FOOD NEWS
Ree Drummond And Killers Of The Flower Moon: Is The Link Real?
By Matthew Wilson
Ree Drummond isn't a name you would expect to come up in a Martin Scorsese movie, but her family currently lives on some of the land at the heart of the film's narrative.
"Killers of the Flower Moon" is Scorsese's latest cinematic epic, which is based on the real-life exploitation of the Osage tribe in the early 1920s.
It depicts how white settlers in Osage country, Oklahoma, swindled Osage tribe members out of their land rights during a period dubbed historically as the Reign of Terror.
The Drummonds aren't the subject of the film, but the Pioneer woman, who married into the Drummond family, reportedly lives on one of the larger ranches.
In 1906, the Osage Allotment Act broke up 1.5 million acres that belonged to the Osage Indian Reservation into individual lots that could be sold off or farmed by the Osage people.
The government established a headright, which was a communal share separate from land that entitled the owner to profits as a result of Osage's booming gas industry.
Headrights could only be inherited, so some settlers became the legal guardians for Osage tribe members, placing them over the finances of members whom a court ruled incompetent.
As such, it led to both racism and corruption in the community. The Drummonds came upon this land when they became legal guardians for Osage tribe members.
Bloomberg's "In Trust" podcast reports that the "three Drummond brothers were guardians to at least 10 Osages — children and adults."
William K. Hale, the subject of "Killers of the Flower Moon," even resorted to murder. The Drummonds ended up purchasing some of Hale's land after he went to prison.
In the present day, the Drummond family still owns three-quarters of a headright. According to The Oklahoman, they're planning on finding a way to return it to the Osage people.