Indians In American History

In 1906 when the Creek Indian Chitto Harjo was protesting the United States government's liquidation of his tribe's lands, he began his argument with an account of Indian history from the time of Columbus, "for, of course, a thing has to have a root before it can grow." Yet even today most intelligent non-Indian Americans have little knowledge of Indian history and affairs those lessons have not taken root. This book is an in-depth historical survey of the Indians of the United States, including the Eskimos and Aleuts of Alaska, which isolates and analyzes the problems which have beset these people since their first contacts with Europeans. Only in the light of this knowledge, the author points out, can an intelligent Indian policy be formulated. In the book are described the first meetings of Indians with explorers, the dispossession of the Indians by colonial expansion, their involvement in imperial rivalries, their beginning relations with the new American republic, and the ensuing century of war and encroachment. The most recent aspects of government Indian policy are also detailed the good and bad administrative practices and measures to which the Indians have been subjected and their present situation. Miss Debo's style is objective, and throughout the book the distinct social environment of the Indians is emphasized—an environment that is foreign to the experience of most white men. Through ignorance of that culture and life style the results of non-Indian policy toward Indians have been centuries of blundering and tragedy. In response to Indian history, an enlightened policy must be formulated: protection of Indian land, vocational and educational training, voluntary relocation, encouragement of tribal organization, recognition of Indians' social groupings, and reliance on Indians' abilities to direct their own lives. The result of this new policy would be a chance for Indians to live now, whether on their own land or as adjusted members of white society. Indian history is usually highly specialized and is never recorded in books of general history. This book unifies the many specialized volumes which have been written about their history and culture. It has been written not only for persons who work with Indians or for students of Indian culture, but for all Americans of good will.

This study is an historical overview of Indian-white relations in the United States and Canada. Despite the grim similarity of circumstances endured by most Native peoples, the trajectory and extent of changes for those living in the United States and Canada have been quite different at times. Such divergence in historical experiences has shaped the present; the challenges and opportunities for Native peoples in both countries today, while broadly comparable, also differ in some fundamental respects.

A resource for all who teach and study history, this book illuminates the unmistakable centrality of American Indian history to the full sweep of American history. The nineteen essays gathered in this collaboratively produced volume, written by leading scholars in the field of Native American history, reflect the newest directions of the field and are organized to follow the chronological arc of the standard American history survey. Contributors reassess major events, themes, groups of historical actors, and approaches--social, cultural, military, and political--consistently demonstrating how Native American people, and questions of Native American sovereignty, have animated all the ways we consider the nation's past. The uniqueness of Indigenous history, as interwoven more fully in the American story, will challenge students to think in new ways about larger themes in U.S. history, such as settlement and colonization, economic and political power, citizenship and movements for equality, and the fundamental question of what it means to be an American. Contributors are Chris Andersen, Juliana Barr, David R. M. Beck, Jacob Betz, Paul T. Conrad, Mikal Brotnov Eckstrom, Margaret D. Jacobs, Adam Jortner, Rosalyn R. LaPier, John J. Laukaitis, K. Tsianina Lomawaima, Robert J. Miller, Mindy J. Morgan, Andrew Needham, Jean M. O'Brien, Jeffrey Ostler, Sarah M. S. Pearsall, James D. Rice, Phillip H. Round, Susan Sleeper-Smith, and Scott Manning Stevens.

Like its highly popular and distinctive predecessor, this new edition of Indians in American History strives to fully integrate Indians into the conventional U.S. history narrative. Meticulously reedited throughout, this beautifully illustrated book features fourteen essays by fifteen authors who speak from a variety of disciplines and perspectives.

Originally published in 1837 in Europe in German, French, and Slovenian editions, and appearing here in English for the first time, Frederic Baraga's Short History of the North American Indians is the personal, first-hand account of a Catholic missionary to the Great Lakes area of North America. When Frederic Baraga, a young Roman Catholic Priest from Slovenia, arrived on the upper Great Lakes frontier in 1831, his objective was to bring Christianity to the Indigenous peoples of that quarter, particularly those of the Ottawa and Ojibwa (Chippewa) tribes. His travels to many outposts of the old fur trade, to Indigenous communities, and to the new mining camps of the region earned him the nickname "the snowshoe priest." This is the account of Frederic Baraga's first years in Michigan territory, composed for the enlightenment of his supporters in Europe, particularly the membership of his sponsoring agency, the Leopoldine Society of Vienna. This detailed, first-hand account sheds light on the nature of mid-nineteenth century Catholic missions to the New World, and includes detailed observations of Indigenous life on the shores of Lake Superior.

When the American colonies defeated Britain during the War for Independence, Native American leaders began to establish diplomatic relations with the new nation. Here, for the first time, is the little-known history of American Indians and American presidents, what they said and felt about one another, and what their words tell us about the history of the United States. Focused on major turning points in Native American history, these pages show how American Indians interpreted the power and prestige of the presidency, and advanced their own agenda for tribal sovereignty, from the age of George Washington to the present day. In addition to exploring a pantheon of Indian leaders, from Little Turtle to Robert Yellowtail, this book also provides new—and often unexpected—perspectives on the presidents. Thomas Jefferson, traditionally portrayed as the Indians' friend, emerges as a master of the art of Indian dispossession. Richard Nixon, long-tarnished by the Watergate scandal, was in reality a champion of tribal self-determination—a position that sprang, in part, from his Quaker origins. Using inaugural addresses, proclamations, Indian Agency records, private correspondence, memoirs, petitions, photographs, and objects from the collections of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, American Indians/American Presidents illuminates the relationship between these diverse leaders, the Native Americans' commitment to tribal self-determination, and the social, geographic, and political evolution of the United States over more than two centuries.

This one-volume narrative history of American Indians in the United States traces the experiences of indigenous peoples from early colonial times to the present day, demonstrating how Indian existence has varied and changed throughout our nation’s history. Although popular opinion and standard histories often depict tribal peoples as victims of U.S. aggression, that is only a part of their story. In American Indians in U.S. History, Roger L. Nichols focuses on the ideas, beliefs, and actions of American Indian individuals and tribes, showing them to be significant agents in their own history. Designed as a brief survey for students and general readers, this volume addresses the histories of tribes throughout the entire United States. Offering readers insight into broad national historical patterns, it explores the wide variety of tribes and relates many fascinating stories of individual and tribal determination, resilience, and long-term success. Charting Indian history in roughly chronological chapters, Nichols presents the central issues tribal leaders faced during each era and demonstrates that, despite their frequently changing status, American Indians have maintained their cultures, identities, and many of their traditional lifeways. Far from “vanishing” or disappearing into the “melting pot,” American Indians have struggled for sovereignty and are today a larger, stronger part of the U.S. population than they have been in several centuries.

Winner of the Forest History Society's 2017 Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Book Award American Indians and National Forests tells the story of how the U.S. Forest Service and tribal nations dealt with sweeping changes in forest use, ownership, and management over the last century and a half. Indians and U.S. foresters came together over a shared conservation ethic on many cooperative endeavors; yet, they often clashed over how the nation’s forests ought to be valued and cared for on matters ranging from huckleberry picking and vision quests to road building and recreation development. Marginalized in American society and long denied a seat at the table of public land stewardship, American Indian tribes have at last taken their rightful place and are making themselves heard. Weighing indigenous perspectives on the environment is an emerging trend in public land management in the United States and around the world. The Forest Service has been a strong partner in that movement over the past quarter century.