What do you think?
Rate this book
A History of the Indians of the United States (The Civilization of the American Indian Series)
In 1906 when the Creek Indian Chitto Harjo was protesting the United States government's liquidation of his tribe's lands, he began his argument with an account of Indian history from the time of Columbus, "for, of course, a thing has to have a root before it can grow." Yet even today most intelligent non-Indian Americans have little knowledge of Indian history and affairs those lessons have not taken root.
This book is an in-depth historical survey of the Indians of the United States, including the Eskimos and Aleuts of Alaska, which isolates and analyzes the problems which have beset these people since their first contacts with Europeans. Only in the light of this knowledge, the author points out, can an intelligent Indian policy be formulated.
In the book are described the first meetings of Indians with explorers, the dispossession of the Indians by colonial expansion, their involvement in imperial rivalries, their beginning relations with the new American republic, and the ensuing century of war and encroachment.
The most recent aspects of government Indian policy are also detailed the good and bad administrative practices and measures to which the Indians have been subjected and their present situation.
Miss Debo's style is objective, and throughout the book the distinct social environment of the Indians is emphasized—an environment that is foreign to the experience of most white men. Through ignorance of that culture and life style the results of non-Indian policy toward Indians have been centuries of blundering and tragedy.
In response to Indian history, an enlightened policy must be formulated: protection of Indian land, vocational and educational training, voluntary relocation, encouragement of tribal organization, recognition of Indians' social groupings, and reliance on Indians' abilities to direct their own lives.
The result of this new policy would be a chance for Indians to live now, whether on their own land or as adjusted members of white society. Indian history is usually highly specialized and is never recorded in books of general history. This book unifies the many specialized volumes which have been written about their history and culture. It has been written not only for persons who work with Indians or for students of Indian culture, but for all Americans of good will.
This book is an in-depth historical survey of the Indians of the United States, including the Eskimos and Aleuts of Alaska, which isolates and analyzes the problems which have beset these people since their first contacts with Europeans. Only in the light of this knowledge, the author points out, can an intelligent Indian policy be formulated.
In the book are described the first meetings of Indians with explorers, the dispossession of the Indians by colonial expansion, their involvement in imperial rivalries, their beginning relations with the new American republic, and the ensuing century of war and encroachment.
The most recent aspects of government Indian policy are also detailed the good and bad administrative practices and measures to which the Indians have been subjected and their present situation.
Miss Debo's style is objective, and throughout the book the distinct social environment of the Indians is emphasized—an environment that is foreign to the experience of most white men. Through ignorance of that culture and life style the results of non-Indian policy toward Indians have been centuries of blundering and tragedy.
In response to Indian history, an enlightened policy must be formulated: protection of Indian land, vocational and educational training, voluntary relocation, encouragement of tribal organization, recognition of Indians' social groupings, and reliance on Indians' abilities to direct their own lives.
The result of this new policy would be a chance for Indians to live now, whether on their own land or as adjusted members of white society. Indian history is usually highly specialized and is never recorded in books of general history. This book unifies the many specialized volumes which have been written about their history and culture. It has been written not only for persons who work with Indians or for students of Indian culture, but for all Americans of good will.
450 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
24 people are currently reading
557 people want to read
About the author
Angie Debo
42 books24 followersBorn in Beattie, Kansas, where her parents, Edward P. and Lina Cooper Debo, were homesteaders, Angle Debo liked to observe that her birth date coincided with the closing of the American frontier. She spent a lifetime examining the historical implications of that settlement for Native American Indians…
Debo was the author of numerous books and essays; salient works in addition to those listed in the text include her MA thesis, "The Historical Background of the American Policy of Isolation," Smith College Studies in History 9 (April-July 1924), pp. 71-165; The Five Civilized Tribes: Report on Social and Economic Conditions (1951); Geronimo: The Man, His Time, His Place (1976); and Oklahoma: A Guide to the Sooner State (1941), edited with John M. Oskison.
