"Squaw" is the Massachusett word for young woman and was most likely heard by the white man sometime around 1624. But the white man, not understanding the difference between the languages of the Native American, used the words of the Mohawk instead, a word which meant female genitalia. And, depending on the inflection used when it was spoken, "squaw" was offensive.
According to the personal memoirs of Lt. James W. Steele (1883/1884), a "squaw" was a "squat, angular, pig-eyed, ragged, wretched, and insect haunted" woman. And in The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper, a "squaw" was a "squalid and withered person..."
Although the word "squaw" is considered degrading and the same as prostitute and whore, it is used in more than 1000 natural or man-made destinations, such as Squaw Creek in Minnesota and Squaw Peak in Arizona. People such as American Indian Movement are working to stop the use of the word "squaw."
Please visit the following links for more information about the word "squaw" and the Native American side of the story that is documented.
Seven Fires Council
Stereotyping of Native Americans
Squaw, by John E. Koontz
Is "Squaw" an obscene insult
Reclaiming the word "squaw" in the Name of the Ancestors
Dos and Donts
Condemnation of the word "squ*w"
Native American Women by Charles Brown
Rename Squaw Mountain
The Nation's Leading American News Source: Indian Country Today
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