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Jeff Ostler

@Jeff__Ostler

Jun 24, 2023

I'm honestly puzzled by the desire of western historians to tame the 1889-90 Ghost Dance,

making it into a religion of accommodation,

instead of (what I think it was), an anti-colonial movement.

A short thread:

Elliot West's monumental new book Continental Reckoning objects to characterizing the Ghost Dance as "reactionary, a reflex to reverse the unstoppable flow of events"

This seems to me an overly easy way to dismiss the perspective that the Ghost Dancers wanted to reverse colonialism and return to the undeniably much better world that existed prior to its advent.

Read 6 tweets

Jeff Ostler

@Jeff__Ostler

Aug 29, 2022

My article refuting Gary Anderson’s denial of genocide during the California Gold Rush has been published by AICRJ.

A thread about why I wrote the article and its arguments (if you don’t have access, DM me and I’ll send a pdf).

As I was writing a chapter on California for vol. 2 of Surviving Genocide I realized that I had to look at Anderson’s argument that genocide did not happen in California (made in Ethnic Cleansing and the Indian [2015] and a forum in Western Historical Quarterly [2016])

Anderson is a credible historian and his argument against genocide has received support from credible sources.

Read 16 tweets

Jeff Ostler

@Jeff__Ostler

Mar 10, 2022

Was the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre a massacre?

I was dismayed to learn today from @develvishist that a 2019 publication by a prestigious academic press @OxUniPress @OUPHistory claims Wounded Knee was not a massacre.

A thread on why OUP should retract this publication:

The claim that WK was not a massacre appears in this book:

"In Harm's Way: A History of the American Military Experience."

It purports to be "the most current, comprehensive, clear, yet concise survey of US military history from colonial times to the twenty-first century."

@develvishist

Here is what the book says about Wounded Knee (thanks to @develvishist):

Read 25 tweets

Jeff Ostler

@Jeff__Ostler

Jan 17, 2022

A year ago Trump’s 1776 Commission decided to honor MLK day by releasing its REPORT!

Let’s have a look at a few of the slimy ways the commissioners appropriated MLK for their reactionary* agenda.

*Note: I did not say conservative.

In defense of American exceptionalism and upholding colorblind white supremacy, the 1776 Report opportunistically quoted MLK upholding the values of the Declaration of Independence.

The Report even had a photo of MLK at the March on Washington, as if MLK would agree with an agenda to stop all talk about race.

Read 11 tweets

Jeff Ostler

@Jeff__Ostler

Dec 29, 2021

In 1960, the great Dakota artist Oscar Howe painted "Wounded Knee Massacre," which I am posting today on the 132nd anniversary of the massacre, along with Howe's own little-known commentary on the painting.

In describing Wounded Knee, Howe wrote, "I have kept the painting semi-objective rather than abstract. It was not meant to be a shocker but merely a recorded true event." (yet, it really is a shocker!)

"There was more to the massacre, but I left out some of the gory details." (but note that a woman in the background is holding up a child, pleading for her life with a soldiers and to the right a soldier is bayoneting a child, so some of the gory details are there).

Read 19 tweets

Jeff Ostler

@Jeff__Ostler

Oct 4, 2020

Catching up on some of the responses by Jeffrey Flynn-Paul to criticisms of his Spectator piece. I'm struck by their fundamental dishonesty. Here's why:

In this one F-P says his essay is "mostly a response" to a BBC piece. That's just not true. In the Spectator he writes, "as this piece was going to press, an article was published by the BBC." He had written the whole thing BEFORE the BBC thing caught his attention.

(The BBC piece is probably idiotic, but so what. For F-P to hold it up as a target is a ridiculous strawman. He can't use it to dismiss hundreds of scholars who have worked hard for an accurate account of Indigenous history.)

Read 15 tweets

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