This course will survey Native American history from before first contact with Europeans to the end of the nineteenth century. It will introduce students to recent research that highlights the diversity and complexity of Native American experiences and the myriad ways that Native nations have shaped the history of the United States. While attending to the devastating consequences of epidemic diseases, settler colonialism, and cultural assimilation programs on the indigenous peoples of North America, we will resist simplistic narratives of conquest and decline. Throughout the semester, we will examine speeches and autobiographical writings of Native Americans alongside other historical documents, including maps, treaties, paintings, and photographs.
- Enseignant: William Slauter