North American Indian Thought and Culture brings together more than 100,000 pages, many of which are previously unpublished, rare, or hard to find. The project integrates autobiographies, biographies, Indian publications, oral histories, personal writings, photographs, drawings, and audio files for the first time. The result is a comprehensive representation of historical events as told by the individuals who lived through them. The database is an essential resource for all those interested in serious scholarly research into the history of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Canadian First Peoples.
This collection includes works by Cadwallader Colden, William Apes, Samuel G. Drake, and Benjamin Drake, as well as autobiographies by Black Hawk, Okah Tubbee, Kah-Ga-Gah-Bowh, and many others.
Rare books are included, representing King Philip, Red Jacket, Sequoyah, Thayendanegea, Tomochichi, Standing Bear, Red Cloud, John Ross, and Geronimo. Additional materials extend coverage to the present day. Twenty prominent Indians have been selected for special emphasis, with multiple biographies presented, including Pocahontas, Tecumseh, Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, and Plenty Coups.
Virtually all North American groups are represented—nearly 500 in all. Some nations are covered in great depth, including the Eskimos and Inuit of the Arctic; the sub-Arctic Cree; the Pacific Coastal Salish; the Ojibwa, Cheyenne, and Sioux of the Plains; the Luiseno, Pomo, and Miwok of California; the Apache, Navajo, and Hopi of the Southwest; the Creek and Cherokee of the Southeast; the Peqout, Iroquois, and Seneca of the Northeast; the Metis and Nez Perce of the Great Plateau; and others.
Biographies have been collected from more than100 Indian publications, such as The Arrow, the Cherokee Phoenix, and the Chickasaw Intelligencer. The collection includes oral histories presented in audio and transcript form and at least 20,000 photographs from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Edward Curtis, and many rare collections.
How will you use it?
The accounts offer a direct window into Indian attitudes toward the earliest European settlers and the resultant transformations that took place, first as trade was established and later as displacement forced tribes into unfamiliar territories. The collection presents the entire spectrum of native peoples’ experiences from their own point of view.
Firsthand accounts reveal how Indians lived, thought, and fought to protect their interests; how the tribes interacted with each other and the white invaders; and how they reacted to the constantly changing and challenging situations they faced. One remarkable story is that of Ishi, the California Indian who emerged one day from his Stone-Age life to become an anthropological exhibit. Woodland women recount how they adjusted to life on the plains. Navajo weavers and Zuni potters explain how their crafts are integral to their lives. Suquamish painters and sculptors tell how their creations illuminate the myth and social fabric of their nation. Paiute medicine men describe ceremonies and rites of passage. Cheyenne women and children relate their eyewitness accounts of the Little Big Horn and Wounded Knee.
The biographies are supported with historical materials that provide context for the personal stories. Also included is a detailed timeline of Indian events, cross referenced by region and tribe, to further aid in contextual placement.
Content Types: artwork, biographies, diaries and memoirs, essays, government/institutional documents, interviews, letters, maps, oral histories, periodicals, photographs, short stories, speeches, and more.
Subjects: agriculture, American Indian relocation, American Revolution, armed forces, Battle of Little Bighorn, Battle of Tippecanoe, Black Hawk War, burial customs, chieftains, communities, cultural assimilation, education, French and Indian Wars, Great Sioux War, health, hunting, Indian reservations, land holdings, law, missionaries, politics, religion, settlements, Trail of Tears, travel, treaties, tribal groups, U.S. Civil War, War of 1812, and more.
Keyword Search Examples: Apache, Black Elk, General Custer, Geronimo, Great Sioux War, Little Big Horn, Sitting Bull, Sioux, Wounded Knee
During World War I, about 10,000 Native Americans either enlisted or were drafted into the American Expeditionary Force. Three related questions are examined in depth for the first time in this book: What were the battlefield experiences of Native Americans? How did racial and cultural stereotypes about Indians affect their duties? Did their wartime contributions lead to changes in federal Indian policy or their standard of living?
In Voices from the Trail of Tears, editor Vicki Rozema re-creates this tragic period in American history by letting eyewitnesses speak for themselves. Using newspaper articles and editorials, journal excerpts, correspondence, and official documents, she presents a comprehensive overview of the Trail of Tears—the events leading to the Indian Removal Act, the Cherokees’ conflicting attitudes toward removal, life in the emigrant camps, the routes westward by land and water, the rampant deaths in camp and along the trail, the experiences of the United States military and of the missionaries and physicians attending the Cherokees, and the difficulties faced by the tribe in the West.
On the morning of June 25, 1876, soldiers of the elite U.S. Seventh Cavalry led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer attacked a large Indian encampment on the banks of the Little Bighorn River. Dr. Viola, a leader in the preservation of Native American culture and history, has collected here dozens of dramatic, never-before-published accounts by Indians who participated in the battle--accounts that have been handed down to the present day that provide a direct link to the Native American point of view at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Browse through documents related to the Apache tribe, including And Then There Were None, which offers a glimpse into the history of the Apache people.
