American Indian History

Strength in the Face of the Storm: Examining Pivotal Principals of Indigenous Traditions

by Kieran Conroy

unpublished paper, Spring 2009.  To be uploaded soon, message now if you would like a private copy for review. 

A working paper laying groundwork for my Divinity Master's Thesis, written as part of Professor Nimachia Hernandez'... more A working paper laying groundwork for my Divinity Master's Thesis, written as part of Professor Nimachia Hernandez' "Gender, Cosmology and Ritual in Native American Society" course at Harvard in the spring of 2009. 

In this paper, I examine the unique way Native American religious traditions were originally "housed" in non-literary "texts" of land, oral tradition, architecture, etc.  I argue the holistic nature of Native American religious "texts" was related to the particularly fierce "reprogramming" attempted by the US Government and missionaries against their communities in the Boarding School era. 

The Middle Ground Journal: Call for Submissions 3.1

by Hong-Ming Liang 梁弘明教授

Cree Contraband or Contraband Crees? Early Montanan Experiences with Transnational Natives and the Formation of Lasting Prejudice, 1880-1885

by Brenden Rensink

Building Unlikely Alliances: An Interview with Andrea Smith [Sharmeen Khan, Tyler McCreary, David Hugill]

by David Hugill

Published in Upping the Anti: A Journal of Theory and Action 10

To Get Rich for Our Homeland: The Company of Scotland and the Colonization of the Isthmus of Darien

by Dennis Hidalgo

Marty Mission School Gymnasium and St Therese Hall

by Liz Almlie

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 4, 2012

The Marty Mission School was a Catholic mission school opened on the St. Paul's Mission on the Yankton Sioux... more The Marty Mission School was a Catholic mission school opened on the St. Paul's Mission on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in 1921 by Father Sylvester Eisenmann, O.S.B. Mission schools were a significant part of the system of Catholic missions to Native Americans and loci of cultural interaction between cultures. The Gymnasium was built in 1935 in a Stripped Classicism style, and the St. Therese Hall was finished in 1947 in an Art Deco style designed by Edward Schulte -- an architect from Cincinnati who often worked for the Catholic Church. In the Gymnasium, are several excellent narrative murals by Felix Walking Elk. The Oblate Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament were also founded at the St. Paul's Mission.

One Small Sacrifice: A Memoir

by Trace DeMeyer

Second book SPLIT FEATHERS: Two Worlds, an anthology is seeking a publisher in academia

ONE SMALL SACRIFICE: A MEMOIR, LOST CHILDREN OF THE INDIAN ADOPTION PROJECTS, by the Native American Journalist Trace... more ONE SMALL SACRIFICE: A MEMOIR, LOST CHILDREN OF THE INDIAN ADOPTION PROJECTS, by the Native American Journalist Trace A. DeMeyer, is a cutting example of the many trials historically suffered by North America's Native People. The `tell all' memoir carries the reader forward through a dark and dismal journey of one small spirit, caught up under ills of political whims. It was decided that the `Indian Adoption Act' would become the method of saving the child, while being directly aimed at `assimilation' and killing the spirit and ethnicity. DeMeyer is to be highly respected for pursuing a life threatening path in search of truths. With a crushed spirit her efforts to live in a life of inner peace continued to falter, but her small steps slowly became stronger with each harsh lesson. For Trace, quoting her friend Anecia, "the power of identity was stronger than fear."The reader is compelled to forge on through the author's words and a spellbinding journey, on a healing path to identity.

