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The Reason of the Indian Outbreak, 1890.
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Indian holding musket and package labeled "starvation rations," standing next to an Indian agent carrying bags of money. The reason of the Indian outbreak General Miles declares that the Indians are starved into rebellion.

Credit: Library of Congress

This late nineteenth-century political cartoon satirized the corruption of federal agents in charge of western Indian reservations. Pocketing most of the federal money targeted for these reservations, these agents doled out only "starvation rations" to Indians. Katharine Drexel was drawn to the plight of the reservation Indians during a trip west as a young woman.

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