Synopses & Reviews
Creeks and Southerners examines the families created by the hundreds of intermarriages between Creek Indian women and European American men in the southeastern United States during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Called “Indian countrymen” at the time, these intermarried white men moved into their wives villages in what is now Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. By doing so, they obtained new homes, familial obligations, occupations, and identities. At the same time, however, they maintained many of their ties to white American society and as a result entered the historical record in large numbers. Creeks and Southerners studies the ways in which many children of these relationships lived both as Creek Indians and white Southerners. By carefully altering their physical appearances, choosing appropriate clothing, learning multiple languages, embracing maternal and paternal kinsmen and kinswomen, and balancing their loyalties, the children of intermarriages found ways to bridge what seemed to be an unbridgeable divide. Many became prominent Creek political leaders and warriors, played central roles in the lucrative deerskin trade, built inns and taverns to cater to the needs of European American travelers, frequently moved between colonial American and Native communities, and served both European American and Creek officials as interpreters, assistants, and travel escorts. The fortunes of these bicultural children reflect the changing nature of Creek-white relations, which became less flexible and increasingly contentious throughout the nineteenth century as both Creeks and Americans accepted a more rigid biological concept of race, forcing their bicultural children to choose between identities.
Review
“While Frank skillfully contextualizes his story within Creek and colonial history, his focus is on the people who, like Cornell, were Creeks and white southerners. . . . Elegantly written, impeccably organized, and deeply researched in English and Spanish sources, Creeks and Southerners is a welcome addition to the booming field of pre-removal Creek history.”—Kathleen DuVal, Western Historical Quarterly
Review
"Frank has significantly expanded our knowledge about how the endurance of clan and village life in one southeastern Indian society shaped intercultural relations over a long span of time."—Daniel H. Usner, Jr., American Historical Review
Review
"An interesting source for studying the effects of early biculturalism."—Denver Westerners Roundup
Review
"Creeks and Southerners is a sophisticated, well-written account of Creek society in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Frank draws on . . . many fascinating frontier characters [relating them] to the larger forces forging a new social landscape around them."—Gregory A. Waselkov, Alabama Review
Review
"Creeks and Southerners provides useful insight into the formation of Creek identity. It would be useful to historians studying European-Native American relations or Creek history. . . . Frank's story offers a good deal of insight into the various conflicts and increasing tensions that ended with forced Indian removal."—Jeremy Pressgrove, Southern Historian
Review
“Serious studies of race and identity in the American South are forced to confront a highly charged and complex history that continues to haunt us today. As a new attempt to see through those dark waters, Andrew K. Franks
Creeks and Southerners is a welcome and courageous work of scholarship. . . . [It] is a valuable effort to gain insight into a neglected area of southern scholarship.”—William L. Ramsey,
Journal of American HistorySynopsis
A renowned activist recalls his childhood years in an Indian boarding school
Synopsis
A renowned activist recalls his childhood years in an Indian boarding school
Best known as a leader of the Indian takeover of Alcatraz Island in 1969, Adam Fortunate Eagle now offers an unforgettable memoir of his years as a young student at Pipestone Indian Boarding School in Minnesota. In this rare firsthand account, Fortunate Eagle lives up to his reputation as a and#147;contrary warriorand#8221; by disproving the popular view of Indian boarding schools as bleak and prisonlike.
Fortunate Eagle attended Pipestone between 1935 and 1945, just as Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collierand#8217;s pluralist vision was reshaping the federal boarding school system to promote greater respect for Native cultures and traditions. But this book is hardly a dry history of the late boarding school era. Telling this story in the voice of his younger self, the author takes us on a delightful journey into his childhood and the inner world of the boarding school. Along the way, he shares anecdotes of dormitory culture, student pranks, and warrior games. Although Fortunate Eagle recognizes Pipestoneand#8217;s shortcomings, he describes his time there as nothing less than and#147;a little bit of heaven.and#8221;
Were all Indian boarding schools the dispiriting places that history has suggested? This book allows readers to decide for themselves.
Synopsis
Best known as a leader of the Indian takeover of Alcatraz Island in 1969, Adam Fortunate Eagle now offers an unforgettable memoir of his years as a young student at Pipestone Indian Boarding School in Minnesota. In this rare firsthand account, Fortunate Eagle lives up to his reputation as a andldquo;contrary warriorandrdquo; by disproving the popular view of Indian boarding schools as bleak and prisonlike.
About the Author
Adam Fortunate Eagle is an Ojibwe artist, writer, and frequent guest lecturer. As an advocate for Native civil rights throughout his life, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the State University of New York, New Paltz. He is the author of
Heart of the Rock: The Indian Invasion of Alcatraz and
Pipestone: My Life in an Indian Boarding School.
Laurence M. Hauptman is Professor of History in the State University of New York, College at New Paltz, and the author of several books on the Iroquois in New York state.