Native Americans, before all other Peoples of America, are constantly pressed to prove identity and bloodlines. Smaller numbers render political freedom from admonishing greater numbers for lands grants, treaties, funding for health care and tribal self-help projects. The book documents many political legalities and the harsh realities resulting from them. `Split Feathers,' Indian adoptees who were stolen from their families or given up for adoption, were erased from tribal roles! Ironically, Split Feathers carry an added fear of finding their tribes only to be disowned by them or loud voices who delegate themselves to even openly label them as imposters. We share in the tears shed by Trace and other split feathers who cried through their childhood for being different , being lonely, and in despair of inaccessible, but vital, hidden or closed documents. We weep realizing now the possibility of these fragile spirits being denied by their birth mothers. Our tears carry hope for the many Split Feathers that they, like Trace DeMeyer, hold fast to their spirit. "ONE SMALL SACRIFICE LOST CHILDREN OF THE INDIAN ADOPTION PROJECTS," is a `must read' memoir.
Dr. Stephan Deimel (Vienna)

Vest (1997) Names

by Jennifer Lisa Vest

Postmodern Anomic Disorder* (PAD): Understanding Gang Behavior and the London Riots

by Daniel Keeran MSW

by Daniel Keeran, MSW

The College of Mental Health Counseling presents an understanding of youth gangs, the London riots, Islamic terrorism, aboriginal suicide and other similar phenomena as possible effects of Postmodern Anomic Disorder* identified here for the first time.

If the paper does not yet appear below, you can download it here http://www.ctihalifax.com/images/Anomic_Disorder4.pdf

If you have any questions, comments, or upload difficulty, please contact collegemhc@gmail.com

The College of Mental Health Counseling presents an understanding of youth gangs, the London riots, Islamic terrorism,... more The College of Mental Health Counseling presents an understanding of youth gangs, the London riots, Islamic terrorism, aboriginal suicide and other similar phenomena as possible effects of Postmodern Anomic Disorder* identified here for the first time.

If you have any questions or comments please contact collegemhc@gmail.com

Liquid assets: a history of tribal water rights strategies in the American Southwest

by Steven Danver

Sundancer: A Review Essay on in the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen, The

by Peter d'Errico

Review of book by Peter Matthiessen (Viking, 1983); published in American Legal Studies Forum, vol. 7, no. 1 (1983), pp. 74-97.

Ultimately, the central message of In the Spirit of Crazy Horse is that the conflict between whites and Indians is now... more Ultimately, the central message of In the Spirit of Crazy Horse is that the conflict between whites and Indians is now as it always has been a matter of attempted cultural genocide. The law has been useful, even key, in this process, primarily because of the image of neutrality, objectivity, and fairness that it offers to those who believe in it.

Sovereignty: A Brief History in the Context of US '“Indian Law”'

by Peter d'Errico

copyright: Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics, American Political Landscape Series, Jeffrey D. Schultz, editor (Phoenix, AZ: The Oryx Press, 2000), pp. 691-693. ISBN: 1573561495

Sovereignty is classically defined as supreme legal authority. The concept was formulated by sixteenth century legal... more Sovereignty is classically defined as supreme legal authority. The concept was formulated by sixteenth century legal philosopher Jean Bodin and elaborated by many theorists since then. One basic controversy has been whether to trace supreme authority to the people or to a "divine right" of rulers. Another has been about the relation between legal authority and political-economic power which may influence or dominate law. The definition of sovereignty in federal Indian law partakes of both ancient controversies. An ambiguous concept from the start, surrounded by disagreement, sovereignty is perhaps most cryptic in federal Indian law.

Introduction: Native Americans in American Politics

by Peter d'Errico

copyright: Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics, American Political Landscape Series, Jeffrey D. Schultz, editor (Phoenix, AZ: The Oryx Press, 2000), pp. 569-580. ISBN: 1573561495

America was not a virgin land when the United States was formed, nor previously in the colonial era. From the earliest... more America was not a virgin land when the United States was formed, nor previously in the colonial era. From the earliest days to the present, Native Americans have been a factor in American politics. In an even wider perspective, current Native American issues reflect the scope and content of relations between indigenous peoples and colonizers on the continent as a whole beginning over five centuries ago: Wampanoag and Narraganset fishermen charged with violations of Massachusetts and Rhode Island regulations for fishing in ocean bays where their peoples have fished since time immemorial; United States antagonism to traditional leadership of Hopi and Western Shoshone peoples; Alaska native land title ignored or denied; native spirituality interfered with or destroyed by government action; civil and criminal jurisdiction over Native Americans on their own lands the subject of heated controversy. These are only a very small sample of 20th century conflicts that can also be dated in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

