One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus

One Thousand White Women was a book club selection for BBC. It wasn't quite what I expected. I guess I wasn't sure I would like the book. I was open to anything. I enjoyed the book much better than I thought I would.

One Thousand White Women is based on a historical event where there was an attempt at negotiations between the Native Americans and the United States. The Native Americans came up with a proposal asking for one thousand white women for brides in exchange for one thousand horses. The Native Americans considered this a viable possibility because in their culture, babies are considered a member of their mother's tribe. Therefore, any babies that resulted would be assimilated into Caucasian culture, or so they thought. This proposal was met with outrage by the American public. However, in One Thousand White Women, Fergus suggests as the premise of his story that this plan was secretly given a go ahead.

One Thousand White Women was written in journal form. It is supposedly the journal of May Dodd who was against her will placed in an asylum by her parents. She volunteers for the bride program just to get her freedom. She is joined by a number of other brides who come from various backgrounds, asylums, prisons, poor and differing backgrounds. On their way to Cheyenne tribe of Little Wolf, there are a number of stops at forts. At one of which we meet Captain Bourke who May Dodd really bonded with. Their "friendship" leads to a one night affair the night before the brides join their new family. The Cheyenne men pick their brides and Little Wolf, the chief of the tribe, selects May. The women learn the way of the Cheyenne as they teach them Christian ways. We follow as the women bond with their new families and with each other.