Native American history

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• SOURCE: Associated Press
  5/2/2021
  

  Black Freedmen Struggle for Recognition as Tribal Citizens

  Of the five major Native nations whose members owned slaves, only the Cherokee Nation has yet recognized the descendants of people enslaved by Cherokee as tribal members. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  4/24/2021
  

  What Doomed a Sprawling City Near St. Louis 1,000 Years Ago?

  New research shows little evidence that the civilization centered around Cahokia in the Mississippi valley caused its own demise by environmental mismanagement, indicating that perhaps "stories of great civilizations seemingly laid low by ecological hubris may say more about our current anxieties and assumptions than the archaeological record."

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  4/23/2021
  

  Tribes Want Medals Awarded for Wounded Knee Massacre Rescinded

  "To date, the nation has awarded more than 3,500 Medals of Honor, including about 400 to soldiers who fought during campaigns against Native Americans.... no medals awarded for service in the Indian campaigns have been revoked."

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• SOURCE: The Baffler
  4/21/2021
  

  The Fruit of Power

  Raoul Peck's documentary "Exterminate All The Brutes" considers not just the history of settler colonialism, but the epistemology of history in contexts where the powerful seek to shape knowledge. 

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• SOURCE: TIME
  4/14/2021
  

  My Ancestors Were Enslaved—But Their Freedom Came at a Price for Others

  by Alaina E. Roberts

  Historian Alaina Roberts' work grew out of a family history in which her ancestors were brought to Indian Territory as slaves of Cherokee masters expelled from the southeast, then became landowners as the government erased tribal control of land. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  4/6/2021
  

  Review: ‘Exterminate All the Brutes’ Rewrites a Brutal History

  The atrocities documented in Raoul Peck's HBO film series on colonization of the western hemisphere are not news. That's part of what fuels the anger driving the film. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  4/13/2021
  

  Return the National Parks to the Tribes

  by David Treuer

  "The idea of a virgin American wilderness—an Eden untouched by humans and devoid of sin—is an illusion" that has hidden the forced removal of Native people from the lands converted to national parks. Native people should tend and protect the land again.

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  4/12/2021
  

  Don’t Cancel John Muir (But Don't Excuse Him Either)

  Reckoning with John Muir's legacy of racial prejudice isn't just about imposing moral purity, it's about rethinking the conservation movement to include the broad coalition of humanity needed to protect natural resources. 

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• SOURCE: High Country News
  3/30/2021
  

  As the Country Reckons with Race, Will Tribal Nations Lead the Way?

  by Alaina E. Roberts

  The decision of the Cherokee Nation to accept obligations conferred by treaty to honor the citizenship claims of descendants of Black people enslaved by the Cherokee accepts reckoning with past injustices as a tribal strength instead of a liability. 

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• 3/28/2021
  

  America Does Have an "Original Sin": A Response to James Goodman

  by Joshua Ward Jeffery

  "Original Sin" is a fit metaphor for longstanding inequities in American society, but it's important to understand that the original sin is settler colonialism and the seizure of indigenous land, which American civic religion has been all too willing to accommodate. 

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• 3/21/2021
  

  Why Deb Haaland Matters

  by Michael Leroy Oberg and Joel Helfrich

  New Interior Secretary Deb Haaland's nomination signals a hopeful turn for "those who value the environment and appreciate the 172-year long historic relationship between Interior and America's Native Nations."

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• SOURCE: KUNC
  3/2/2021
  

  Colorado Lawmakers Poised To Replace Capitol's Civil War Monument With Sand Creek Massacre Memorial

  Native American advocates say the Colorado state capitol is an appropriate place for the memorial to the massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho by the US military, but critics question whether it should replace a memorial to the Union Army. 

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• SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer
  3/3/2021
  

  ‘We Had a Little Real Estate Problem’: Native American Comedians Get Their Due | Book review

  Charlie Hill’s TV debut, making him the first Indigenous comedian in prime time, is one of the milestones that Kliph Nesteroff chronicles in We Had a Little Real Estate Problem, an illuminating and stereotype-busting history of Native Americans and comedy.

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• SOURCE: Sierra
  3/2/2021
  

  John Muir in Native America

  by Rebecca Solnit

  John Muir's conservationist vision erased the historical and ongoing presence of indigenous people on the land. Can the environmental movement and the national parks change direction? 

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  3/2/2021
  

  Biden Administration Pauses Transfer of Holy Native American Land to Mining Firm

  While tribes and environmental groups celebrated the Forest Service announcement, they noted the threat of losing Oak Flat remains.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  2/24/2021
  

  Cherokee Nation Addresses Bias Against Descendants of Enslaved People

  The decision by tribal authorities was a significant step toward resolving the issues created by prior decisions to exclude the descendants of Black people enslaved by members of the Cherokee nation from full citizenship privileges. 

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• SOURCE: National History Center
  1/25/2021
  

  Washington History Seminar TODAY: Claudio Saunt's "Unworthy Republic"

  Please join the National History Center of the American Historical Association for a Washington History Seminar roundtable on Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory with author Claudio Saunt. TODAY 4:00 PM EST

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• SOURCE: Perspectives on History
  1/19/2021
  

  Why is Charles Curtis's Legacy So Complicated?

  by Kiara M. Vigil

  VP Charles Curtis advocated for policies toward Native American nations that today seem steeped in paternalist and assimilationist values, but in the context of the 1920s his legacy should be seen as part of debate among Native leaders about the tension between preservation and incorporation of modern American society.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  1/13/2021
  

  ‘World’s Greatest Athlete’ Jim Thorpe Was Wronged by Bigotry. The IOC Must Correct the Record

  A fellow Olympic winner contends that the IOC must restore medals and recognition stripped from Jim Thorpe; his violation of amateurism rules was encouraged officials of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and the American Olympic Committee who made the Native American athlete a fall guy. 

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• SOURCE: NPR
  1/3/2021
  

  How Children's Books Grapple With The Native American Experience

  Host Michel Martin speaks with Aaron Carapella of Tribal Nations Maps about children's books that address the history and experiences of Native Americans.