In Indigenous Missourians: Ancient Societies to the Present,
historian Greg Olson argues that the history of Indigenous people
in present-day Missouri is far more nuanced, complex, and vibrant
than the often-told tragic stories of conflict with white settlers
and forced Indian removal would lead us to believe. In this
path-breaking narrative, Olson presents the Show Me State’s
Indigenous past as one spanning twelve millennia of Native
presence, resilience, and evolution. While previous Missouri
histories have tended to include Indigenous people only during
periods when they constituted a threat to the state’s white
settlement, Olson shows us the continuous presence of Native people
that lasts up to the present day. Beginning thousands of years
before the state of Missouri existed, Olson recounts how centuries
of inventiveness and adaptability enabled Native people to create
innovations in pottery, agriculture, architecture, weaponry, and
intertribal diplomacy. Technological advances made it possible for
Native people to build Cahokia, one of the largest cities on the
planet during the eleventh century. Located just across the
Mississippi River from present-day St. Louis, Cahokia was an
amazing example of centralized power and technological
know-how.Olson also shows how the resilience of Indigenous people
like the Osages allowed them to thrive as fur traders in the face
of French and Spanish colonization. Even as settler colonialists
waged an all-out policy of cultural genocide against them, Native
people persevered. Though the state of Missouri claimed to have
forced Indigenous people from its borders after the 1830s, Olson
uses U.S. census records and government rolls from the allotment
period to show that thousands remained, often passing as blacks or
whites. Removed from their tribal communities, these Indigenous
Missourians came together to create intertribal social networks to
celebrate Native culture in new ways. In the end, Olson argues
that, with a current population of 27,000 Indigenous people,
Missouri remains a part of Indian Country and that Indigenous
history is Missouri History.
General
Imprint: |
University of Missouri Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
June 2023 |
Authors: |
Greg Olson
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152mm (L x W) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Cloth over boards
|
Pages: |
448 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8262-2282-4 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-8262-2282-X |
Barcode: |
9780826222824 |
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