References
Fitzpatrick, E. (2004). DEBO, Angie Elbertha. Notable American Women, A Biographical Dictionary: Completing The Twentieth Century (Vol.5), 158.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 19, 2019
A comprehensive and scholarly account of the history of Native Americans written with a good deal of passion by an author who cared deeply about her subject and who spent many years working and arguing for human and civil rights to be granted to Native Americans.
I was also intrigued by Angie Debo herself and her struggle for recognition. She got her degree in history in 1918; she had to do her Masters in International Relations as women were not allowed to major in history. She couldn’t get a teaching position in a history department because of her gender and taught in a teacher training college. Her PhD thesis won an American Historical Association prize. Her next book, And Still the Waters Run, published in 1936 was controversial. It was an account of removal of the five civilised tribes from their lands; the first proper historical analysis and showed the betrayal for what it was. There were consequences and many were upset by her conclusions. There were consequences and Debo was barred from teaching in Oklahoma for some years and never got a position in an academic history department. Recognition came later in life and this book was based on a series of lectures and was published in 1970. Awards began to come and recognition of the importance of her work; she even has a statue now. She continued writing until late in life and her last academic book was written when she was 85; she was 80 when this one was published! I have gone on a bit about Debo, but my first degree was in history and it was good to read a proper academic history book. Clearly Debo’s academic life was a struggle against discrimination and although now she has appropriate recognition, she was a pioneer.
This is a comprehensive tome and what struck me was the absolute horror of it all. It can only be described as a catalogue of genocide on varying scales lasting centuries. The Spanish and Portuguese began the process, followed by the British and French and finally the Americans themselves once independent, Debo describes the various betrayals in relation to land and treaties, brutalities and attempts to domesticate; the attempts by Native Americans to preserve their way of life and to comprehend what was going on. Debo’s research is detailed and remorseless and she explodes the theory of Manifest Destiny as driving the westward push: instead arguing that it was actually based on the exploitation of Native Americans.
This is an excellent work and well worth looking at if you are interested in the subject.
I was also intrigued by Angie Debo herself and her struggle for recognition. She got her degree in history in 1918; she had to do her Masters in International Relations as women were not allowed to major in history. She couldn’t get a teaching position in a history department because of her gender and taught in a teacher training college. Her PhD thesis won an American Historical Association prize. Her next book, And Still the Waters Run, published in 1936 was controversial. It was an account of removal of the five civilised tribes from their lands; the first proper historical analysis and showed the betrayal for what it was. There were consequences and many were upset by her conclusions. There were consequences and Debo was barred from teaching in Oklahoma for some years and never got a position in an academic history department. Recognition came later in life and this book was based on a series of lectures and was published in 1970. Awards began to come and recognition of the importance of her work; she even has a statue now. She continued writing until late in life and her last academic book was written when she was 85; she was 80 when this one was published! I have gone on a bit about Debo, but my first degree was in history and it was good to read a proper academic history book. Clearly Debo’s academic life was a struggle against discrimination and although now she has appropriate recognition, she was a pioneer.
This is a comprehensive tome and what struck me was the absolute horror of it all. It can only be described as a catalogue of genocide on varying scales lasting centuries. The Spanish and Portuguese began the process, followed by the British and French and finally the Americans themselves once independent, Debo describes the various betrayals in relation to land and treaties, brutalities and attempts to domesticate; the attempts by Native Americans to preserve their way of life and to comprehend what was going on. Debo’s research is detailed and remorseless and she explodes the theory of Manifest Destiny as driving the westward push: instead arguing that it was actually based on the exploitation of Native Americans.
This is an excellent work and well worth looking at if you are interested in the subject.
March 8, 2020
Page 65 (my book) Chitto Harjo of the Muscogee Creek Nation
“He told me that as long as the sun shone and the sky is up yonder these agreements will be kept… He said as long as the sun rises it shall last; as long as the waters run it shall last; as long as the grass grows it shall last… He said ‘Just as long as you see this light glimmering over us, shall these agreements be kept, and not until all these things cease and pass away shall our agreement pass away.’ That is what he said and we believed it.”
Page 157 Modoc chief
“I thought if we killed all the white men we saw, that no more would come. We killed all we could; but they came more and more like new grass in the spring. I looked around and saw that many of our young men were dead and could not come back to fight. My heart was sick. My people were few. I threw down my gun, I said “I will not fight again.””
