Olive Ann Oatman (September 7, 1837–March 21, 1903) was a white American woman celebrated in her time for her captivity and later release by Native Americans in the Mojave Desert region when she was a teenager. [1] She later lectured about her experiences.

Another thing that suggests Olive and Mary Ann were not held in forced captivity by the Mohave is that both girls were tattooed on their chins and arms, [14] [15] in keeping with the tribal custom. Oatman later claimed (in Stratton's book and in her lectures) that she was tattooed to mark her as a slave, but this is not consistent with the Mohave tradition, where such marks were given only to their own people to ensure that they would enter the land of the dead and be recognized there by their ancestors as members of the Mohave tribe. [5] :78 The tribe did not care if their slaves could reach the land of the dead, however, so they did not tattoo them. It has also been suggested that the evenness of Olive's facial markings may indicate her compliance with the procedure. [5] :78 To demonstrate their union with the community, they were given a traditional tattoo. With this tattoo, their union with the others was guaranteed in the afterlife, a religious symbol of communion with the Mojave. a b James, Edward T.; James, Janet Wilson; Boyer, Paul S. (1971). Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Harvard University Press. pp. 646–47. ISBN 978-0-674-62734-5.There’s a lot we don’t know about Olive’s life with the Mohaves, but we do know that they tattooed her face, which was a sign that she was considered part of their tribe. She was treated well by the Mohaves but mostly stayed quiet about specific details concerning her life with them. I can't accept this image of Olive's victimhood under Stratton, for several reasons. First, there is no indication that Olive, even at the outset before he could have had any deep influence over her, objected to or asked Stratton to correct the misrepresentations in his book. She seemed to accept the book wholesale and uncritically right from the beginning. Second, although Olive lived with Stratton and his wife for a time, the book mentions that Stratton eventually moved and Olive decided to take up residence elsewhere, with no objection from Stratton and no attempt to keep her under his control. In fact, they eventually simply lost touch, though Olive was still a potentially "marketable" commodity. Third, Olive lectured extensively all by herself-- without Stratton-- on her experiences with the Mohave, and yet without him present or able to hear what she said, she nonetheless perpetuated the image of the Mohave as primitive subhumans, an image which had sold countless copies of Stratton's book.

Wild, Chris (28 February 2015). "The story of the young pioneer girl with the tattooed face". Mashable . Retrieved 2019-11-05.

Praise

The character of Eva Oakes, portrayed by Robin McLeavy in the AMC television series Hell on Wheels is very loosely based on Oatman. [29] Outside of being captured by a group of Native Americans, bearing the distinctive blue chin tattoo, and having been raised Mormon, there are very few similarities between the character of Eva and the actual life of Oatman. [34]