Book Review: An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

During my last semester at college I had the chance to take a class called Green Indigineity. The class discussed various forms of colonization; settler colonialism, globalization, and neocolonialism all from the perspectives of various Indigenous peoples. In many ways this class exposed me to truths I had never even considered before. Through previous research I had some understanding of how the National Parks System violently displaced Native Americans and stole often the most valuable land and resources, but the class taught me about the ancestral traditions and belief systems that made these offenses so truly abhorrent.

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The class increased my interest to learn more about how the United States continues to perpetuate a system of colonial oppression for Indigenous peoples here and around the world. That interest led me to this book. Due to its size and heavy topics, it has the potential to deter some readers. However, I found the book quite useful in learning big picture ideas by not worrying about memorizing every date and name and instead focusing on the details of a few events while holding onto the larger themes of others. Though this book is full of information about the history of the Americas from initial European settlement to now (with a brief intro about pre-European America), below I will list just a few of the takeaways that interested or surprised me most.

  • The British colonization of Ireland acted as a model for the colonization of “the Americas” and the slaughter of its Indigenous people. The tradition of scalping was even carried over from European traditions there.

  • By sending Black soldiers who had fought in the Civil War out West, the US military avoided disturbing predominantly white East Coast cities with large populations of Black men and also gained force in eradicating Native Americans. These “buffalo soldiers” were meant to continue the displacement of Natives and to squash any rebellions.

  • The US military continues to use and exploit Indigenous names and words as military jargon in its campaigns to further neocolonialism around the world. In fact the name for enemy territory used in official military documents is “Indian country.” These misuses are a disrespect almost unimaginable.

Of course there were many things I picked up from this book and I now recommend it to anyone who will listen. Give it a read and pass it on. The subject matter is heavy but knowledge is power.