Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest film Killers of the Flower Moon is based on a 2017 book of the same name that tells the horrifying true story of how Osage Indians were systematically murdered in the 1920s for land and oil.
But Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond and her husband Ladd's family have a surprising connection to this film, as their land in Pawhuska, Oklahoma – which now spans a size of almost half of Rhode Island at almost 680 square miles – was the scene for many of those murders.
The Osage Nation is a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who are believed to have developed around 700 BC. When oil was discovered in Osage County in 1897 the U.S. Department of the Interior allotted 657 acres to each Osage on the tribal rolls in 1907, and legal heirs – whether Osage or not – could then inherit the headrights, or "the right to receive a quarterly distribution of funds derived from the Osage Mineral Estate".
© AppleBy 1920 the market saw the Osage people named "the richest nation, clan or social group of any race on earth," and that boom saw opportunists flock to the region.
As the ethnic cleansing of the native American tribes continued across America, the United States Congress saw fit to pass a law in 1921 that required a court to appoint guardians to manage the Osage's money until – as the law read – the individual was able to demonstrate "competency". This gave rise to the headrights being stolen, sometimes legally, out from the Osage.
© Ree DrummondThe Drummond family had already begun growing their wealth in the decades before this, but by the 1920s the family were among the top 100 landowners in the country, according to a 2022 article in Bloomberg, and often "borrowed from Osage estates, probated Osage wills, and collected on debts that they claimed as owners of a government-licensed store".
"They bought headright fractions, even as they lobbied for the headright system to be abolished. And they bought land. Lots of it," the Bloomberg article reads.
© Ree DrummondReporting revealed that Jack Drummond – Ladd's great-grandfather's brother – bought half of a headright for $20,050, and three years later purchased a quarter of a second headright for $11,250. When adjusted for inflation, those headrights are thought to have brought in over $2.4 million alone for the family in the 100 years since.
But at the same time as this business boom, newspapers began reporting the murders and disappearances of men and women from the Osage reservation, and by 1925 at least sixty wealthy Osage had died with their land being inherited by court-appointed guardians, who were almost all local white lawyers and businessmen.
There has never been any indication the Drummonds were involved in the Osage '"reign of terror".
© BettmannThe devastating murder of innocents for oil is the story told in Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorcese; the book focuses more heavily on how this years-long killing spree led to the formation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The film received critical acclaim when it premiered at Cannes Film Festival back in May, and star Lily Gladstone has praised Martin for rewriting the script to focus on the relationship between Mollie Burkhart and her husband Ernest, rather than the FBI and the "white men".
© AppleRee and Ladd's ranch is an hour's drive north of Tulsa and sits on over 430,000 acres of Osage land. Founded in the late 1800s, it is where they have raised their five children and are now empty nesters.
A century after the Drummond family began growing its wealth through the Osage people, Ree famously found fame when she began blogging about her life as a so-called pioneer woman, sharing topics on homeschooling, recipes and ranch life, alongside details of her home life. It took off, leading to a Food Network series which launched in 2011 and collaborations with brands including Walmart.
Although the parents of five have never spoken publicly about the family's wealth, or the connection to the Osage Nation, they have taken the history of their land and turned it into a business, opening restaurants, shops, boutique hotels and tours of the nearby towns, and are reported to be worth over $30 million combined.
The Osage may never get back what is rightfully theirs, but work is currently underway to put legislation through congress that would allow headright shares to be returned to the Osage people, something Ford Drummond – whose grandfather was Ladd's great-grandfather's brother – has said he would like to see in his lifetime, telling Bloomberg it was the "right time and the right thing to do".
Killers of the Flower Moon hits theaters October 20, 2023.
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