An Unspeakable Sadness: The Dispossession of the Nebraska Indians

Of all the interactions between American Indians and Euro-Americans, none was as fundamental as the acquisition of the indigenous peoples' lands. To Euro-Americans this takeover of lands was seen as a natural right, an evolution to a higher use; to American Indians the loss of homelands was a tragedy involving also a loss of subsistence, a loss of history, and a loss of identity.

Historical geographer David J. Wishart tells the story of the dispossession process as it affected the Nebraska...