Nation), artist and repatriation specialist; and Dr. Renata Burchfield (Cherokee Nation) of the University of Illinois.
The panel discussion is Thursday, February 29, at 4 p.m., at Schroeder Hall 138. The event is free and open to the public.
