Minik: The Lost Eskimo

Yesterday in my anthropology class at the American Museum of Natural History, I watched the film Minik: The Lost Eskimo. This film documented the story of five indigenous people the explorer Robert Peary brought from Greenland to New York City for study in the 1890s. The story is not a happy one, especially for the Minik and his family, but their story does mark the end of old anthropological methods and the beginning of modern ones.

Minik as a young boy in New York

All of the indigenous people died, except Minik and one twenty-three year old young man who was sent back to Greenland where he successfully re-joined his people.

Minik, however remained in New York under the care of the William Wallace who worked for the AMNH, and he was not able to return to Greenland until he had already lived most of his life in the US. Minik forgot his native language and he had a hard time re-connecting with his people. He longed for America and came back to the city. Minik was in a tough situation. He was an outsider both among his own people and in America.

Robert Peary

Minik's story illustrates the end of the age of the explorers like Peary and the end of the idea that the physical features of a group of people determines who they are. Today we know that someone's physical features do not determine the way they act, but in the 1800s and early 1900s even scientists believed that someone's physical body could determine their beliefs and actions.

I love learning about new advancements in any scientific field, but I also love to look back on the history of science and see how far we've come, in both scientific equipment and methods and in the way we think. Minik: The Lost Eskimo is a great film and it is only about an hour long. Anyone interested in history and science should check it out!