The Native Peoples’ Version of American History: A New Narrative
H&G14-10-Tue2
Quinn Rosefsky
This course will take place virtually on Zoom. Participation in this course requires a device (ideally a computer or tablet, rather than a cell phone) with a camera and microphone in good working order and basic familiarity with using Zoom and accessing email.
March 11 - May 20 (No Class April 15)
During and after WWII, American educators taught students that White men “discovered” North America and by inference had the right to take possession of any lands they discovered. However, the Indigenous peoples already inhabiting the continent had far different perspectives than the Europeans. Encroachment on their natural resources, lands, and cultures were not welcome. How did those Indigenous peoples who did not succumb to diseases or genocidal warfare adapt and survive? Exchanging produce and goods with Dutch and French traders had advantages. And so it was with English settlers, at first. Native Americans and White men formed alliances, but these alliances shifted and reformed in the French and Indian Wars followed soon by the American Revolution.
In this course you will learn that White men were so impressed by the form of governance of one Indigenous Nation that they incorporated many of their concepts and structures into the Constitution! And yet over ensuing decades, these same White men stole Native lands, herded Natives onto reservations, and placed their children in far-away boarding schools to take the “Indian” out of them. How were Natives to respond to treaties that were rapidly broken or whittled away? Deep down, did the Native peoples know that one way or another the ultimate goal was to annihilate, assimilate, or terminate them? We will look at these conundrums from the perspective of Native Americans and ponder why it took until the last quarter of the twentieth century for self-determination to take root.
More facilitated discussion than lecture.
The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of American History by Ned Blackhawk; Yale University Press; 2023; ISBN: 978-0-300-24405-2
Additional readings and videos to watch along with discussion questions for each week are located on the course website.
35-40 pages of textbook; 10 pages on website; 20 min of videos.
Total preparation time, allowing time to reflect: about three hours per week.
Quinn Rosefsky is a retired psychiatrist. He spent the final years of his career working with The Passamaquoddy Tribe in northern Maine. His first courses at BOLLI, a decade ago, were on Native Americans. He has continued to lead and co-lead a wide variety of courses at BOLLI and enjoys creating websites. Quinn also dabbles in writing and watercolor, some of his works appearing in the BOLLI Journal from time to time.