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Isaiah Dorman: Interpreting the Evidence
Myths, mysteries and misinformation have hidden the true story of Isaiah Dorman, the only African American to die at Custer’s famous last stand on the Little Bighorn River in 1876.
Lilah Morton Pengra questions the myths and solves many of the mysteries by Interpreting the Evidence that she gathered over 15 years of research. She deftly leads the reader into accompanying Isaiah Dorman on his journey through life as a black man in 19th-century America — part of white colonial expansion into the West, but also enmeshed in the culture and struggles of his wife’s Dakota people.
He was born free in Pennsylvania and married in Minnesota. He participated in the Civil War then created a home in Dakota Territory. But what kind of man was he?
Join anthropologist Pengra in looking beyond the simple facts of his biography to consider the more complex challenges of his multicultural world. Pengra’s extraordinarily gifted and persistent research unveils the complexities of Isaiah Dorman, one of history’s fascinating but widely misunderstood African American heroes. Her effort further stands as an important and sensitive contribution to truth and understanding of the racial frontier.
— William Loren Katz, author, Black Indians and the Black West
Pengra’s study of Isaiah Dorman is a tightly woven tapestry depicting an ordinary life made unusual by circumstance. Her writing is concise and compelling, and her scholarship rests on thorough research, careful judgment, and meticulous attention to detail.
— Linda M. Hasselstrom, author, Windbreak House Writing Retreats
Lilah Morton Pengra questions the myths and solves many of the mysteries by Interpreting the Evidence that she gathered over 15 years of research. She deftly leads the reader into accompanying Isaiah Dorman on his journey through life as a black man in 19th-century America — part of white colonial expansion into the West, but also enmeshed in the culture and struggles of his wife’s Dakota people.
He was born free in Pennsylvania and married in Minnesota. He participated in the Civil War then created a home in Dakota Territory. But what kind of man was he?
Join anthropologist Pengra in looking beyond the simple facts of his biography to consider the more complex challenges of his multicultural world. Pengra’s extraordinarily gifted and persistent research unveils the complexities of Isaiah Dorman, one of history’s fascinating but widely misunderstood African American heroes. Her effort further stands as an important and sensitive contribution to truth and understanding of the racial frontier.
— William Loren Katz, author, Black Indians and the Black West
Pengra’s study of Isaiah Dorman is a tightly woven tapestry depicting an ordinary life made unusual by circumstance. Her writing is concise and compelling, and her scholarship rests on thorough research, careful judgment, and meticulous attention to detail.
— Linda M. Hasselstrom, author, Windbreak House Writing Retreats
360 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2016
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February 3, 2018
This is a fantastic book. I came across Isaiah Dorman years ago in the novel, "Buffalo Gordon on the Plains". Dr. Pengra, through extensive research, brings a character I found in a fictional novel, to life. A detailed description of his life right up until his death at the battle of Little Bighorn is provided in easy-to-read prose with the dry research summaries in separate chapters. There are notes galore for further reading by the serious student of black history, particularly in the American West. African Americans may continue to be left out of Hollywood pop history feature films, but Lilah Pengra peeled back the veil to reveal an African American who lived and died helping in the takeover of the West.
Displaying 1 of 1 review