Custer Died For Your Sins / Vine Deloria Jr / 1969

Custer Died For Your Sins / Vine Deloria Jr / 1969

feel like this book is the Native version of Souls of Black Folk and Black Marxism, dutifully teasing out a history of indigenous resistance and spelling out elements of Native culture in a sharp and stirring voice. Chapters in, I realized Deloria was the predecessor of the gorgeous and erudite poetic sweeps taken by Tommy Orange in his novels.  The Du Bois comparison comes from Delorias's historic breakdown of the indigenous plight with attention to cultural elements like Native humor (compare this to Du Bois breakdown of the blues and spiritual tradition). The Robinson comparison comes from Deloria's critical Marxist leanings and biting humor. I deeply appreciate Custer Died for Your Sins for elucidating the relationships between Black and Native movements, including the lack of enthusiasm in some Native circles for the civil rights movement: the US government doesn't follow its own laws, so many viewed the Civil Rights Movement as a lost cause, and the sense among some indigenous folx that Black people were gonna fall into an identity trap in the Black Power movement.  Deloria includes a breakdown of native caricatures in pop culture and media that really provided context for the ways racism differed for Blacks and Natives. Deloria occasionally ventured into strange but fun arguments, such as his chapter on how white people were returning to tribalism via corporate culture, but by and large, Delorea provides a much needed history and perspective on where the Native leftist movement has been and where it needs to go.  His critiques of the Bureau of Indian Affairs effectively changed parts of the agency in the years after publication.  While not perfect, Custer Died for Your Sins did A LOT to fill in the gaps of my own miseducation.  4.5/5