ISBN: 978-0807049396
Published by Beacon Press, 2019
Adapted by Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese
Genre/Format: Nonfiction/ Paperback, eBook
Awards
American Indian Youth Literature Young Adult Honor Book, 2021
ALA Notable Children's Books - Older Readers Category, 2020
School Library Journal Best Nonfiction Books, 2019
Reading Level Ages 13+ A note about age level: This book is written with younger teens in mind but I think older teens will turn to it more often and find it more useful. It's usually not until teens are 14 and older that they want to better understand the world they live in and take part in shaping it, too. This book will be an excellent counterpoint for teens in high school who are taking U.S. History. Additionally, the original version of this book is much more academic in scope, meaning it will not hold the interest of most teens.
Book Summary: An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People explores U.S. history from the perspective of natives of this land. It pokes holes into the country's origin story, the myth of multiculturalism, and presents what happened to the indigenous people from their own perspective. The book describes how politically, culturally, and scientifically advanced the various indigenous nations were. It turns the dominant narrative about European colonization upside down by dispelling the "myth of the pristine wilderness" by demonstrating how North America was not a wild, wide open landscape that most of us had learned about from textbooks (p. 48). It establishes a narrative from the 1600s regarding pure blood lines to the current era of genocide; it then recounts nation by nation how each one was almost exterminated by the white settlers, how treaties were made a broken, and how our founding fathers participated. To be clear, natives are not simply described as victims, but as people part of a great civilization that was centuries old, a civilization they tried to defend but could not match the warfare game played by white people. Resistance by tribes in the form of activism and law suits, and it situates the recent fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline as yet another example of the U.S. government encroaching on their lands and breaking treaties. Additionally, each chapter contains a to-do list; for example, at the end of the Introduction the readers are encouraged to look at a few websites of some of the native nations and compare the information there to what readers have seen and heard about them in other contexts. These to-do lists give young readers concrete ways to learn more and to hold themselves accountable .
Author Background: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz established the Native American Studies department at CSU, Hayward and is the author of other books focusing on Native Americans. She has also written three memoirs that combine her personal stories with the activist work she has participated in: Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie, Outlaw Woman: A Memoir of the War Years, and Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra War.
Both Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese hold Ph.Ds in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Mendoza focuses on how indigenous people are portrayed in books for children and young adults. Reese is the founder of American Indians in Children’s Literature (AICL)
Critical Evaluation: The importance and value of this book cannot be overstated. It lays out Native American history from their own point of view and, as such, it will be revelatory for most readers. The book is not difficult to read, it does not have an academic tone, but it does provide evidence and citations to back up their claims. It even calls out the acclaimed musical, Hamilton, for not including Native Americans in its re-telling of that time in U.S. history.
Speed-Round Book Talk: Textbooks have always told us that Columbus discovered America in 1492, but what if I told you that the land we now call America was already a vibrant civilization with its own roads, trade systems, with innovative farming and hunting techniques?
Library Program: This would be the pick for the teen book club in October to coincide with Indigenous People's Day. Snacks of corn in all its various forms and colors will be featured.
Potential Challenges: I predict there will be a lot of challenges to this book because it does not conform to the accepted narrative of U.S. history. Indeed a quick perusal of one-star reviews Amazon will reveal a number of people who find it biased against white people, that it doesn't give enough background to the white person's side of the story, that it cherry-picks examples to make its point and etc... However, the defense of this book is that history from other people's perspectives must be included in the library so that all members of the community know they are represented.
Reason for Inclusion: As I have previously mentioned, this is an important book that reframes our understanding of Native American history. It is an important step in the right direction for those of us who have benefitted from the actions of white colonizers, and it's vital that our young adults understand history from multiple perspectives.
References
About Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. (2021). Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. https://www.reddirtsite.com
Debbie Reese: About. (nd). Beacon Press. http://www.beacon.org/cw_contributorinfo.aspx?
Dunbar-Ortiz, R. (2019). An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People.
Beacon Press.
EarthFixMedia. (2016). Northwest Wildlife Refuge Renamed To Honor Tribal Leader. You Tube.
Jean Mendoza: About. (nd). Beacon Press. http://www.beacon.org/cw_contributorinfo.aspx?
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