President Lincoln and the Sioux Indian uprising in Minnesota in 1862

[Thomas Thorne]

[quote='Rob Wick' pid='22895' dateline='1376659716']
I don't know too many historians who preach how evil the United States is.

I suppose Howard Zinn might be the most famous. There has been a spate of recent articles about Zinn. who despite condemnation by reviewers across the political spectrum, made a fortune from his "People's History of the United States". and is a favorite of the extreme left.

I must disagree with the idea that Laurie Verge's pupils were the only students in the United States who were taught about the travails of the American Indian and that Americans were ignorant about the subject.

I remember being read to in the 4th grade by my partly Native American teacher, a childrens' book about a real New York woman named Mary Jamieson who was kidnapped by Indians and lived happily thereafter as an Indian.

The teacher suffered no ill treatment for reading this book to us. She even sent me a postcard one summer showing Mary Jamieson's grave.

There is a myth that classic Hollywood never showed mistreatment of Native Americans. Off the top of my head I can think of seven popular movies made no later than 1954 that did so. This includes works by writers like Zane Gray and directors like John Ford with stars such as John Wayne and Errol Flynn.

It is easy for us to condemn our ancestors for their treatment of Native Americans. Words are cheap. No one has proposed the most morally correct solution of having their descendants give the country back to the descendants of the dispossessed and head back to Europe.
Tom