Essential aspects about the prehistory, history, geography, and architecture of the Inland Pacific Northwest are presented here in one succinct volume. This landmark collection features essays by noted national and regional scholars, such as Donald W. Meinig, Carlos A. Schwantes, Henry Matthews, Clifford E. Trafzer, and Harvey S. Rice. Spokane and the Inland Empire outlines the region's historical geographic systems, Palouse tribal history, characteristics of prehistoric Plateau Indian dwellings, a century of Columbia Plateau agriculture, Spokane's bitter labor disputes that occurred prior to America's entry into World War I, the exceptional architecture of Spokane's Kirtland Cutter, and more. This new edition has been revised from the original volume published in 1991. Extensive illustrations supplement the text.

Native Americans long resisted Western medicine - but had less power to resist the threat posed by Western diseases. And so, as the Office of Indian Affairs reluctantly entered the business of health and medicine, Native peoples reluctantly began to allow Western medicine into their communities. Fighting Invisible Enemies traces this transition among inhabitants of the Mission Indian Agency of Southern California from the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century. What historian Clifford E. Trafzer describes is not so much a transition from one practice to another as a gradual incorporation of Western medicine into Indian medical practices. Melding indigenous and medical history specific to Southern California, his book combines statistical information and documents from the federal government with the oral narratives of several tribes. Many of these oral histories - detailing traditional beliefs about disease causation, medical practices, and treatment - are unique to this work, the product of the author's close and trusted relationships with tribal elders. Trafzer examines the years of interaction that transpired before Native people allowed elements of Western medicine and health care into their lives, homes, and communities. Among the factors he cites as impelling the change were settler-borne diseases, the negative effects of federal Indian policies, and the sincere desire of both Indians and agency doctors and nurses to combat the spread of disease. Here we see how, unlike many encounters between Indians and non-Indians in Southern California, this cooperative effort proved positive and constructive, resulting in fewer deaths from infectious diseases, especially tuberculosis. The first study of its kind, Trafzer's work fills gaps in Native American, medical, and Southern California history. It informs our understanding of the working relationship between indigenous and Western medical traditions and practices as it continues to develop today.

The Chemehuevi of the Twenty-Nine Palms tribe of Southern California stands as a testament to the power of perseverance. This small, nomadic band of Southern Paiute Indians has been repeatedly marginalized by European settlers, other Native groups, and, until now, historical narratives that have all too often overlooked them. Having survived much of the past two centuries without rights to their homeland or any self-governing abilities, the Chemehuevi were a mostly “forgotten� people until the creation of the Twenty-Nine Palms Reservation in 1974. Since then, they have formed a tribal government that addresses many of the same challenges faced by other tribes, including preserving cultural identity and managing a thriving gaming industry. A dedicated historian who worked closely with the Chemehuevi for more than a decade, Clifford Trafzer shows how this once-splintered tribe persevered using sacred songs and other cultural practices to maintain tribal identity during the long period when it lacked both a homeland and autonomy. The Chemehuevi believe that their history and their ancestors are always present, and Trafzer honors that belief through his emphasis on individual and family stories. In doing so, he not only sheds light on an overlooked tribe but also presents an important new model for tribal history scholarship. A Chemehuevi Song strikes the difficult balance of placing a community-driven research agenda within the latest currents of indigenous studies scholarship. Chemehuevi voices, both past and present, are used to narrate the story of the tribe’s tireless efforts to gain recognition and autonomy. The end result is a song of resilience.

The Chemehuevi of the Twenty-Nine Palms tribe of Southern California stands as a testament to the power of perseverance. This small, nomadic band of Southern Paiute Indians has been repeatedly marginalized by European settlers, other Native groups, and, until now, historical narratives that have all too often overlooked them. Having survived much of the past two centuries without rights to their homeland or any self-governing abilities, the Chemehuevi were a mostly "forgotten" people until the creation of the Twenty-Nine Palms Reservation in 1974. Since then, they have formed a tribal government that addresses many of the same challenges faced by other tribes, including preserving cultural identity and managing a thriving gaming industry. A dedicated historian who worked closely with the Chemehuevi for more than a decade, Clifford Trafzer shows how this once-splintered tribe persevered using sacred songs and other cultural practices to maintain tribal identity during the long period when it lacked both a homeland and autonomy. The Chemehuevi believe that their history and their ancestors are always present, and Trafzer honors that belief through his emphasis on individual and family stories. In doing so, he not only sheds light on an overlooked tribe but also presents an important new model for tribal history scholarship. A Chemehuevi Song strikes the difficult balance of placing a community-driven research agenda within the latest currents of indigenous studies scholarship. Chemehuevi voices, both past and present, are used to narrate the story of the tribe's tireless efforts to gain recognition and autonomy. The end result is a song of resilience.

