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

by Kenn Harper

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.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History

302 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 26, 2017

About the author

Kenn Harper is a Canadian historian, teacher, development officer, linguist, and businessman. He is an author of books on life in the high Arctic and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. His book, Give Me My Father's Body, tells the tragic yet compelling story of Minik Wallace, a member of the Inughuit or "Polar Eskimo" tribe who was taken by Robert Peary from his home in northwest Greenland to New York.
In 2005, Harper was appointed Danish Honorary Consul, a posting located in Iqaluit, Nunavut.
Harper is fluent in English, Inuktitut and conversational Danish. Harper currently lives with his wife in Iqaluit.

Reviews

[Heather Oman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers the little known story of Minik, an Inuit who was brought to America by the famous Robert Peary, the intrepid explorer many credit as being the first man to get to the North Pole. Obsessive and ambitious, Peary took many trips to the great white north, and there became interested in the Inuit tribe and their people. His interest was mostly monetary, though, and the author estimates that over his career, Peary made potentially over $1 million selling Arctic Inuit artifacts to collectors in America, as well as providing specimens for exhibit. That is a buttload of dough, particularly in the late 1890s.

Financially backed by the American Museum of Natural History, Peary returned from one of his adventures with something very exciting— live specimens for the museum! 5 adults Eskimos and a young child, Minik, the son of one of the Eskimos who refused to come without his child. The 6 Inuit came with Peary’s promise that they would return to Greenland after just one year in America. Peary’s plan was to literally put these people on display for public consumption, something that I’m sure was lost in translation.

Upon arrival, the adult Eskimos get sick and die within just a few months. Minik, aged 8, is then left orphaned in a country he doesn’t know, surrounded by a language he doesn’t speak,left by a man who refuses to acknowledge his existence or even his part in the whole disaster. Minik is eventually taken in by the superintendent of the museum and lucky for him, the superintendent and his wife develop genuine parental concern and affection for the boy and raised him. Otherwise there was an outrageous possibility that he could have been homeless on the streets of New York, where he would have most likely died as well.

This is sort of a dreadful tale about American greed, institutional corruption, and science being used as an excuse for racism. Minik’s life is portrayed as unbearably sad, even when he does manage to return to his people in Greenland as an adult. I had a hard time reading it.

Beyond the nature of the story, the structure of the book also makes this a slightly sloggy read. The pace is slow and every time we meet a new person, the author takes a bajillion years to explain who they are. The star of the story is Minik and when the narrative focuses on him it’s very interesting. When the narrative turned to explain other stuff I had a hard time staying with it.

Still, I knew virtually nothing about Robert Peary, so this was an excellent history lesson. Interestingly, if you read the Wikipedia article on Peary he sounds like an accomplished hero and an all around good guy. This book makes it pretty clear that Robert Peary was not really that good of a guy at all. There is nothing on the Wiki page about Minik or Peary’s involvement with Minik’s family, and only brief mention of Peary’s longtime affair with an Intuit woman, who bore Peary two children and was probably only 14 when Peary began having a relationship with her. That’s another issue I had with this book. Not once was the treatment of Inuit women called out as abuse. Indeed, throughout the whole book the abuse of Intuit women is alluded to but never outwardly discussed, the main focus being on how badly Minik was treated. Maybe there is another book out there about the Inuit women. If there is, I’ll bet Peary doesn’t come off very well in that one either.

[Stuart Endick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The tragic story of Minik, a young Greenland Inuit, who was brought to America by explorer Robert Peary as an anthropological specimen to be studied by the American Museum of Natural History near the turn of the Twentieth Century is the subject of this well researched and gripping book. Even those familiar with the racial attitudes and practices of the scientific and museum establishments of that era as well the dubious character of Robert Peary who purported to be the first to reach the North Pole cannot fail to be shocked by the callous, duplicitous, and inhuman treatment accorded Minik and his fellow Inuit at the hands of the American Museum of Natural History and its officials. Remarkably the pattern of deception and cover up continued long beyond Minik’s death apparently until the 1990’s. The effect on Minik’s life makes for heartrending and engrossing reading. I will note a few quibbles that do not detract from a strong five star recommendation. Unfortunately I found the book’s index to be unreliable as an aid in keeping track of the many Inuit people and others mentioned throughout the book. The author was also a bit repetitious in repeating what was written in previous passages and toward the end of the book resorted to unnecessarily lengthy quotations from those who recorded recollections of Minik as opposed to summarizing their substance.

