Thanks for posting. I was actually thinking about this when I stepped outside at work today, and wondered if they still ran it every year.

It comes from a good place, but political correctness seems to take away a lot of the fun things in life. I like these little reminiscing posts :) I'm guessing that since it's from the Chicago Tribune, you read these growing up?

What am I doing wrong? I am trying to link this to my Facebook page and keep getting some thing on Casey Affleck? I was just talking to people about Injun Summer being part of my life. I am as sensitive to 'political correctness' but I still find it a real stretch to find this truly offensive. Yes, they refer to 'redskin' but it is also acknowledging the Native American's existence here long before we got here.

Every autumn as a boy I would look forward to the "Injun Summer" strip in the Tribune.It captured my imagination and just took me back to another time.With the old man weaving his tale of Indians long-gone and the young boy's imagination taking over...and beautifully illustrated...I say to hell with" political correctness" and bring John McCutcheon's masterpiece back! In this fast-paced world of ours it warms the heart to see an old strip from over one hundred years ago that has aged so well...truly an Indian Summer classic.I'm not a kid anymore but I'm still a kid at heart...

I live in Ocala Florida. My daughter called from Orlando and asked me I still had a copy of "Injun Summer" she wanted to read it to my granddaughter.Every year when she was little I would read it to her and we looked forward to it being in the Chicago Tribune.
Well, I went on line tonite and found it on your site. I am so glad. Reading it has brought back many great memories for me and now my granddaugter will read it and make memories of her own.

I love this poem and look it up every fall. I can feel and see the Injun' spirits dancin'. Always gives me goosebumps in a wonderful kind of way.

To whitewash something is a far bigger offense than to say it never happened out of political correctness. As a Pikuni indian from the Blackfeet reservation, this is really interesting to me and see it as a document to another time's race relations.

Ahhh, yes, carry us back to a simpler time when racism was cute and accepted without question. Damn those PC mongers for stepping on our fun and erasing this treasured bit of nostalgia from our lives. Have they no sense of decency and respect? Who are we harming? Right.
Signed,
Tonto, Aunt Jemima and the Frito Bandito

p.s. I have to say that I am extraordinarily disappointed to see this on Roger Ebert's Journal.

Driving down the scenic Black Earth Creek Valley just west of Madison, WI this morning "Injun Summere" came to mind as the valley was covered in a bluish haze so characteristic of Indian Summer. I remember how the once great Chicago Tribune used to run this classic. What a shame.

Although distinctly NOT politically correct in this very (rightly) correct era, to me this will always rank right up there with "Yes, Virginia, There IS a Santa Claus" as an all-time classic of American journalism.

I always loved this cartoon and looked for it every autumn as a child. So sad POLITICAL CORRECTNESS has robbed us of ANOTHER gem.

Another missing aspect of remembering "Injun Summer" is the smell of early Autumn, especially the fragrance of burning leaves. too bad they're so bad for the environment, and those of us with asthma. That being said, I still take a handful each year and burn them in my backyard....at night...and imagine the rhythmic beating of drums....

I grew up in Chicago and looked forward to seeing "Injun Summer" in the paper every Fall. What struck me about it weren't the words but rather the illustrations. Looking at the two strips would instantly transport me back to a different place and time. I've been living on the West Coast for almost 30 years now. Oh, how I miss seeing Mr. McCutcheon's "Injun Summer." ~Sigh~

I looked forward to my mom reading this to me. The pics bring back warm memories.

This little story reinforces stereotypes of Native Americans that have serious, real-life consequences. I'm glad the paper stopped running it. Depictions of Native Americans as otherworldly or closer to nature are akin to the "Magical Negro" stereotypes.

I have met people from other countries who only know about Native Americans from our media, which we export. These international students believed that all Native Americans died long ago. I wonder if the prevalence of this little article could have contributed to this unfortunate myth.

