Dr. Gregory d. Smithers, an associate professor of history at virginia commonwealth university, specializes in native American History, hes the author of several books including the cherokee diaspora an indigenous history of migration, resettlement and identity, about which greg spoke here a few years ago. And his newest book on the subject of todays lecture, native southerners indigenous history from origins to remov removal. So please give a warm welcome to our friend, greg smithers. [ applause ] let me first begin by acknowledging the traditional landowners of this region. Members of the powotan chiefdom and the chicohomonie people. Thank you to Graham Dozier who organized todays lecture. Thank you very much. Its much appreciated and its lovely to be back here at the Virginia Museum of history and culture. I hope i got that right. Im going to begin today by talking just a little bit about the artwork on the cover of my new book. This is a piece by chief terry saul. Hes a was hes passed now, hes walked on. Chief terry saul was a chickasaw and choctaw. Born in 1921 in hoeoklahoma. Anyone who knows anything about that part of the world in the 1920s and 30s will know it wasnt an easy place to be native american. And so chief terry saul grew up seeing lynchings on a fairly regular basis. Lynchings of both native and africanamerican people. He grew up experiencing impoverishment and vicious racism on an almost daily basis. So you had to be tough. You had to be resilient. And you had to have something of a sense of humor. It seems sauls parents had a sense of humor because they named their child chief which utterly confused white people throughout oklahoma as he grew to man hoohood in the 1930s and 40s. He was never a chief of tbut he grow up to become a wonderful native american artist. He served briefly in the Second World War and when the war was over, the g. I. Bill helped him attend the university of oklahoma where he pursued his education and passion for art. And its at the university of oklahoma that chief terry saul learned the rudiments of cubism and surrealism. Artistic methodologies and trends that were very popular in the early 20th century. These helped chief terry engage with traditional native stories that hed grown up hearing relatives and Family Friends telling him about. In particular, surrealism which influences this piece here which is entitled the warrior. Its a piece that sort of evokes an attempt on the part of this warrior to sort of step back, to find a portal, a passage, to another series of stories, another time and place. Another level of consciousness. All themes that are very much in keeping with the traditions of surrealism. Anyone who knows anything about their art history. And also very much in keeping with many of the narrative oral narrative traditions within native culture, particularly the native south. And so it is a different set of stories that im going to share with you today. A different set of stories that place the American South as we know it today in a very different light. Im going to use a different lens to talk about the history of the southeast. And so some of this may come as something of a shock. What stories, what stories do we emphasize when we cease to take a ural American Perspective for granted and look at southern history through an indigenous series of lenses . What stories matter, what events matter. As well see over the next 35 minutes or so, theres a very different perspective that emerges. It sometimes overlaps with uralamerican and africanAmerican Perspective on southern history, but it is, nonetheless, a different perspective that native people bring to this history. And i should begin by just emphasi emphasizing, and this will really rock your socks, that virginias not part of the south. What . At least not all of virginia. Now, the southern culture zone that native americans called home prior to contact and, indeed, after contact with europeans, begins roughly around the nodaway river, among the nodaway peoples, and in what is today southwestern virginia. That was traditionally cherokee hunting lands. Its in those hunting lands that cherokee warriors, in particular, often had contact with the monokin in central virginia. So the geography of the south changes when we take a native perspective on southern history and this is something that i developed and explained in more detail in the book. In addition, also the stories and the way we talk about the stories of the south change as well. Let me just sort of talk about someone who you probably all have heard of before. A young girl in the 17th century by the name of pocahontas. Shes often thought of as a friend to the english. Marries john rolf. Saves john smith. These are mythologies. These become historical truisms over time that become embedded in the theology of not only virginia history, southern history, American History. And they tell us far more about europeanamericans and the history of colonialism than they do about modawaka, or pocahontas, the powotan people. They tell us a story really about American National mythmaking and its those mythologies that im trying to work against here. In this book. Im trying to not necessarily throw all of those mythologies out with the bathwater, as it were, but to provide a little bit of Historical Context from a native perspective. The reason i want to do that and the reason i want to share some of those stories with you today is because theyve been for too long relegated to the margins of American History. For native people, in particular, not just in the native south, but elsewhere, stories are hugely important to constructing a sense of community, of kinship, of politics. I just want to read for you very quickly if youll indulge me the first paragraph of the book because this underscores where im coming from and how im trying to tap in to the importance of stories in native American Culture and history. Stories matter. Stories tell us about our ancestors. About ourselves. And about our communities. Storytelling is a gateway to meaning. Stories help us to understand our individual and collective experiences. And they add layers of meaning to a sense of place or home. In short, stories inform our world views and our identities. This is particularly true for native people. Its not to say that stories remain static and dont change. Quite the opposite occurs. Stories do, indeed, evolve, change, and are innovated over time. And we see that throughout the native south. From the time of contact and even through to the present. Now, there are many stories that i could share with you this afternoon. Im going to jump into the year 700 and begin by talking about stories that the architecture of the native south, what stories, what messages, do they convey to us. The first thing you notice is that the map of the south looks a little bit