This is a very sad account of the plight of Native Americans from the first landings of the Spanish and English to the end of the 19th century. It is a genocide on an enormous scale.
The native people off the coast of North America helped the early settlers with food and shelter. They were essential to helping them establish roots in the New World. After, the settlers took more and more of their land – and if there was resistance the native people were killed. It was a relentless onslaught that was played over and over again across the entire continent. Many times, native people would win battles only to be attacked relentlessly by newly arriving Europeans who simply outnumbered them.
Negotiations were often made for land settlements with lines of demarcation which were soon to be transgressed by the settlers. Washington DC had little control over what militia groups were doing in the far-flung areas of the ever-expanding United States.
Page 90
Congress had set out to make peace with these tribes immediately after the peace with England. Boundaries were to be fixed “convenient to the respective tribes, and commensurate to the public wants” - irreconcilable aims.
The wanton destruction of a people and the land was relentless.
Page 226
An estimated fifteen million [buffalo] remained on the plains in 1870. The destruction through the following decade is almost beyond belief… By 1875 the Southern herd was dwindling; by 1878 it was virtually annihilated. The Northern herd was about finished by 1883… soon the prairie was littered with bones.
…Passengers on the trains shot from the windows into massed herds … the Kansas Pacific [railway] began selling excursion tickets to this kind of slaughter.
…No white person could understand the anger and despair of the Indians as they watched the source of their whole economic life – food, lodging, bedding, tools, household utensils – and even the basis of their religion, disappear.
I feel this history of United States expansion should be taught in all schools – I wonder if it is? There tends to be very much a romantic version of American history – the Revolutionary War, the settling of the West… Even the Civil War has become a war for reunification rather than a war against slavery. This book is written from the point of view of the original inhabitants.
I did find the history of the 20th century got bogged down in a lot of legal terms which made reading somewhat tedious. Also, the author bounced back and forth chronologically.
I had not realized just how many tribes existed in North America and how diverse they were. This diversity was often used by the Europeans to against them.
“He told me that as long as the sun shone and the sky is up yonder these agreements will be kept… He said as long as the sun rises it shall last; as long as the waters run it shall last; as long as the grass grows it shall last… He said ‘Just as long as you see this light glimmering over us, shall these agreements be kept, and not until all these things cease and pass away shall our agreement pass away.’ That is what he said and we believed it.”
Page 157 Modoc chief
“I thought if we killed all the white men we saw, that no more would come. We killed all we could; but they came more and more like new grass in the spring. I looked around and saw that many of our young men were dead and could not come back to fight. My heart was sick. My people were few. I threw down my gun, I said “I will not fight again.””
This is a very sad account of the plight of Native Americans from the first landings of the Spanish and English to the end of the 19th century. It is a genocide on an enormous scale.
The native people off the coast of North America helped the early settlers with food and shelter. They were essential to helping them establish roots in the New World. After, the settlers took more and more of their land – and if there was resistance the native people were killed. It was a relentless onslaught that was played over and over again across the entire continent. Many times, native people would win battles only to be attacked relentlessly by newly arriving Europeans who simply outnumbered them.
Negotiations were often made for land settlements with lines of demarcation which were soon to be transgressed by the settlers. Washington DC had little control over what militia groups were doing in the far-flung areas of the ever-expanding United States.
Page 90
Congress had set out to make peace with these tribes immediately after the peace with England. Boundaries were to be fixed “convenient to the respective tribes, and commensurate to the public wants” - irreconcilable aims.
The wanton destruction of a people and the land was relentless.
Page 226
An estimated fifteen million [buffalo] remained on the plains in 1870. The destruction through the following decade is almost beyond belief… By 1875 the Southern herd was dwindling; by 1878 it was virtually annihilated. The Northern herd was about finished by 1883… soon the prairie was littered with bones.
…Passengers on the trains shot from the windows into massed herds … the Kansas Pacific [railway] began selling excursion tickets to this kind of slaughter.
