A compelling biography of the Eskimo boy who was brought back to the U.S. by explorer Robert Peary recreates the twelve agonizing years little Minik spent living as an alien in New York City, an experience that culminates with the discovery that his father's body is on display at the Museum of Natural History. Reader's Guide available. Reprint.

Give Me My Father's Body: The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo

Biographies & Memoirs

Harper, Kenn

Community & Culture

Washington Square Press

Everything -- my home, my eskimo culture -- all has been taken from me. Even my dead father's body could not be claimed for sacred burial. In 1907 the New York World carried a sensational full-page article. Next to an artist's sketch of a pleading boy, his arms outstretched toward the American Museum of Natural History, the headline blared, "Give Me My Father's Body." Ten years earlier the renowned polar explorer Robert Peary had sailed intoNew York harbor with six Eskimos as his "cargo." He deposited them with museum scientists as "living specimens" and then abandoned them. Four Eskimos died within a year. One returned to Greenland. Only Minik, a boy of six or seven, remained. During his twelve years in New York, Minik learned English, played sports, went to church, and acquired a taste for big-city life. But all that ended abruptly when he found his father's skeleton on display at the museum. Disillusioned with white society and desperate to return to his people, Minik finally sailed for Greenland in 1909. He succeeded in relearning his native language and the hunting skills he needed to survive, and even assisted a new generation of polar explorers, yet the rest of his life became a search to find a place where he truly belonged.

Teen & Young Adult

Biographies

Simon Pulse

In his search for the North Pole at the turn of the twentieth century, the renowned Robert E. Peary, long celebrated as an icon of modern exploration, used the Eskimos of northwestern Greenland as the human resources for his expeditions. Sailing aboard a ship called Hope in 1897, Peary entered New York harbor with six Eskimos as his cargo. Depositing them with the American Museum of Natural History as live "specimens" to be poked, measured, and observed by the paying public, Peary abruptly abandoned any responsibility for their care. Four of the Eskimos died within a year. One managed to gain passage back to Greenland. Only the sixth, a boy of six or seven with a precociously solemn smile, remained, orphaned and adrift in a bewildering metropolis. His name was Minik. Here, a century after the fact, is his story. 
 A searing true tale of extraordinary darkness told with intensity and vigilance, Give Me My Father's Body is Kenn Harper's absorbing, intricately documented account of ruthless imperialism in the name of science, of cruel deceptions and false burials, and of the short, strange, and tragic life of the boy known as the New York Eskimo.

Give me my father's body: The life of Minik, the New York Eskimo

Blacklead Books

A true story from the great age of Arctic exploration of an Inuit boy's struggle for dignity against Robert Peary and the American Museum of Natural History in turn-of-the-century New York City. Sailing aboard a ship called Hope in 1897, celebrated Arctic explorer Robert Peary entered New York Harbor with peculiar "cargo": Six Polar Inuit intended to serve as live "specimens" at the American Museum of Natural History. Four died within a year. One managed to gain passage back to Greenland. Only the sixth, a boy of six or seven with a precociously solemn smile, remained. His name was Minik. Although Harper's unflinching narrative provides a much needed corrective to history's understanding of Peary, who was known among the Polar Inuit as "the great tormenter", it is primarily a story about a boy, Minik Wallace, known to the American public as "The New York Eskimo." Orphaned when his father died of pneumonia, Minik never surrendered the hope of going "home," never stopped fighting for the dignity of his father's memory, and never gave up his belief that people would come to his aid if only he could get them to understand.

Minik: The New York Eskimo: An Arctic Explorer, a Museum, and the Betrayal of the Inuit People

Steerforth

Kenn Harper shares the tales of murderers, thieves, and fraudsters--as well as the wrongfully accused--in the early days of Northern colonization. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, settler and Inuit ideas of justice clashed, leading to some of the most unusual trials and punishments in history.

In Those Days: Arctic Crime and Punishment (In Those Days: Collected Writings on Arctic History, 2)

History

Americas

Inhabit Media

In this third volume of In Those Days, Harper shares stories of the rise and fall of the whaling industry in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. At the turn of the nineteenth century, whale baleen and blubber were extremely valuable commodities, and so sailors braved the treacherous Arctic waters, risking starvation, scurvy, and death, to bring home the bounty of the North. The presence of these whalemen in the North would irrevocably alter the lives of Inuit. Along with first-hand accounts from journals and dozens of rare, historical photographs, this collection includes the myth of the Octavius―a ship that drifted for twelve years with a frozen crew―encounters between sailors and Inuit, tales of the harrowing hazing rituals suffered by first-time crew members, and much more.

In Those Days: Tales of Arctic Whaling (In Those Days: Collected Writings on Arctic History, 3)

In this new collection, Kenn Harper shares tales of Inuit and Christian beliefs and how these came to coexist--and sometimes clash--in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. During this period, Anglican and Catholic missionaries came to the North to proselytize among the Inuit, with often unexpected and sometimes tragic results. This collection includes stories of shamans and priests, hymns and ajaja songs, and sealskin churches, drawing on first-hand accounts to show how Christianity changed life in the North in big and small ways. This volume also includes dozens of rare, historical photographs.

In Those Days: Shamans, Spirits, and Faith in the Inuit North (In Those Days: Collected Writings on Arctic History, 4)

In the fifth volume of the In Those Days: Collected Writings on Arctic History series, Kenn Harper shares tales of European explorers who came to the Arctic seeking adventure, riches, and the elusive Northwest Passage, and Inuit they encountered there. Inuit were invaluable in adding to Western knowledge of the Arctic, serving as guides, clothing-makers, and interpreters. But not every meeting was friendly. This collection sheds light on Inuit who played a pivotal role in the expeditions of some of the most famous Arctic explorers, including the unfortunate John Franklin. This volume also includes dozens of rare, historical photographs.

In Those Days: Inuit and Explorers (In Those Days: Collected Writings on Arctic History, 5)

Give Me Winter, Give Me Dogs: Knud Rasmussen and the Fifth Thule Expedition

The compelling and tragic story of the life of Minik, the New York Eskimo Minik, the lone survivor of six Inuit taken from their Greenland home to New York in 1897, lived a short, unhappy life. To famed Robert Peary, the Arctic explorer he was but a 'live specimen'. In New York the Eskimos were displayed to a paying public like freaks. Four of them, including Minik's father, soon died and Minik was set adrift. He found out his father's bones on display in the Natural History Museum. This makes morbidly fascinating reading. Much of the story is seen through Eskimo eyes. It's a gut-wrenching account of cultural imperialism and survival. Despite being cut off from his people, his language, and his sense of belonging, Minik never surrendered his hope of going home.

Give Me My Father's Body : The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo

Profile Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Harper, Kenn. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Harper, Kenn

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Harper, Kenn. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Give Me My Father's Body: The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo

Give Me My Father's Body: The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo

Give me my father's body: The life of Minik, the New York Eskimo

Minik: The New York Eskimo: An Arctic Explorer, a Museum, and the Betrayal of the Inuit People

In Those Days: Arctic Crime and Punishment (In Those Days: Collected Writings on Arctic History, 2)

In Those Days: Tales of Arctic Whaling (In Those Days: Collected Writings on Arctic History, 3)

In Those Days: Shamans, Spirits, and Faith in the Inuit North (In Those Days: Collected Writings on Arctic History, 4)

In Those Days: Inuit and Explorers (In Those Days: Collected Writings on Arctic History, 5)

Give Me Winter, Give Me Dogs: Knud Rasmussen and the Fifth Thule Expedition

Give Me My Father's Body : The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo