|
|
|
Book Review
| War Dance at Fort Marion: Plains Indian War Prisoners. By Brad D. Lookingbill. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006. xiv, 290 pp. $29.95, ISBN 0-8061-3739-8.)
|
| Brad D. Lookingbill gives a new reading of a pivotal episode in American Indian history. To scholars of U.S. Indian policy, the 1875–1878 exile of southern plains warriors to Fort Marion on the outskirts of St. Augustine, Florida, signals the end of their armed resistance and their autonomy. Beginning with the writings of Richard Henry Pratt, the military officer who led the prison and shaped the experience, students of American Indian education have seen the exile as the beginning of a program of forced assimilation. Whether they have seen it as twilight or dawn, however, scholars have portrayed the prisoners as pawns. In a compelling narrative, Lookingbill argues instead that they were agents of adaptation and change. Unlike the children whom the Indian schools would come to target, these adult prisoners "borrowed tools, gained insight, and gathered intelligence in exile. Recognizing the constraints, they discerned ways to dance in the stronghold without forgetting who they were" (p. 9). |
. . . |
There are about 376 more words in this article.
Please log in (or, if you are not yet an
authorized user, please go to the
User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
|