Indigenous people of wisdom have offered prayers of power, protection, and healing since the dawn of time. From Wovoka, the Ghost Dance prophet, to contemporary healer Kenneth Coosewoon, medicine people have called on the spiritual world to help humans in their relationships with each other and the natural world. Many American Indians-past and present-have had the ability to use power to access wisdom, knowledge, and spiritual understanding. This groundbreaking collection provides fascinating stories of wisdom, spiritual power, and forces within tribal communities that have influenced the past and may influence the future. Through discussions of omens, prophecies, war, peace, ceremony, ritual, and cultural items such as masks, prayer sticks, sweat lodges, and peyote, this volume offers examples of the ways in which Native American beliefs in spirits have been and remain a fundamental aspect of history and culture. Drawing from written and oral sources, the book offers readers a greater understanding of creation narratives, oral histories, and songs that speak of healers, spirits, and power from tribes across the North American continent. American Indian medicine ways and spiritual power remain vital today. With the help of spirits, people can heal the sick, protect communities from natural disasters, and mediate power of many kinds between the spiritual and temporal worlds. As the contributors to this volume illustrate, healers are the connective cloth between the ancient past and the present, and their influence is significant for future generations. Contributors: R. David Edmunds, Joe Herring, Benjamin T. Jenkins, Troy Johnson, Al Logan Slagle, Michelle Lorimer, L. G. Moses, Richard D. Scheuerman, Clifford E. Trafzer.

Like the figures in the ancient oral literature of Native Americans, children who lived through the American Indian boarding school experience became heroes, bravely facing a monster not of their own making. Sometimes the monster swallowed them up. More often, though, the children fought the monster and grew stronger. This volume draws on the full breadth of this experience in showing how American Indian boarding schools provided both positive and negative influences for Native American children. The boarding schools became an integral part of American history, a shared history that resulted in Indians turning the power by using their school experiences to grow in wisdom and benefit their people. The first volume of essays ever to focus on the American Indian boarding school experience, and written by some of the foremost experts and most promising young scholars of the subject, Boarding School Blues ranges widely in scope, addressing issues such as sports, runaways, punishment, physical plants, and Christianity. aboriginal people of the Americas and Australia, the book reveals both the light and the dark aspects of the boarding school experience and illuminates the vast gray area in between. Clifford E. Trafzer is a professor of American Indian history, director of public history, and director of graduate studies at the University of California, Riverside. His many books include As Long as the Grass Shall Grow and Rivers Flow: A History of Native Americans. Jean A. Keller is an adjunct professor of American Indian studies at Palomar College in San Marcos, California, and a private cultural resources consultant. She is the author of Empty Beds: Indian Student Health at Sherman Institute, 1902-1922. Lorene Sisquoc is the curator of the Sherman Indian Museum in Riverside, California. She teaches Native American traditions to high school students and instructs extension classes in Native American studies.

Throughout the 1850s, Native peoples of the inland Northwest actively resisted white encroachments into their traditional territories. Tensions exploded in 1858 when nearly one thousand Palouses, Spokanes, and Coeur d'Alenes routed an invading force commanded by Colonel Edward Steptoe. In response, Colonel George Wright mounted a large expedition into the heart of the Columbia Plateau to punish and subdue its Native peoples. Opposing Wright's force was a loose confederacy of tribes led by the famous warrior Kamiakin.

Indian War in the Pacific Northwest is a vivid and valuable first-person account of that aggressive and bloody military campaign. Related by Lawrence Kip, a young lieutenant serving under Wright, it provides a rare glimpse of military operations and campaign life along the far western frontier before the Civil War. Replete with colorful prose and acute observations, his journal is also notable for its dramatic descriptions of clashes with Kamiakin's men and compelling portraits of leading figures on both sides of the Plateau Indian War.

The new introduction provides the historical and cultural background and aftermath of the conflict, explores its effects on present-day Native peoples of the Columbia Plateau, and critically assesses Kip's observations and interpretations. Also included in this Bison Books edition are two Native accounts of the conflict by Kamiakin and Mary Moses.

