Race, Place, and Patriotism in Cold War Native America, 1941-1973

FAIN: FT-53647-05

Paul C. Rosier
Villanova University (Villanova, PA 19085-1478)

This project traces the evolution of Native Americans’ nationalist and racial identities in the crucible of the Cold War, from the end of World War II to the end of the Vietnam War. I explore the ways in which Native Americans used the Cold War rhetoric of freedom and democracy to defend Indianness and the cultural and political space known as the “reservation” during the Termination movement of the 1950s and 1960s, which attacked their sovereignty and land base through legislation and relocation policies. I emphasize how the Cold War and Termination contexts merged to foster an internationalist perspective among Native activists that dovetailed with and drew upon a burgeoning decolonization movement.

Media Coverage

Serving Their Country book review (Review)
Author(s): Brian Hosmer
Publication: Pacific Historical Review
Date: 2/1/2011
Abstract: Rewiew of Serving Their Country.
URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/phr.2011.80.1.137

Serving Their Country book review (Review)
Author(s): Laurence Hauptmann
Publication: Journal of American History
Date: 9/1/2010
Abstract: Review of Serving Their Country.
URL: http://jah.oxfordjournals.org/content/97/2/580.full.pdf+html

Serving Their Country book review (Review)
Author(s): Joy Porter
Publication: Journal of American Studies
Date: 8/1/2011
Abstract: Review of Serving Their Country
URL: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8350509

Serving Their Country book review (Review)
Author(s): Dan Cobb
Publication: American Historical Review
Date: 4/1/2011
Abstract: Book Review of Serving Their Country.
URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/660670

Serving Their Country book review (Review)
Author(s): Ken Philp
Publication: Western Historical Quarterly
Date: 4/1/2011
Abstract: Review of Serving Their Country
URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/westhistquar.42.issue-1

Serving Their Country (Media Coverage)
Author(s): ---
Publication: Upper Merion Towhship Book Chat
Date: 10/1/2010
Abstract: Cable TV interview about Serving Their Country.

Associated Products

Serving Their Country: American Indian Politics and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century (Book)
Title: Serving Their Country: American Indian Politics and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century
Abstract: Over the twentieth century, American Indians fought for their right to be both American and Indian. In an illuminating book, Paul C. Rosier traces how Indians defined democracy, citizenship, and patriotism in both domestic and international contexts. Battles over the place of Indians in the fabric of American life took place on reservations, in wartime service, in cold war rhetoric, and in the courtroom. The Society of American Indians, founded in 1911, asserted that America needed Indian cultural and spiritual values. In World War II, Indians fought for their ancestral homelands and for the United States. The domestic struggle of Indian nations to defend their cultures intersected with the international cold war stand against termination—the attempt by the federal government to end the reservation system. Native Americans seized on the ideals of freedom and self-determination to convince the government to preserve reservations as places of cultural strength. Red Power activists in the 1960s and 1970s drew on Third World independence movements to assert an ethnic nationalism that erupted in a series of protests—in Iroquois country, in the Pacific Northwest, during the occupation of Alcatraz Island, and at Wounded Knee. Believing in an empire of liberty for all, Native Americans pressed the United States to honor its obligations at home and abroad. Like African Americans, twentieth-century Native Americans served as a visible symbol of an America searching for rights and justice. American history is incomplete without their story.
Year: 2009
Primary URL: http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674036109
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780674036109

Prizes

Labriola Center American Indian National Book Award
Date: 5/1/2010
Organization: Labriola National American Indian Data Center at Arizona State University
Abstract: Best American Indian history of 2009

Native Americans' enduring struggle for justice (Blog Post)
Title: Native Americans' enduring struggle for justice
Author: Paul C. Rosier
Abstract: The history of Native Americans symbolizes the long path of American history – and in the 20th century the nation and the race continued to intersect through world wars, cold wars and cultural wars. Paul C. Rosier traces the way American Indians defined their cultural and spiritual values in the context of U.S. engagements at home and overseas. In his book, “Serving Their Country: American Indian Politics and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century,” recently released by Harvard University Press, Rosier shows how Native Americans' struggles for rights and justice are – like the efforts of African Americans – an integral part of the development of American society. Rosier is an associate professor of history at Villanova University.
Date: 3/9/2010
Primary URL: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/political-bookworm/2010/03/native_americans_enduring_stru.html
Blog Title: Washington Post Political Bookworm

Veteran's Day Keynote Lecture (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Veteran's Day Keynote Lecture
Abstract: Gave lecture on Serving Their Country, marking Veteran's Day at the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington DC.
Author: Paul C. Rosier
Date: 11/11/2009
Location: National Museum of the American Indian, Washington DC
Primary URL: www.nmai.si.edu/press/releases/20091022_HeritageMonth.pdfSimilar

“The Boundaries of Native American Patriotism in Cold War America" (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “The Boundaries of Native American Patriotism in Cold War America"
Author: Paul C. Rosier
Abstract: Explored 20th century American Indian patriotism during the Cold War.
Date: 4/1/2007
Conference Name: Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting

“The Boundaries of Native American Patriotism in Cold War America." (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “The Boundaries of Native American Patriotism in Cold War America."
Author: Paul C. Rosier
Abstract: Explored 20th century American Indian patriotism during the Cold War.
Date: 4/1/2007
Conference Name: Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting

“Native Americans and the Cold War" (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “Native Americans and the Cold War"
Author: Paul C. Rosier
Abstract: Explore American Indians' experiences during the Cold War at the American Indian Workshop, Paris, France.
Date: 5/1/2007
Conference Name: American Indian Workshop, Paris, France

“‘They Are Ancestral Homelands’: Cold War Politics and Indian Nationalism, 1945-1957" (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “‘They Are Ancestral Homelands’: Cold War Politics and Indian Nationalism, 1945-1957"
Author: Paul C. Rosier
Abstract: Gave paper on American Indians' cold war politics; organized the panel
Date: 1/3/2006
Conference Name: American Historical Association Annual Meeting

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