Over the past two years, we have studied images of Native Americans as represented in a major form of American public art: stamps issued by the United States Post Office. Though the debate about the name of Washington’s NFL franchise has paid little attention to the logo that accompanies the name, our research has yielded useful insights into such images.

The team’s logo shows a dark-skinned Indian in profile, his braided hair adorned with feathers, set inside a circle that also bears two feathers. The figure is recognizable as a Native American by what he wears and the style of his hair, and by his physical attributes and demeanor. His “Indianness” is, in a word, stereotypical. And such a stereotype has a long history, as our research shows.

In early uses of Native Americans as representatives of the United States, the Post Office figured Indians not as individuals but as types. This practice was unique to images of Native Americans: the founding fathers and military heroes featured on early stamps were known by name to the public. The stamps were issued in sets featuring several persons, further emphasizing the individuality of each: Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, for example, could be seen to be different people.

Contrast those stamp sets, featuring images of founding fathers, to a depiction of a “savage” Native American submitted by an unknown artist in the early 1860s to the Post Office. The “essay”—or stamp mock up—features a fiercely rendered Native American, which is strikingly similar to the Washington logo. His grim expression as well as his hair and earrings suggest that he possesses the attributes supporters of the “Redskins” name say the term implies—courage, pride, and a fighting spirit.