I'm sure my views will be attacked by those nostalgic for more bigoted times. Go ahead. Fire away. Until the positive depictions of minorities outnumber the negative, let's relegate these stories to museums.

Seeing this for the first time makes me shake my head for the ignorance that leads people to find this charming or sweet. We all have deep connections to the things of our youth. We can also move forward in the knowledge that things like this, well-intentioned and in the hearts of many though they may be, reduce an enormous and diverse group of people to a stereotype of "redskins" who have no purpose except to whisper to white folks how fall is coming. We've outgrown these kind of things. For those of you who miss this so much, draw another one, write another one, look for another thing that signifies autumn to you without casually erasing an entire group of people. At the very least, preface it with: "I know this is offensive. It was produced in a time when no one at this newspaper understood or gave even a little thought to the impact it might have on race relations. It is a relic of my childhood and I still hold it dear even though it directly insults over 4 million Americans." I'm actually glad this was reproduced here - it's good to be shocked at how easily people can ignore what they know is right when it conflicts with nostalgia.

To those who don't see the racism, look at these lines: "don't be skeered- hain't none around here now, leastways no live ones. They been gone this many a year. They all went away and died, so they aint to more left."
It's racist to suggest that the boy should be scared of "injuns" and comforted that they are gone.
It's also racist to suggest that they are all gone, which they aren't. And it's especially racist to explain their disappearance as "they all went away and died" as though their drastic reduction in numbers, cultural assimilation, oppression, relocation, starvation, cultural appropriation, and massive displacement were some sort of voluntary whim- and erases the fact that the old man and his ancestors and contemporaries drove them out, slaughtered them, made war against them, triumphed, and then whitewashed the memory.
The fact that you have fond memories of it in childhood doesn't keep it from being racist. You can change your mind about whether the things you have loved are offensive to others.

When I was a kid during the 50s I seem to remember that the Native Americans referred to white men as "pale face" and to soldiers as "yellow legs". . This is not just some made-up terms that the white men put on themselves to justify their pejorative term "redskin"??
It's not sensible (it may even be Stalinesque) to re-write history and make, say, the Middle Ages (outside the monasteries and the High Courts) some kind of hygenically-challenged Hobbittville - charming but filthy.
When I lived in South Africa I didn't particularly like being referred to as a "ghost", or "pinky" by some black tribesman without much malice intended.
Sometimes we push this political correctness to extremes that finish dialogue weel before it has even warmed up!

Say, Roger, do you remember the affectionate take-off on this cartoon that ran every college football season? Each teepee was labeled with one of the Big Ten schools (with one that had fallen down labeled "U. Chicago") It probably stopped appearing around the same time the original did.

I interpreted this as a celebration of Native Americans, and that the land really belonged to them. I don't see anything seriously racist about it. Thanks for posting this Roger. I have never seen it, and was happy to read it.

Viewing this for the first time, and therefore with no nostalgia, Injun Summer is a "victim of political correctness" in the same sense that minstrel shows are a victim.

I remember the last and final time the Chicago Tribune ran this classic. I cut it out and still have it. I now live in northern Michigan, where we have many Native Americans. They celebrate their tribal customs every summer with a 2 day long pow wow. Feathers, face paint, drums, passing on warrior traditions to the boys. Politically correct? Who cares? They enjoy themselves. I enjoy living in a place where the PC mentality hasn't squelched creativity and free thinkers.

I remember staring at these pictures as a child and it's a wonderful reminder of those days and Autumn. This is not stereotyping anyone and there is nothing offensive about these pictures!

I always looked forward to the cartoon every year. My dad would read the story to me and we could smell the leaves burning out front of the house. Even, now, my memory recalls those great days. I miss the smell of burning leaves. I'm just sorry the world has become so P.C. at our grandchildren don't have his to look forward to every year.

I'm Cherokee Indian, and I certainly do not find "Injun Summer" offensive. I wish it was still published every Fall. People really miss the point at lot, it seems.