Collector and student of American Indian folklore. Mooney started his career as a
schoolteacher and later worked as a reporter for a Richmond, Indiana, paper, but since
childhood his main interest was the American Indian, and he eagerly sought out every
available publication on the subject. In 1885 while visiting Washington, DC, Mooney
met John Wesley Powell, who was so impressed with the young man’s knowledge that he
immediately hired him. Mooney remained with the Bureau of American Ethnology until
his death in 1921, dividing his time between library and field researches, the latter being
carried out primarily among the Cherokee and the Sioux.
Mooney was interested in the Indians not just as informants, but also as people, and
many of his efforts were aimed at improving their lives. For example, he helped bring
attention to the alarmingly high death rate of North Carolina Cherokees, and he was
instrumental in introducing measures to remedy the situation. His best-known
publication, The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890 ([1896] 1965),
also revealed his empathy with the tribesmen. Rather than treat the new religion as a
curious oddity, he considered the ghost-dance movement essentially similar to other
efforts at cultural revivalism found throughout the world. Wovoka was nothing more than
an Indian Joan of Arc.
Although the study is valuable, it does have several flaws. Mooney never really
considered the ghost-dance movement of 1870 and its connection with the events of
twenty years later. Furthermore, he paid too little attention to the importance of Indian
beliefs concerning the return of the dead in starting both ghost-dance movements.
Moreover, he overlooked many of the cultural factors giving rise to the ghostdance
religion, focusing only on poverty, oppression, and social dissatisfaction.
The Ghost-Dance Religion has folkloristic importance, but Mooney’s most significant
folklore volume is Myths of the Cherokees ([1900] 1982). This huge collection was
recorded between 1887 and 1890 from nine informants. Despite the title, not all of the
126 items are myths, but Mooney thought that all amply made the case that Blacks
borrowed tales from the American Indian. He argued that this exchange occurred as a
result of miscegenation and the enforced contact of slavery in many Southern colonies,
where Indians were kept in servitude and worked side by side with Blacks until the time
of the American Revolution. The problem with this line of reasoning is that it upholds the
view that Indians borrowed tales from Blacks just as forcefully as the other way around.
Despite entering the dispute about origins (which continued into the second half of the
20th century), Mooney was not primarily a theoretician. His forte was collecting, and he
knew it; his collections, however, were always characterized by an ability to see the
Indian point of view.
W.K.NcNeil
References
Moses, L.G. 1984. The Indian Man: A Eiography of James Mooney. Urbana: University of Illinois
Press.