The Enduring Indians of Kansas: A Century and a Half of Acculturation - Softcover

Herring, Joseph B.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0700605886 ISBN 13: 9780700605880

Publisher: University Press of Kansas, 1990

Synopsis

The Cherokees' "Trail of Tears" and the forced migration of other Southern tribes during the 1830s and 1840s were the most notorious consequences of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy. Less well known is the fact that many tribes of the Old Northwest territory were also forced to surrender their lands and move west of the Mississippi River.

By 1850, upwards of 10,000 displaced Indians had been settled "permanently" along the wooded streams and rivers of eastern Kansas. Twenty years later only a few hundred—mostly Kickapoos, Potawatomis, Chippewas, Munsees, Iowas, Foxes, and Sacs—remained.

Joseph Herring's The Enduring Indians of Kansas recounts the struggle of these determined survivors. For them, the "end of Indian Kansas" was unacceptable, and they stayed on the lands that they had been promised were theirs forever.

Offering a good counterpoint to Craig Miner's and William Unrau's The End of Indian Kansas, Herring shows the reader a shifting set of native perspectives and strategies. He argues that it was by acculturation on their own terms—by walking the fine line between their traditional ways and those of the whites—that these Indians managed to survive, to retain their land, and to resist the hostile intrusions of the white world. The story of their epic struggle to survive will place a new set of names in the pantheon of American Indian heroes.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"Herring offers a set of compelling stories, each detailing the struggles of relatively small groups of people against corporate, religious, and bureaucratic forces. The tales have drama, memorable characters, and relevance for our own time."--James Ronda, author of Lewis & Clark among the Indians

"Herring shows that surviving Indian groups were not the helpless victims of events; rather, they made careful, deliberately chosen decisions to accommodate to the values of neighboring settlers. This theme of choice is central to the 'new Indian history' and Herring writes it very well."--Michael Green, author of The Politics of Indian Removal

About the Author

Joseph B. Herring, author of Kenekuk, The Kickapoo Prophet, is an archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration. He has taught at Kansas Newman College in Wichita and has received both the Walter Rundell, Jr., Fellowship sponsored by the Western History Association and Westerners International and the Bert Fireman Prize awarded by the Western History Association. His articles on Native American history have appeared in the American Indian Quarterly, Western Historical Quarterly, Kansas History, and Great Plains Quarterly.

Edition details

• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0700605886
• ISBN 13: 9780700605880
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 248