An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

“Settler colonialism is a genocidal policy.”

Dunbar-Ortiz succinctly makes a key point in this quote that forms the crux of her argument and a recurring theme that the United States is a settler-colonialist state and has roots in genocide of Indigenous peoples. Dunbar-Ortiz works toward her overarching goal to educate her audience on the realities of the past that she believes U.S. society can’t and shouldn’t deny any longer. In the process, she hopes to shatter long-standing myths regarding the origins and development of the United States.

“The notion that settler-indigenous conflict is an inevitable product of cultural differences and misunderstandings, or that violence was committed equally by the colonized and the colonizer, blurs the nature of the historical processes.”

Dunbar-Ortiz critiques methods and frameworks used to analyze U.S. history that are common among historians and schools. Here, she particularly rejects the characterization by some historians, as seen in many U.S. History textbooks, of colonialism as encounters or clashes between cultures, or “cultural differences.” Instead, she argues for the need to view history through a colonial framework to properly understand what happened and how the effects of the past carry into the future.

“We must act with vindictive earnestness against the Sioux, even to their extermination, men, women and children […] during an assault, the soldiers can not pause to distinguish between male and female, or even discriminate as to age."

This is a quote describing U.S. government genocidal policy toward the Sioux Nation from General William T. Sherman in 1873. It summarizes the popular attitude among Anglo-Americans at the time. It is also one of many examples that Dunbar-Ortiz includes to illuminate historical evidence of this type of policy throughout U.