The mere fact that, in 2025, there's an expressed preference for the term American Indian by some Native American members of various tribes in this country, when the term Native American seemed to be the correct nomenclature by general consensus for over three decades, gives a layperson like myself understandable pause before even wading into a written observation on the topic. Nothing seems to be clear-cut. What's considered respectful today may not be so tomorrow, and in a rapid-paced world it's inconceivable to me that I can stay even halfway "accurate" without researching things repeatedly. Usually I will.
I've never been afraid to express my thoughts on matters that often polarize people, but my aim here is to do so with what's mostly a focus on a specific angle and its history. I can't have said that I believe all of the art of Marc Davis should be accessible to the general public (in the same way as should the art of Norman Rockwell) and now say, "except his racist caricatures." I also wouldn't, even if tempted, just post a bunch concept art along those lines and just add, "Marc Davis, 1967" The internet requires more than that now and I understand why.
I also understand why Marc Davis, based on the very limited amount of time I was able to spend interviewing him (just once, in 1999, with my friend Ross Plesset), as we looked at his Western River Expedition art, chose not to comment on his depictions of American Indians in the 1960s. I asked if he had been compelled by anyone else to change any of the 1968 art that he revised in 1974 to minimize the number of American Indians in his ride concepts, and he simply said no. It is a fact, though, that by 1974 the ride plan included far fewer Indians than was reflected in the 1968 plans.
Racially offensive characterizations of minority populations in this country, or majority populations in others, have of course been prevalent in popular culture going back centuries in art, song and, since the early 1990s, film. By the time Marc Davis did the renderings shown below, the hurtful implications of the kind of art he sometimes produced were quite openly discussed. The Civil Rights movement had already brought segregation to the forefront of American politics and social discourse by 1964. Johnny Cash also released his album Bitter Tears that same year, a record consisting solely of songs about the treatment of American Indians by, especially, the United States government and the country's founding fathers. Discussions of racism were abundant from the 1960s forward, but what passes for progress is subject to countless interpretations.
Walt Disney had personally overseen and, by some accounts, suggested the inclusion of racially offensive content in his films. His animators conceived of the same and it was represented well in films ranging from the first Mickey Mouse shorts in the 1920s all the way up through the AristoCats in 1970. And that's the same year that the Walt Disney World Preview Center opened in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Two of the first fourteen women hired by WDW were black (the twelve others white) and included in promotional photos for the location. Three years prior, Disneyland had yet to put a black cast member in a guest service or front line attractions role. 1968 to 1971 best represents the time period during which the Disney company pivoted considerably on matters of race. They were arguably ahead of the curve in American industry.
That was the time period during which Marc Davis produced the art seen here and WED Enterprises artists sculpted models based on that art. Some of it has not been previously reproduced online or in published documents. High quality versions of the art are very rare.
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