Martin Scorsese's new film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” retraces a bloody episode in the history of the Osage Indians, a tribe that became wealthy in the 1920s, thanks to the discovery of oil in the basement of their reservation. An opportunity to rediscover the connection this tribe maintained with the town of Montauban in the 19th century.

This is a great story in more ways than one.

The Osage Native Americans, descendants of indigenous peoples who have been in North America for thousands of years, live in the state of Oklahoma. In 1894, a large amount of oil was discovered beneath the tribe's reservation prairie. Unlike most Native Americans, the Osage became wealthy. Some send their children to private schools, others buy luxury cars. Some even employed… white servants.

Enough to attract jealousy. In the 1920s, a series of murders hit the community. Several dozen Osage were killed, white pioneers wanted to monopolize their wealth. This is what is told in Martin Scorsese's new film, “Killers of the Flower Moon”, which was released in France on October 18, 2023.

But what is less known is that the Osage Indians had a special relationship with the town of Montauban, in Tarn-et-Garonne.

In 1803, First Consul Bonaparte sold French Louisiana to United States President Thomas Jefferson. Some Osages, regretting the departure of the French trappers, left for France in July 1827. Six of them (four men and two women) landed at Le Havre. After a time of reception in Paris in particular, they were abandoned and wandered the streets of France and Europe without knowing how to get back to America.
Three of them arrived in Montauban in November 1829 because they learned of the presence of the former bishop of French Louisiana in the town of Ingres in the see of Saint-Louis, near their territory.

This is where fundraisers are organized among the residents to finance their journey home.

The story remains etched in Osage memory. In 1989, the Oklahoma-Occitania association regained contact with the tribe. Since then, cultural exchange projects were born and it is not uncommon to meet Osages in Montauban.

Martin Scorsese's film will be screened at the Montauban cinema on October 18, 2023, followed by a debate with members of the Oklahoma-Occitania association.

10-16-2023 10:00:00
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