[Gail Amendt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for a book club with some trepidation as I wasn't really wanting a depressing read. This is a sad book about an Inuit boy taken from Greenland to New York along with several other Inuit in 1897. Explorer Robert Peary decided to take the group back to the US with him for the winter in order for scientists and anthropologists at the American Museum of Natural History to study them. Most of the group died, and Minik was left behind in the US for years before finally making his way back to Greenland. Ultimately he found he didn't fit in in either place. Peary and the museum did not take any responsibility for what happened to him, and he received little support and no compensation. This whole story made me sad and angry, and while this book is well written, I was happy to come to the end of it.

[Michele Owrutzky Endick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sad true story of Minik came to my attention when I was listening to a talk about The Bronx.. .he lived for a while, when in the US , in the Highbridge area within a few blocks of my childhood home.
I wanted more information, googled and came across this book. It is very well written, thoroughly researched and is an update of the author’s previous book.
The photos were extremely interesting to view.
Only negative comment is that at times it was actually too detailed and confusing to me due to the long Inuit names which I could not pronounce … so I confused many of the people mentioned.
Be sure you frequently look at the map at the beginning of the book to see which areas/regions the author is referring to….I forgot about the map so I neglected to do this while reading, which confused me a bit more.
Excellent book, intriguing true story.
I highly recommend reading it!!

[Sugarpuss O'Shea · Rating 3 out of 5]

**3.5 Stars**

It's not everyday you read a book about history that creates some as well. This book did just that.

This was a GoodReads recommendation after I read Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga, a similar story of a boy taken from his homeland & put on display in the Monkey House at the Bronx Zoo. The similarities of the treatment of these two boys/men are staggering. Somehow, both institutions -- The Bronx Zoo & The American Museum of Natural History -- not only survived such abhorrent behavior, but have thrived because of it. I don't know what that says about us, but I am glad people like Mr Harper are shining a light on it.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a tragic story this is – and what an indictment of the way in which we used to (still do, perhaps) treat people we consider somehow less worthy than ourselves. Minik was a young Inuit boy who was brought to New York with some other Inuits as “specimens” at the American Museum of Natural History. The others all died but Minik survived and although his early years were relatively protected he never found a place for himself and his life was a tragic one. What happened after the arrival of the Inuits and the repercussions of that fateful decision to bring them to the US is the subject of this fascinating and painstakingly researched book. It was and remains a shameful episode and the book is an unforgettable and heart-rending account of greed, arrogance, prejudice, indifference and exploitation that will forever haunt me. That said, and in spite of the intrinsic interest of the story, it’s quite a dry read at times, often repetitive, and sometimes a little tedious. However it’s nevertheless essential reading and an invaluable work of social history.

[Robert Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling and troubling story of the excesses of exploration science in the late 19th century. While we know today that taking a living person far out of their home and culture for years is not OK, the same couldn't be said of the famous explorer Robert Peary and the distinguished American Natural History Museum. Arctic research and exploration needs to learn from these excesses of long ago and I'm glad to say what the author reports could not happen today.

Well written and an easy read. I recommend it fully, especially for those intrigued by the Arctic, research, and history of Greenland and the Inuit.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a fast read, but an unforgettable story. My husband read this many years ago and still talks about it, so I finally decided to read it too. It’s a heartbreaking testament to our unjust history and the arrogant treatment of Indigenous people. Sadly, it’s a pattern we seem unable to break—as evidenced by the new administration’s unsettling interest in taking over Greenland. Will we ever learn?

I gave it four stars because, while the story is powerful, there were times when the level of detail became a bit too much and slowed the pace. Still, I’m glad I read it. It’s the kind of book that stays with you long after the last page.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very interesting non fiction story of a group of inuit people from northern Greenland brought to New York city in the early 1900's by the explorer Robert Peary. Having no immunity to white man diseases four of them perished not long after arriving. They were shuffled about from the museum basement to various homes and care givers. This is the story of how they were treated and how their remains were treated and the fact that they were treated as objects and were put on public display. A very sad story that demonstrates once again how the white man has used and abused other races.

[marcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

fascinating story of mini and how we changed when introduced to the world outside his eskimo community.......language ,interpretation of customs ,food and all that was new.
the treatment after he was taken by Cook and tossed aside when it no longer was of interest to Cook.
the ships going to the arctic was a good part of the story . The eskimo culture was wonderfully portrayed.

[Darrell Knippshild · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of this story. It was so sad. Very well written and researched.

[Sonia Knippshild · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written and researched. I had never heard of this before. What a sad story.

[Jim Diverio · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sad, tragic story illustrating all heroes are not as they seem. And victims are often hidden by those who tell the story. Kudos to the author for telling this list story.

[Nora Muratori · Rating 4 out of 5]

“[Minik] had become the true marginal man, condemned to exist in two extremely different cultures and to feel at home in neither.”