The World's Richest Indian: The Scandal over Jackson Barnett's Oil Fortune [Hardcover]

Tanis C. Thorne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 2003

The first biography of Jackson Barnett, who gained unexpected wealth from oil found on his property. This book explores how control of his fortune was violently contested by his guardian, the state of Oklahoma, the Baptist Church, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and an adventuress who kidnapped and married him. Coming into national prominence as a case of Bureau of Indian Affairs mismanagement of Indian property, the litigation over Barnett's wealth lasted two decades and stimulated Congress to make long-overdue reforms in its policies towards Indians. Highlighting the paradoxical role played by the federal government as both purported protector and pilferer of Indian money, and replete with many of the major agents in twentieth-century Native American history, this remarkable story is not only captivating in its own right but highly symbolic of America's diseased and corrupt national Indian policy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It vividly illuminates how the federal government of that period was "protecting" native peoples while at the same time tealing whatever they had of value."--John Burch, Campbellsville University Library

"An astounding tale, brilliantly told, of one man's simple dignity caught up in a hurricane of greed and chicanery."-- Mike Davis, author of Dead Cities and Other Tales

"A historical tour-de-force that dramatically and depressingly shows how a confluence of law, racial attitudes, scheming individuals, and bureaucratic institutions devastated the considerable rights and resources of Jackson Barnett, a Creek Nation citizen, and by extension the rights of other similarly situated indigenous people. Thorne's lucid account is a worthy and timely successor to Angie Debo's And Still the Waters Run, a penetrating analysis of the systematic fraud and dispossession that was perpetuated on the citizens of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma by similar forces. Finally, this work graphically shows that oil-its exploration and exploitation--has long played a major role in indigenous politics as well as in national and international politics."--David E. Wilkins, University of Minnesota

"For anyone interested in American Indians, this book is a must read about surviving cultural change for many traditionalists learning the ways of the white man in the early twentieth century."--Donald L. Fixico, University of Kansas

"Not just the life story of Jackson Barnett, this is a story of the government's failure to meet its trust responsibility to protect 'restricted' or 'incompetent' Indians from those who preyed upon them and their oil-generated wealth. It is the story of the culture of greed that gripped early Oklahoma--a complex, sad, and sometimes ugly story, masterfully told."-Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr., University of Arkansas at Little Rock

About the Author

Tanis C. Thorne is Half-time Lecturer and Director of Interdisciplinary Native American Minor, University of California, Irvine, and Part-time Lecturer at Sacramento State University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195162331
• ISBN-13: 978-0195162332
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,661,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Both Scholarly and Enjoyable, December 9, 2003

By 

Jason Spaulding (Grass Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World's Richest Indian: The Scandal over Jackson Barnett's Oil Fortune (Hardcover)

With some writers, an abunce of detail is mind-numbing, as in the "begat" passages of the Old Testament. In contrast, Tanis Thorne uses a myriad of details as would a pointillistic painter to create a vivid and poignant biography of Afro-Muskogee Jackson Barnett, "The Richest Indian in the World".

Barnett had belonged to the Muskogee faction opposed to individual land allotment, known as Snakes. On the Snakes' refusing to designate choice homesteads, allotments were issued in their names in the hardscrabble hills of Oklahoma. Barnett's 160-acre allotment ironically turned out to be centered over one of the world's great oil pools. Barnett was thereafter placed under state court conservatorship to limit the enormous flow of oil royalties to a meager living allowance.

An attractive "adventuress" heard of Barnett's wealth, located his modest home and eloped with him the following day.

A three-way battle erupted between the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Oklahoma state courts and Anna Barnett for control of the fortune. Anna Barnett succeeded in prying free enough income to finance a move to a fashionable suburb of Los Angeles, where Jackson Barnett passed many of his days directing traffic. He became a regular tourist attraction.

Anna ultimately lost after Jackson Barnett's death. The marriage was judicially annulled and Anna was evicted from the home. She died in poverty years later.

Dr. Thorne uses the biography to portray the inherent clash between Creek values of generosity and sharing and the dominant culture of selfishness. Using this theme, Dr. Thorne segues into a brief discussion of today's Cobell litigation challenging the entire federal trust accounting of American Indian funds.

This book is a valuable contribution to American Indian history. Beyond that, the book sets a high standard for combining historic writing with lively and accessible prose.

5.0 out of 5 stars The World's Richest Indian: The Scandal over Jackson Barnett's Oil Fortune, August 10, 2011

By 

paradisemom - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The World's Richest Indian: The Scandal over Jackson Barnett's Oil Fortune (Paperback)

Earlier I had read a portion of this book, so it is everything I expected.
Thank you to the seller for providing detailed information and quality shipping.
Respectfully,
Rhonda Barnett

4.0 out of 5 stars Family History, January 18, 2011

By 

vjharland - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The World's Richest Indian: The Scandal over Jackson Barnett's Oil Fortune (Paperback)

The author was a bit talky. However the information was good and interesting. this book gives more information an a relative that I did not know other than other family said I was related.