Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage

by William Loren Katz

Overview

The compelling teen nonfiction account of how two heritages united in their struggle to gain freedom and equality in America.

The first paths to freedom taken by runaway slaves led to Native American villages. There, black men and women found acceptance and friendship among our country’s original inhabitants. Though they seldom appear in textbooks and movies, the children of Native and African American marriages helped shape the early days of the fur trade, added a new dimension to frontier diplomacy, and made a daring contribution to the fight for American liberty.

Since its original publication, William Loren Katz’s Black Indians has remained the definitive work on a long, arduous quest for freedom and equality. This new edition features a new cover and includes updated information about a neglected chapter in American history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442446373
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	01/03/2012
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	85,582
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	1130L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

William Loren Katz is the author of forty books, including such award-winning titles as Breaking the Chains: African American Slave Resistance, The Black West, and Black Women of the Old West. He has lectured in Europe, Africa, and the United States; he has been a Scholar in Residence at Teachers College, Columbia University; and he has served as a consultant to the Smithsonian Institute and to school systems from California to Florida and England. He lives in New York City. Visit him at WilliamLKatz.com.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	3
1	If You Know I Have a History	9
2	They Fled Amongst the Indians	20
3	Between the Races We Cannot Dig too Deep a Gulf	33
4	The Finest Looking People I Have Ever Seen	49
5	We Are All Living As in One House	63
6	That You Know Who We Are	76
7	He was Our Go-Between	89
8	Their Mixing is to be Prevented	100
9	Like the Indians Themselves	114
10	Blood so Largely Mingled	126
11	The Finest Specimens of Mankind	141
12	No Bars can Hold Cherokee Bill	154
13	The Greatest Sweat and Dirt Cowboy that Ever Lived	169
	Acknowledgments	189
	Bibliography	191
	Index	195

Editorial Reviews

Gr 6 Up Most Americans remain totally unaware of the biological and cultural bonds which were established by African slaves and American Indians. Using a variety of tertiary sources, Katz has attempted to reconstruct a legacy among two peoples who, for a while, provided mutual support and refuge from the unrelenting atrocities inflicted upon them by greedy whites. Although aspects of the separate histories are provided, a stronger emphasis is on black Indians whose swarthy complexion or curly hair was apparentan obvious limitation of definition. Black Indians who are more or less familiar (Crispus Attucks and Paul Cuffee) are identified, as are the unfamiliar Zeferina, a woman commander of a black Indian settlement, and O. S. Fox, editor of the Cherokee Afro-American Advocate . Katz makes it clear that much of this history is extremely well hidden or entirely lost, and numerous references are made to nameless black Indians. Because of the lack of information, too many statements are less than definitive. Another disturbing feature is Katz' practice of quoting without documenting his sources. Although incomplete, this highly readable and sad chronology of a hidden heritage is needed and welcomed. Helen E. Williams, University of Maryland, College Park

School Library Journal