The Girl with the Chin Tattoo, 1863

Olive Ann Oatman was the first white American woman to have a tattoo. Born in 1837 in Illinois, Oatman was kidnapped and enslaved by a Native American tribe when she was 14 years old, along with her sister in present-day Arizona in 1851.

A year later, they were sold to the Mohave people and in keeping with the tribal customs, both Oatman girls were tattooed on their chins and arms. Such tattoos were only given to their own people to ensure that they would both enter the land of the dead and be recognized as Mohaves by their ancestors.

Oatman spoke fondly of her time with the Mohaves and declared, “to the honor of these savages let it be said, they never offered the least unchaste abuse to me.” In 1854, she chose not to reveal herself to white railroad workers who spent time in the Mohave Valley trading and interacting with the tribe. Her younger sister died of starvation a year or two later when there was a severe drought in the region.

Soon rumors of a white girl living with the Mohaves spread and the authorities at Fort Yuma demanded her release. Initially resisting the request, the Mohaves relented under the threat of violence. Oatman was escorted on a 20-day journey to Fort Yuma where she discovered that her brother Lorenzo was still alive and had been looking for them.