…No white person could understand the anger and despair of the Indians as they watched the source of their whole economic life – food, lodging, bedding, tools, household utensils – and even the basis of their religion, disappear.
I feel this history of United States expansion should be taught in all schools – I wonder if it is? There tends to be very much a romantic version of American history – the Revolutionary War, the settling of the West… Even the Civil War has become a war for reunification rather than a war against slavery. This book is written from the point of view of the original inhabitants.
I did find the history of the 20th century got bogged down in a lot of legal terms which made reading somewhat tedious. Also, the author bounced back and forth chronologically.
I had not realized just how many tribes existed in North America and how diverse they were. This diversity was often used by the Europeans to against them.
October 15, 2012
If I were teaching a college survey course on the history of Native Americans, Angie Debo's A History of the Indians of the United States would be one of my textbooks. Her writing reads easy. Her research is solid. Although she is sympathetic to the injustices suffered by the Indians, she writes as a professional historian. I particularly like the book because it's easy to use as a resource. If you're interested in a particular topic or tribe or event, you can find it without much labor.
The drawback to the book is that it ends too soon. It was originally published in 1970 and much has happened in the history of Native America since that time. Who could have imagined then Las Vegas entertainment and gambling would transform Indian country?
Debo died in 1988 at the age of 98. That means this book was published when she was eighty. It's an amazing accomplishment.
A History of the Indians of the United States should be on the reference shelf everyone who loves American history or writes about it.
The drawback to the book is that it ends too soon. It was originally published in 1970 and much has happened in the history of Native America since that time. Who could have imagined then Las Vegas entertainment and gambling would transform Indian country?
Debo died in 1988 at the age of 98. That means this book was published when she was eighty. It's an amazing accomplishment.
A History of the Indians of the United States should be on the reference shelf everyone who loves American history or writes about it.
February 21, 2015
My first book on the U.S. native American experience and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I would have liked a little more context in each chapter before all the details are spilled out. Debo has a lot of stories and narrative and has numerous illustrations of her points, but the points are usually tacked on in the introductory and final paragraphs of each chapter. The narrative jumps around a bit so it may be hard to keep things straight in terms of dates and in lesser cases geography. This is a book that cries out to have more maps to help show some of the events and changes over the centuries she describes.
However, the story she tells is straightforward and generally known. In this case, it is from the native Americans’ perspective. Early encounters between Europeans and native Americans were about finding treasure (gold and wealth for the Spanish; furs and resources for the French). Once the Europeans become settlers and the native Americans accommodate and resist them on the eastern seaboard, we have the slow movement west to obtain their land. Debo does a great job of explaining the eventual acceptance that these eastern tribes made with trading their lands in the east for new land further west, along with the promise that now they would be left alone. But they would not be left alone and the desire by individuals and localities to further encroach on native American land is well documented. The Federal government comes across as half interested in supporting native Americans. Initially it makes attempts to address encroachment but when the native Americans become violent, it sides with the European population and, whether with their best interests at heart or cynically, seeks to have the native Americans accept the new reality.
Debo continues the history as the Indian Territory is consolidated and other tribes are moved there. The native Americans of the plains are next to face the encroachment and the result is the same – they lose. Once these groups are suppressed and boxed in on reservations or through other methods, the “Indian problem” is solved. Debo then describes how the native Americans navigate their new relationship with the Federal government while more local encroachment of their reservations occurs. Policies toward native Americans vacillate between trying to eliminate tribal organizations and communal property holdings to enhancing these organizations as the best method to give the native Americans a chance to thrive. But as Debo points out, the native Americans can do their best to adjust but the concepts that animate the non-native Americans in the U.S. are fairly alien to the native Americans. Not only do they lose their land, they struggle to be allowed to maintain their group identity and practices. While reformers may believe removing the “Indian” from them will enhance their chances, the results have not proved that to be true. Whether this is because of the poor position the native Americans started from with the loss of land and capital or an inability or lack of desire to adjust to the values and methods of mainstream American society is unclear.
