description Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz Overview
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is an American historian, writer, and activist whose work examines Indigenous peoples, settler colonialism, land, and the political formation of the United States. Her book An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, published in 2014, presents U.S. history from the perspective of Indigenous nations and emphasizes the effects of colonization, dispossession, and state policy. The book is part of the ReVisioning American History series.
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What is Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz known for?
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is a historian, writer, and activist whose work examines Indigenous peoples, settler colonialism, land, and U.S. political formation. Her perspective challenges accounts of American history that treat westward expansion as an uncomplicated national success.
What is An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States about?
Published by Beacon Press in 2014, the book tells U.S. history from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and their resistance to colonization and territorial expansion. It examines conquest, forced removal, land seizure, and the political structures that supported settler colonialism.
Does Dunbar-Ortiz begin Indigenous U.S. history in 1776?
No, the book places the United States within a much longer history of Indigenous societies, European colonization, and land claims. It also follows those issues through the Revolution, westward expansion, the Doctrine of Discovery, and modern U.S. policy.
Why is the Doctrine of Discovery relevant to Dunbar-Ortiz's work?
She uses it to explain how European legal and religious claims were adapted to justify taking Indigenous lands. The concept connects early colonial documents with later legal and political arguments about U.S. territorial sovereignty.
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