INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, SOVEREIGNTY, & THE UNITED STATES
HIST 595 sec. 01

The United States has at various times depended upon Indigenous Peoples, traded with Indigenous Peoples, fought wars against them, acknowledged Native Americans as belonging to sovereign nations and signed treaties with them, forced them off their lands, revoked treaty agreements, forced and encouraged Native Americans to set aside their cultures and ways of life to assimilate to western lifestyles, and faced court challenges over Indigenous rights, resources, and sovereignty.  It is a contradictory, sometimes confusing, and often tragic history.  And yet it is also the history of Indigenous resilience and cultural and political survival.

This course provides an introduction to the history of U.S. Federal Indian policy and to the often- contradictory ways that U.S. policy has changed over time.  Understanding the history of U.S. policy towards Indigenous Americans helps to explain many other aspects of American history, including natural resources, including land, water, gold, and uranium; the role of the courts; the power of the federal government, and the power of identity.  It is also an introduction to Native American history and culture, primarily through the lens of identity and sovereignty.  Students will read works written by Indigenous writers and will watch interviews and films by and featuring Indigenous perspectives. For each topic, we will explore Indigenous perspectives as well as Euro-American perspectives.

By the end of the course students will be able to explain how current issues surrounding Indigenous People’s Day, Indians used as sports mascots, protests over water rights, protests over violence against Native Americans, monuments from Mount Rushmore to Plymouth Rock, all are informed by the past.

This course satisfies the Group I requirement for the History Major.