hyperallergic:

This is believed to be the only known portrait of the last survivor of the Beothuk people of the area now known as Newfoundland, Canada.

The above portrait was painted by William Gosse and it is titled “A female Red Indian of Newfoundland” (1841). It is believed to be a portrait of Shanawdithit, the last recorded Beothuk woman. She died in 1829 and with her death the Beothuk people became officially extinct as a separate ethnic group. Some say that her death marks the first total genocide in North America.

It is unclear if the portrait was done based on sketches from her lifetime or oral accounts of people who had known her.

This was in our grade 8 social textbook…I think

Why is everything more interesting on tumblr

(via jingafur)