Jeffrey Amherst and Smallpox Blankets

by Peter d'Errico

http://www.umass.edu/legal/derrico/amherst/lord_jeff.html

Jeffrey Amherst's name became tarnished by stories of smallpox-infected blankets used as germ warfare against American... more Jeffrey Amherst's name became tarnished by stories of smallpox-infected blankets used as germ warfare against American Indians. These stories are reported, for example, in Carl Waldman's Atlas of the North American Indian [NY: Facts on File, 1985]. Waldman writes, in reference to a siege of Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh) by Chief Pontiac's forces during the summer of 1763:

... Captain Simeon Ecuyer had bought time by sending smallpox-infected blankets and handkerchiefs to the Indians surrounding the fort -- an early example of biological warfare -- which started an epidemic among them. Amherst himself had encouraged this tactic in a letter to Ecuyer. [p. 108]

Some people have doubted these stories; other people, believing the stories, nevertheless assert that the infected blankets were not intentionally distributed to the Indians, or that Lord Jeff himself is not to blame for the germ warfare tactic.

The documents provided here are made available to set the record straight. These are images of microfilmed original letters written between General Amherst and his officers and others in his command during the summer of 1763, when the British were fighting what became known as Pontiac's Rebellion.

Native but Foreign: Indigenous Transnational Refugees and Immigrants in the US-Canadian and US-Mexican Borderlands, 1880-present

by Brenden Rensink

Ph.D. dissertation, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, 2010.

The Transnational Immigrant-Refugee Experience of Mexican Yaquis and Canadian Chippewa-Crees in Arizona and Montana

by Brenden Rensink

Journal of the West 48 (Summer 2009): 12-19.

Genocide of Native Americans: Historical Facts and Historiographic Debates

by Brenden Rensink

In Genocide of Indigenous Peoples, Vol. 8 in the Genocide: a Critical Bibliographic Series, Samuel Totten and Robert Hitchcock, eds, 15-36. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2011.

The Sand Creek Phenomenon: The Complexity and Difficulty of Undertaking a Comparative Study of Genocide vis-à-vis the Northern American West

by Brenden Rensink

Genocide Studies and Prevention: an International Journal 4:1 (Spring 2009): 9-27.

Native American consultation and ethnographic study, Los Angeles County

by Jana Fortier

Ethnobotanical survey of culturally significant plants with Tongva (Gabrielino) Native consultant along state highways of Los Angeles county.

This report describes the results of plant surveys with Native American elders along designated District 7 highways.... more This report describes the results of plant surveys with Native American elders along designated District 7 highways. The surveys were intended to elicit information concerning culturally significant plant gathering sites and other sites with contemporary cultural significance to Native Americans who are indigenous to the Caltrans D7 Los Angeles County project area. The project roads consist of approximately 400 miles of county roadway. Along the corridors on both sides of the highways, the roads were surveyed for culturally significant plants and other Native American traditional cultural properties visible above ground, extending approximately fifty feet from the highway right-of-way. The survey team identified a total of 106 species of culturally significant plants growing along the project roadways. The culturally significant plants have been recorded and mapped as “Gathering Places” (GP) with information describing the highway and gathering site. 

When the Bough Breaks: Theology and Just-Reconciliation in the Wake of North American Residential Schools for Indigenous Peoples

by Kieran Conroy

Master of Divinity Thesis, 2010; Available at Divinity School's Andover-Harvard Theological Library OR by personal request of the author here (please message).

Explores the historical and theological roots of the Residential/Boarding Schools in the United States and Canada for... more Explores the historical and theological roots of the Residential/Boarding Schools in the United States and Canada for Indigenous children, their contemporary impacts as described in historical trauma literature and the current Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and case studies of several grassroots projects within church and religious movements promoting healing and just-reconciliation. Particular emphasis on "unintended consequences" and religious-humanitarian rhetoric in North American cultural genocides.