Robert G. Athearn Award from the Western History Association
In City Indian Rosalyn R. LaPier and David R. M. Beck tell the engaging story of American Indians who migrated to Chicago from across America to work and emerged as activists. From the 1893 Worlds Columbian Exposition to the 1934 Century of Progress Fair, American Indians in Chicago voiced their opinions about political, social, educational, and racial issues.
City Indian focuses on the privileged members of the American Indian community in Chicago: doctors, nurses, business owners, teachers, and entertainers. During the Progressive Era more than any other time in the citys history, they could be found in the company of politicians and society leaders, at Chicagos major cultural venues and events, and in the press, speaking out. When Mayor undefinedBig Billundefined Thompson declared that Chicago public schools teach undefinedAmerica First,undefined American Indian leaders publicly challenged him to include the true story of undefinedFirst Americans.undefined
As they struggled to reshape nostalgic perceptions of American Indians, these men and women developed new associations and organizations to help each other and to ultimately create a new place to call home in a modern American city.
Rosalyn R. LaPier (Blackfeet/Mundefinedtis) is an associate professor in the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Montana. She is the author of Invisible Reality: Storytellers, Storytakers, and the Supernatural World of the Blackfeet (Nebraska, 2017). David R. M. Beck is a professor of Native American studies at the University of Montana. He is the author of several books, including Unfair Labor? American Indians and the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago (Nebraska, 2019) and The Struggle for Self-Determination: History of the Menominee Indian History since 1854 (Nebraska, 2005).
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