History - A Bookish Account
Propaganda is a powerful thing. And everyone puts it to use, when talking about history and current events. It is continuous every day all day, it never stops. And because today’s news is tomorrow’s history, they are so intertwined that it is almost impossible to separate what is truth, what is a lie. A lie can be told for so long and so often in history that today it becomes true. Such as: “Mad King George” or Washington chopped down a cherry tree and could not tell a lie or the “first Thanksgiving.” These are the things I learned in grade school.
I started liking “A TRUE HISTORY of the UNITED STATES” and then I found it lacking. I found it lacking because history is so complex. Just one book cannot contain it all. Mr. Sjursen writes on the formation of the government of the new republic. Though he wrote some on Native and Black involvement, in the development of the new country of the United States, there is so much more to relate. So now you turn to “REDISCOVERY of AMERICA” by Ned Blackhawk, “NATIVE NATIONS” by Kathleen DuVal or to “HEARTBEAT of WOUNDED KNEE” by David Treuer.
Most of the framers of the new country, were landed slave owners who felt that they should be rewarded with more land (who cares if Native Peoples were living there, or that Natives mostly fought for the British with the colonists) after the SEVEN YEARS WAR or The French and Indian War. And because King George stated west of the Appalachian Mountains was Indian Country, (but before that the British wanted extermination) it made them angry, they wanted that land, more land meant more slaves which was basically the reason for the Revolutionary War.
Terrifying wars happened very close together, there was the French Indian War, Pontiac’s War, Revolutionary War, then the War of 1812 where the new country wanted to annex Canada (A LINE of BLOOD and DIRT by Hoy). Starting in the French and Indian War the term Whites equal mankind, equaled human and Natives were structured as enemies to mankind. The American colonists wanted unchallenged dominion because Native Independence was a threat. These wars destabilized, devastated, and depopulated large areas of Native homelands. The Americans went scorched-earth on Iroquois, Cherokee, Creek Nations, destroying food, homes, and towns. The ideology held was that Native Peoples were inferior and subject to indiscriminate violence. From the beginning to the 1890’s and beyond there were acts of genocide. I say beyond for several reasons, blood quantum, boarding schools, relocation, also land theft.The American West, full of myths and legends where a man can be a man. After the Civil War land speculation, squatting, agribusiness, the West of boom-and-bust capitalism. Miners, railroads, politicians, farmers and ranchers, cowboys took a heavy toll on the land and the Native populations. During this time American Indigenous were placed in removal, concentration, confinement, and assimilation to the end of Native sovereignty. Calls for the end of Native people were common U.S. soldiers and volunteers were ordered to carry out the killings. Lincoln did not have any kind of Indian Policy, paid little attention to Native issues, and let Army commanders basically do what they wanted. The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 along with Manifest destiny were basically a declaration of war on Native Nations.
As I have said I found, “A TRUE HISTORY of the UNITED STATES” to me was lacking, but I am more interested in Native Indigenous issues and history. Mr. Sjursen covered a lot of information but American History did not start with the first landing of Europeans or the Revolution from the British I felt like some of his terminology was somewhat off base when writing about Natives. It is true that Native Americans have a history of conflict and service with the US Military (INDIAN WARS EVERYWHERE by Stefan Aune). Native Americans have fought against and with the United States from the beginning. Natives have the highest enlistment in the Armed Services than any other demographic in the US. American Indians were code talkers (First and Second World Wars) scouts, grunts, pilots, astronauts, and generals. There was an official regulation 70-28 for the express purpose of naming helicopters: Apache, Black Hawk or Tomahawk, the action to get Osama Bin Ladin was called Geronimo. Now a days finally the military consults with Native Nations on naming which is controversial in its self, does it honor said Nations or cultural appropriation? We (I say we because I have talked with my co-workers) are surprised that only 32 Native Americans have received the “Medal of Honor” as we feel there are many more unrecognized such as Joe Medician Crow. Medicine Crow was the last War Chief of the Crow Nation of Montana. During World War II, Joe completed the Four Tasks to become War Chief: lead a successful war party, stole 50 horses from an SS camp, counted coup on a living enemy, disarmed an enemy. Medicine Crow received the Bronze Star and the French Legion d’Honneur for valor. Medicine Crow was not the only American Indigenous to have high military honors for bravery and valor: Pascal Poolaw Sr Kiowa, Ernest Childers Creek, Woodrow Keeble Sioux, Pappy Boyington Sioux, there are so many more.
I must admit that I did not finish Mr. Sjursen’s book “A TRUE HISTORY of the UNITED STATES”, came across terminology that totally shut me off. I put it down and did not pick it up again. I turned to Ned Blackhawk “REDISCOVERY of AMERICA” who writes matter of factually and filled in the gaps of what I read in Mr. Sjursen’s book up to the point I stopped. I was able to read a good piece that Mr. Blackhawk had written for the Atlantic, which gave me more perspective on the framers of the United States. “THE HEARTBEAT of WOUNDED KNEE” by David Treuer will show the reader that Native Americans are not gone, Wounded Knee was not the end of us. That we are adaptable, resilient, we persevere and though they tried to eradicate us We Are Still here. Kathleen DuVal is a Pulitzer Prize author of “NATIVE NATIONS” and “INDEPENDENCE LOST” will tell you of the rich history of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, of the peoples, the urban life of the many cities, the complex reality of Native America and the European settlers.
The United States will be 250 years old in the year 2026. To understand history a person must be open to the good but also to the bad. The books mentioned are a very good place to start.
Book List:
A TRUE HISTORY of the UNITED STATES by Daniel A. Sjursen
THE REDISCOVERY of AMERICA by Ned Blackhawk
NATIVE NATIONS by Kathleen DuVal
HEARTBEAT of WOUNDED KNEE by David Treuer