How would I write a Native American History textbook?
Why does one write a history in a book? Most historians argue that the events and beliefs of the past constitute who we are today: to understand current structures of society and government, we must devote ourselves to understanding the struggles, failures and triumphs of our forefathers. Yet as events and beliefs are recorded and transmitted, the interpretative bias of historians come through the pages of text-books. Interpreting the interpretations of historians is the vital responsibility of readers to develop critical awareness of bias, stereotpye and discrimination.
I see two existing veins of intention in recording history the history of Native Americans: I can seek to either exalt the success of Western ways of life in describing the conquest and consequential transformation (“civilization”) of “primitive” cultures into a Western way of life, or alternatively, I can seek to enhance and rejuvenate the cultural realities of our own time by articulating the history of Native Americans from a different perspective and emphasize past and present connections.
In crafting a textbook of my own choice, I would emphasize three major movements and intrinsic arguments in the History of Native Americans. First, I would deliver a clear and extensive history of pre-contact experience and culture. In describing Mississippian societies, western cliff dwellings like Mesa Verde, and earthen-village houses of the plains, I would highlight the complex matrilineal property rights and parenting restrictions also inherent in Native American cultures. I would draw special attention to the politics of marriage and kinship ties, the practice of rearing children and caring for the elderly, and the hierarchy of villages and mother towns that draw populations together as allies in time of war fare.
Within this first section, I would also offer a brief rendition of mythology and creationism, and assert that Native Americans possess the collective rights of indigenous peoples in the continent of North America. I would parallel Marshall’s argument that “first” is not the pivotal word in discerning indigenism, but the word “always:" Native Americans claim to have always inhabited the continent and I would offer my support of their claim. Furthermore, I would discuss the politics of "indigenous survival," and emphasize the gravity of cultural depravity through economic exploitation and usurption of resources: I would demand that history be remembered.
The second movement I would emphasize is the four centuries of European conquest and colonialism.
Dr. Daniel K. Richter is the Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of American History at University of Pennsylvania. His focus on early Native American history has led to his writing several lauded books including Before the Revolution: America’s Ancient Past, and The Ordeal of the Longhouse: The Peoples of the Iroquois League in the Era of European Colonization. Richter’s Facing East is perhaps, a culmination of his latter work. It is centered from a Native American perspective, an angle less thought about in general. Through the book, Richter takes this perspective into several different fields of study which includes literary analysis, environmental history, and anthropology. Combining different methodologies, Richter argues Americans can have a fruitful future, by understanding the importance of the American Indian perspective in America’s short history.
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