Correcting myths about Native Americans

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Dina Gilio-Whitaker (BP); Xochitl, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Dr. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

All the Real Indians Died Off unpacks the 21 most common myths about Native Americans.

Scholars and activists Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker tackle myths about indigenous culture and history that have misinformed and miseducated generations.
 

Dina Gilio-Whitaker

Tracing how these ideas evolved, while drawing from history, the authors disrupt long-held MYTHS such as:

• “Columbus Discovered America”
• “Thanksgiving Proves the Indians Welcomed Pilgrims”
• “Indians Were Savage and Warlike”
• “Europeans Brought Civilization to Backward Indians”
• “The United States Did Not Have a Policy of Genocide”
• “Sports Mascots Honor Native Americans”
• “Most Indians Are on Government Welfare”
• “Indian Casinos Make Them All Rich”
• “Indians Are Naturally Predisposed to Alcohol”

Each chapter deftly shows how these myths are rooted in the fears and prejudices of European settlers and in the larger political agendas of a settler state mentality aimed at acquiring indigenous land.

 

This goal is are tied to narratives of erasure and disappearance.

 

Accessibly written and full of  revelations, All the Real Indians Died Off challenges readers to rethink what they have been taught about Native Americans and Eurocentric American history. More

• An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States