This book offers twenty original scholarly chapters featuring historical and biographical analyses of Native American women. The lives of women found her contributed significantly to their people and people everywhere. The book presents Native women of action and accomplishments in many areas of life. This work highlights women during the modern era of American history, countering past stereotypes of Native women. With the exceptions of Pocahontas and Sacajawea, historians have had little to say about American Indian women who have played key roles in the history of their tribes, their relationship with others, and the history of the United States. Indigenous women featured herein distinguished themselves as fiction and non-fiction writers, poets, potters, basket makers, musicians, and dancers. Other women contributed as notable educators and women working in health and medicine. They are representative of many women within the Native Universe who excelled in their lives to enrich the American experience.

Despite a recent resurgence in studies of death and disease in native peoples of the Western Hemisphere, little work has been done on death and disease in Native Americans during the reservation period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Forgotten Voices: Death Records of the Yakama, 1888-1964 begins a discussion of the health of the people on the Yakama Reservation in Washington using statistical data. This is the first detailed work that focuses on the causes of death on American Indian reservations. It contains an extensive introduction to Yakama history and lifestyle, and tables that present statistical information on the major causes of death. Each chapter highlights a different cause of death on the Yakama Reservation, including * Tuberculosis * Pneumonia * Heart Disease * Gastrointestinal Problems * Influenza * Cancer * Birth Complications * Old Age * Stroke Forgotten Voices is an invaluable resource for students and scholars that encourages further research in the field of Native American history.

Improving the dire health problems faced by many Native American communities is central to their cultural, political, and economic well being. However, it is still too often the case that both theoretical studies and applied programs fail to account for Native American perspectives on the range of factors that actually contribute to these problems in the first place. The authors in Medicine Ways examine the ways people from a multitude of indigenous communities think about and practice health care within historical and socio-cultural contexts. Cultural and physical survival are inseparable for Native Americans. Chapters explore biomedically-identified diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, as well as Native-identified problems, including historical and contemporary experiences such as forced evacuation, assimilation, boarding school, poverty and a slew of federal and state policies and initiatives. They also explore applied solutions that are based in community prerogatives and worldviews, whether they be indigenous, Christian, biomedical, or some combination of all three. Medicine Ways is an important volume for scholars and students in Native American studies, medical anthropology, and sociology as well as for health practitioners and professionals working in and for tribes. Visit the UCLA American Indian Studies Center web site

Images of the California Gold Rush ignite imaginations with visions of hearty minors clad in floppy felt hats, red flannel shirts, tattered Levis, and scuffed leather boots. Popular media depict miners as a rough-and-tumble lot who diligently worked the placers along scenic rushing rivers while living in roaring mining camps in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Trafzer and Hyer destroy this mythic image by offering a collection of original newspaper articles that describe in detail the murder, rape, and enslavement perpetrated by those who participated in the infamous gold rush. "It is a mercy to the Red Devils", wrote an editor of the Chico Courier: "to exterminate them". Newspaper accounts of the era depict both the barbarity and the nobility in human nature, but while some protested the inhumane treatment of Native Americans, they were not able to end the violence. Native Americans fought back, resisting the invasion, but they could not stop the tide of white miners and settlers. They became "strangers in a stolen land".

The Native peoples of the Pacific Northwest inhabit a vast region extending from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and from California to British Columbia. For more than two decades, "A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest "has served as a standard reference on these diverse peoples. Now, in the wake of renewed tribal self-determination, this revised edition reflects the many recent political, economic, and cultural developments shaping these Native communities.

From such well-known tribes as the Nez Perces and Cayuses to lesser-known bands previously presumed "extinct," this guide offers detailed descriptions, in alphabetical order, of 150 Pacific Northwest tribes. Each entry provides information on the history, location, demographics, and cultural traditions of the particular tribe.

Among the new features offered here are an expanded selection of photographs, updated reading lists, and a revised pronunciation guide. While continuing to provide succinct histories of each tribe, the volume now also covers such contemporary--and sometimes controversial--issues as Indian gaming and NAGPRA. With its emphasis on Native voices and tribal revitalization, this new edition of the" Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest" is certain to be a definitive reference for many years to come.

A vibrant, vital anthology of stories that  portray the lives of Native Americans today, featuring  the work of N. Scott Momaday, Louise Erdrich,  Leslie Marmon Silko, and more than two dozen other  gifted, authentic voices.