However, the story she tells is straightforward and generally known. In this case, it is from the native Americans’ perspective. Early encounters between Europeans and native Americans were about finding treasure (gold and wealth for the Spanish; furs and resources for the French). Once the Europeans become settlers and the native Americans accommodate and resist them on the eastern seaboard, we have the slow movement west to obtain their land. Debo does a great job of explaining the eventual acceptance that these eastern tribes made with trading their lands in the east for new land further west, along with the promise that now they would be left alone. But they would not be left alone and the desire by individuals and localities to further encroach on native American land is well documented. The Federal government comes across as half interested in supporting native Americans. Initially it makes attempts to address encroachment but when the native Americans become violent, it sides with the European population and, whether with their best interests at heart or cynically, seeks to have the native Americans accept the new reality.
Debo continues the history as the Indian Territory is consolidated and other tribes are moved there. The native Americans of the plains are next to face the encroachment and the result is the same – they lose. Once these groups are suppressed and boxed in on reservations or through other methods, the “Indian problem” is solved. Debo then describes how the native Americans navigate their new relationship with the Federal government while more local encroachment of their reservations occurs. Policies toward native Americans vacillate between trying to eliminate tribal organizations and communal property holdings to enhancing these organizations as the best method to give the native Americans a chance to thrive. But as Debo points out, the native Americans can do their best to adjust but the concepts that animate the non-native Americans in the U.S. are fairly alien to the native Americans. Not only do they lose their land, they struggle to be allowed to maintain their group identity and practices. While reformers may believe removing the “Indian” from them will enhance their chances, the results have not proved that to be true. Whether this is because of the poor position the native Americans started from with the loss of land and capital or an inability or lack of desire to adjust to the values and methods of mainstream American society is unclear.
reference
April 15, 2008During a recent trip to our State Capitol I chanced to pay more attention to the paintings inside--one of which is of Angie Debo, a true Okie-Booklady, in every sense of the title. Ms. Debo wrote nine published books which are depicted in the painting as displayed on a shelf behind her. This is probably one of her most famous works, along with And Still the Waters Run published in 1940. I have long promised myself to read these--partially because of my love of the American West, partially to honor a great American female author from my new home state and also partially because she was personally recommended to me by our former pastor, the Reverend Charles Murphy, a native of the great state of Oklahoma who has read all her books and recommends her most highly!
Thanks Fr. Murphy! I'm still trying to get to this!
Thanks Fr. Murphy! I'm still trying to get to this!
March 12, 2012
Some wonderful stories of the Amercian Indians and a wonderful inspiring insight into their lives.
December 8, 2018
If you have the desire to know and understand the true forefathers of this country then this is a must read book. AD. Presents the status of the Native American Indians as never before. As in many families there are many with close ties to the individual tribes. This work explains how and why there were so many mixed marriages between the Indian maidens and men with the white women and men. Your family history is there you have to search for it. As a member of a family that was well established in the southeast I became familiar with the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek Indian tribes. The Dawson Clan, which participated in the "Trail of Tears", resides in North Carolina, Tennessee, northern Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. These are the men and women who were of mixed marriages that became successful citizens throughout the following years. This is an excellent read for the genre.....DEHS
October 24, 2022
An immensely thorough history of Native Americans, often in their own words. Exhaustively researched, with specific tribes and people named to illustrate general trends such as displacement, war, isolation, assimilation, and perseverance. The book contains some language that would probably not be PC today; it is a history that was published in the 1960s.
September 21, 2017
Honestly, it has so much information that I am going to have to read it again, and then keep certain parts marked to help me understand it all.
August 15, 2019
Highly recommended by my American Indian Law Professor John Ragsdale, this is a strong, comprehensive and accurate history of U.S. Indians.
April 9, 2022
Eye opening and heart breaking. I must read some more modern accounts, this book is @ 50 years old now.
Read
November 23, 2022A sad shameful chapter in our history
January 22, 2025
i fucking love globalisation and colonialism
June 20, 2016
When I think of American Indians, I automatically think of westerns, of Red Cloud of the Oglala Lakota tribe, of King Phillip of the Wampanoags, Crazy Horse of the Oglala Lakota's, Sitting Bull of the Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux, Geronimo of the Chiricahua Apache, and many other brave and brilliant war leaders, that faced not only new diseases, but a completely new type of warfare and weaponry.
