If you visit the web site for Native American Heritage Month at https://nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov, you’ll see near the top of the page information about a current exhibit at the National Archives Museum honoring Jim Thorpe. 

Thorpe, a member of the Sac and Fox Nation, was the first Native American to win gold medals in the Olympics, in Stockholm in 1912. A versatile athlete, considered by some sports historians as one of the greatest athletes to have lived, Thorpe went on from the Olympics to play in both Major League Baseball and the National Football League.  

There is much more to the story of Thorpe’s life than his athletic accomplishments, which is chronicled in the highly acclaimed new biography written by Wisconsin native David Maraniss entitled “Path Lit by Lightning.” The book has recently been added to the Madison College Library collection.  

Maraniss explores the perseverance of his athletic accomplishments while dealing with external prejudices and exploitations, as well as his own personal demons. 

He was a student at the Carlisle Indian School where students were encouraged to assimilate into white culture and leave their Native culture behind. He was stripped for a long period of history of his official Olympic wins due to a technicality of violating amateurism. Throughout his athletic career and life, he battled being taken advantage of and marginalized. 

There are a couple of other biographies in the library collection about Thorpe, and he is also included in a chapter in a book recently added to the library collection entitled, “Notable Native People: 50 Indigenous Leaders, Dreamers, and Changemakers From Past to Present.” 

There are many articles about him in the library’s subscription databases EbscoHOST and JSTOR. 

If you’d like to find out more about the disturbing history of the Carlisle Indian School Thorpe attended, look at the e-book “Carlisle Indian Industrial School” by Susan Rose available from the library collection. You can also check out the physical DVD “In the White Man’s Image,” or watch the e-video “Indian School: Stories of Survival” from the library’s subscription database Films on Demand.   

Discover more about Thorpe and other Native Americans in the library’s research guide on Native American History at https://libguides.madisoncollege.edu/nativeamerican. Also, during the month of November, check out displays in the Madison College Libraries honoring Native American Heritage Month and look for a pop-up library event in the Truax Cafeteria on Nov. 14 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.