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Overlooked No More: Molly Nelson, Steward of Penobscot Culture Overlooked No More: Molly Nelson, Steward of Penobscot Culture
(7 days later)
This article is part of Overlooked, a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times.This article is part of Overlooked, a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times.
In 1931, when the Penobscot dancer Molly Nelson arrived in Paris to perform at the International Colonial Exposition, she was pleasantly surprised. To win audiences in North America, she had learned, she had to resort to Native American stereotypes, like wearing a floor-length feathered headdress — and not much else. But in Paris, she found an enthusiastic, unbiased reception for her traditional tribal dances.In 1931, when the Penobscot dancer Molly Nelson arrived in Paris to perform at the International Colonial Exposition, she was pleasantly surprised. To win audiences in North America, she had learned, she had to resort to Native American stereotypes, like wearing a floor-length feathered headdress — and not much else. But in Paris, she found an enthusiastic, unbiased reception for her traditional tribal dances.
After the expo ended and the other members of her group, the United States Indian Band, returned home, she decided to stay.After the expo ended and the other members of her group, the United States Indian Band, returned home, she decided to stay.
“Maybe I am foolish, with no money, but hopes galore,” she wrote in her diary. “But I DO want to do something with my Indian dancing here in a serious artistic way. And I’m willing to take a great chance to accomplish it.”“Maybe I am foolish, with no money, but hopes galore,” she wrote in her diary. “But I DO want to do something with my Indian dancing here in a serious artistic way. And I’m willing to take a great chance to accomplish it.”
Nelson, whose stage name at the height of her career was Molly Spotted Elk, was a Penobscot dancer from Maine who spent much of her young adult life performing both traditional and popular dances in vaudeville troupes, chorus lines, Wild West shows and nightclubs.