The word Naive is thrown around a lot when talking about Indians, and I think that is possibly a correct way to describe the way in which they were robbed and eventually defeated.
The way the Indians' warfare for thousands of years was fought was to fight when the need arose until the opposing sides reached a peace that was of course in the favour of which ever nation had won the war and dictated the terms. This is how most wars are fought and have been fought throughout the Millennia's and throughout the world.
The one difference here was that once the new tribes started arriving in large numbers they had no real intention of stopping once their grievances were sorted, they were intent on taking it all.
This is where the word Naive comes into play, when the Indians lost or won a war as they saw it, a peace was made and upheld. To the new comer it was only a battle, a stop gap until they could muster new troops to the fight. All this is pretty much a given.
What I liked so much about Angie Debo's book is that it didn't focus on the battles or the war. Instead it is about the aftermath, what happened to the tribes, the nations After the wars were done, the horrid nature of mankind which is always just underlying the surface, the scary thing is that it is still happening in places like Australia and West Papua and of course America, tho we seem to block it out, I am not sure how this is done but most people have no clue of what is really happening in the world.
Angie Debo wrote with an even handed passion that can move you too anger, tears, terror, shock, frustration and the occasional smile, for a writer to do this on any subject fiction or non fiction is tantamount to genius, for a writer to do this on a factual subject is simply brilliant.
I would suggest reading this book to anyone and in my opinion it should be on the high school curriculum of every country in the world.
The word Naive is thrown around a lot when talking about Indians, and I think that is possibly a correct way to describe the way in which they were robbed and eventually defeated.
The way the Indians' warfare for thousands of years was fought was to fight when the need arose until the opposing sides reached a peace that was of course in the favour of which ever nation had won the war and dictated the terms. This is how most wars are fought and have been fought throughout the Millennia's and throughout the world.
The one difference here was that once the new tribes started arriving in large numbers they had no real intention of stopping once their grievances were sorted, they were intent on taking it all.
This is where the word Naive comes into play, when the Indians lost or won a war as they saw it, a peace was made and upheld. To the new comer it was only a battle, a stop gap until they could muster new troops to the fight. All this is pretty much a given.
What I liked so much about Angie Debo's book is that it didn't focus on the battles or the war. Instead it is about the aftermath, what happened to the tribes, the nations After the wars were done, the horrid nature of mankind which is always just underlying the surface, the scary thing is that it is still happening in places like Australia and West Papua and of course America, tho we seem to block it out, I am not sure how this is done but most people have no clue of what is really happening in the world.
Angie Debo wrote with an even handed passion that can move you too anger, tears, terror, shock, frustration and the occasional smile, for a writer to do this on any subject fiction or non fiction is tantamount to genius, for a writer to do this on a factual subject is simply brilliant.
I would suggest reading this book to anyone and in my opinion it should be on the high school curriculum of every country in the world.
June 16, 2020
Read and re-read this book before serving as an MD on the Navajo Indian Reservation from 1999-2002. This is valuable, engaging, succinct overview covering a vast history.
September 29, 2012
It was a very well written and certainly opened up a integral part of history of the U.S. that is often over looked in schools, high schools, etc. However, at times I was baffled to say the least when the author gave the impression that the aboriginal peoples were only progressive when they moved into cities and assimilated and therefore vanished into white existence. I purposefully avoided using the word "culture" as white culutre is made up of many different cultures. It was also a pity that the author said that the aborignal people perferred poverty than to supposedly embrage modern living, as if any one let alone a people can prefer poverty! Despite these sorts of written set backs the book is very well written and I would recommend it very much.
March 17, 2011
Written by a Native American giving a different perspective to "the Indian Wars", the "trail of tears" and the displacing of thousands of people from there native lands to "reservations". I think it a must read for anyone who really wants to learn about the "settlement of the frontier" and what it did to these Americans.
March 20, 2016
I couldn't finish it. The history of these poor people is so grim I couldn't take it any more. The book is well written, some parts I couldn't put down. I wanted to finish it but it took too much of an emotional toll.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews