ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — History buffs fascinated by the story of Solomon Bibo, the first and only Jewish leader of an Acoma Indian reservation, will find plenty of material at this weekend’s New Mexico Jewish Historical Society conference.
“Jews and Native Americans on the Frontier” will focus on Jewish immigrants who moved to the Southwest in the mid- to late 19th century and engaged in trade with Indian tribes.
Many of these merchants were from the East Coast or were pioneer settlers coming directly from Europe. After 1868, when the Indian reservation system was founded, these merchants dealt directly with the government agencies.
Bibo, a Jewish trader and Lithuanian immigrant, married Juana Valle, the granddaughter of Acoma Pueblo’s governor, in 1885.
The Acoma called the groom Don Solomono, and the bride was considered an Indian princess. The entire pueblo community witnessed the marriage ceremony.
While Bibo spoke English poorly, he was fluent in Spanish and Queres, the native Acoma language. Later, when he became governor of Acoma Pueblo, he was not only the first Jew but the first white man at Acoma to hold such a title.
In Bibo’s story, conference organizers say, one can find similarities with other Jewish experiences in the Southwest in the frontier days.
Jews who became peddlers and general merchants built trading posts on the frontier and noteworthy relationships with Native Americans.
“The Indians provided them with hides, furs, tallow, pecans and other commodities the Jews would then sell to the army camps or ship back to eastern markets,” said conference presenter Melvin Marks, author of “Jews Among the Indians: Tales of Adventure and Conflict in the Old West.”
“In turn, the Jews were important in helping the Indians assimilate into the society of the white settler, a role the Jews were able to play because of their uncanny knack for learning the various Indian dialects.”
Marks’ book has attracted considerable interest.
“I admit being influenced by John Wayne before starting my journey of discovery,” Marks said. “Gradually, as I began the writing, I found that the Indians became my heroes. History shows many examples of where Jews and Indians had a natural affinity.”
Conference speaker Abraham Chanin worked for 36 years as a journalist for the Arizona Daily Star. In recognition of the considerable role Jews played in regional history, he established the Southwest Jewish Archives at the University of Arizona. He has written five books, the most recent being “Cholent and Charizo.”
“There was love and there was hate,” Chanin said. “Relationships were hostile in some instances, and in others they were gentle.”
A more contemporary view of Jewish and American Indian relationships will be offered by Marjorie Weinberg-Berman, a resident of Santa Fe, N.M., and Long Island, N.Y.
Weinberg-Berman’s work-in-progress titled “The Real Rosebud” details her 50-year friendship with Rosebud Yellow Rose, who was related to Sitting Bull.
“Because of my friendship with her, I found out about an itinerant Orthodox German-Jewish peddler among the Sioux,” Weinberg-Berman said. “He was the great-grandfather of one of Rosebud’s relatives who married Chief Milk’s daughter. Chief Milk was a famous Lakota chief.”