"They Recognized That He Was One-Eighth Indian, but He Had Served the Interests of White People for a Long, Long Time"

"'The one thing that might have lightened the persecution of Curtis was that he was half white,' Brooks says. 'He's light-complected, he's not dark-skinned like a lot of Kanza. His personality wins people over—unfortunately, racists can like a person of color and still be a racist, and I think that's kind of what happened with Charlie. He was just a popular kid.'" 

Livia Gershon at Smithsonian discusses Charles Curtis, the first Native American to become Vice President of the United States.