The Middle Five

Step into the 19th-century world of Francis La Flesche, an Omaha ethnologist, as he recounts his spirited boyhood on the Omaha Reservation and his time at a Presbyterian mission school. Through a series of vivid vignettes, La Flesche introduces us to the "Middle Five"—a rambunctious gang of schoolboys including his younger self, Frank, along with Brush, Edwin, Warren, and Lester. Their escapades unfold against a backdrop of cultural tension, as the mission school's assimilatory agenda clashes with the rich traditions of reservation life, offering a rare glimpse into a pivotal moment in American history.