different. It roughly overlaps with what we might recognize as the southeast today. But what you see on the screen there are representations of different culture zones throughout the south, mississippi and up into what we might call today the midwest. The dots you see represented on the screen there, they are indicative of some of the best and most thoroughly studied archaeological sites and its one site, in particular, that im going to emphasize this afternoon. Its this place. Very special place. This is moundville. Moundville is located just outside of what is today tuscaloosa in alabama. Its a society that grew in prosperity and influence, regional influence, but about the year 1000 in the common era. We begin to see population growing and growing quite dramatically at the site that archaeologists have referred to as moundville. Over the next century. So that by 1150 in the common era, we see monumental architecture has emerged. Many hundreds, possibly thousands, of people call this place home. Its a diverse economy that they these people are cultivating. An Exchange Economy with outside native communities. And a society that engages in both warfare and diplomacy with non kin members. So by about 1150, moundville has begun to enter into an era that will last about 200 or so years of quite incredible prosperity and cultural productivity. Stories told both orally with dance and with architecture begin to mark the landscape. The mounds that you see still to this day at the moundville site told a story in and of themselves. These mounds indicated a sense of social rank and order within the society of moundville. There were approximately 29 mounds that were constructed. They were constructed to last. This is truly monumental architecture that were talking about here. I was mentioning to someone just when i came in this afternoon, talking about mounds and mound construction throughout the southeast, when you drive into the moundville state park, your breath is taken away. Its truly phenomenal that this these soaring structures built so many years ago now, almost a millenia ago, still stand. That was, indeed, the intentions of those chiefs and elders who had these quite extraordinary structures constructed. They were constructed to last. They were constructed to present to outsiders a sense of the strength and the power of the moundville community. And they were designed to remind people who resided at moundville of their place within this society. Chiefdom societies dominated the southeast from about 700 through into the 15th century and they begin to decline and shift into a new phase of their history at about the same time that europeans begin invading the southeastern culture zone. But before that happens, the people of moundville are enjoying a threecenturylong period of prosperity, just as other moundbuilding societies throughout the southeast are enjoying. These societies look for all intents and purposes to be wellestablished and utterly permanent in nature. Not only their architecture but their social structures. But this sense of rigidity, permanence, it actually belies the mailability, the fluidity that exists within native communities throughout the southeast. Moundbuilding societies, indeed, chiefdom societies, as we ethnohistorians refer to them, now sort of imprecise scholarly language, these societies ranged in degree of sophistication and political structure, but what they all had in common was this dynamism in which nothing could be taken for granted. Relationships had to be continually cultivated, nurtured, and people had to live up to ideals of reciprocity, to ensure both balance and harmony within a Community Like moundville but also to ensure balance and harmony in economic and diplomatic relationships with societies outside of your immediate kin community. So we do see members of these societies break away. They break away and they form their own societies for a variety of reasons. It may be that these societies, many of which grow very quickly, people on the peripheries of these societies feel mar marginalized. That should sound familiar to some of us. Marginalized people dont like really being marginalized, do they . So they break off and try to form their own societies. They renew kinship relationships of cultivate new kinship relationships with other communities. This was happening before european contact and it continues to happen at a greater pace and rapidity after europeans begin invadie ining th the southeastern culture zone in the 16th century. Today, we commemorate sites like moundville as examples of indigenous social, cultural, political, civilization. All of which preexists european colonization and many of these societies far and away more prosperous and culturally sophisticated, socially dynamic, than many of their european counterparts. London, paris, madrid. These are extraordinary places. So they fell, though, as i mentioned, because theyre deceptively fragile. Perhaps, better put, theyre more dynamic than outer appearances give them credit for. Moreover, native southerners covet and value, quite highly, the constant cultivation of relationships and alliances. Additionally, factors such as Climate Change began to impact native communities throughout the southeast and throughout Eastern North America during the 1300, 1400, into the 1500s. The impacts of Climate Change had a quite marked impact on agriculture and Economic Activity and were exacerbated by the disease and violence then that tended to follow europeans. Spaniards, the french, the english, and others. And so what emerges are new societies. Just as native people had always cultivated and innovated their cultural traditions, their sense of kinship and community, how do we cultivate and hold on to a sense of balance, harmony . How do we maintain tradition . That often requires change. Innovation. Adaptability. And so thats what we begin to see occurring on a more regular basis and at a more rapid speed from the 16th century. In the book, i refer to a term that we ethnohistorians use, the term is coalesce sensense. People like those people from the once powerful moundville civilization begin to migrate throughout the southeastern culture zone. They become refugees. Migrants. Looking for a new home. New place to settle. New relationships and kinship bonds to form. They innovate. They adapt. They coalesce with other groups of people who are also experiencing the same sense of displacementrootlessness, and they recreate their roots in the context of these many changes that ive alluded to. Climate change. Political structures. Fissuring and breaking apart. The arrival of very rude europeans, often very violent europeans, and the impacts of disease. What we see developing, then, over the course of the 16th century and into the 17th century throughout the native south, are dynamic, multilingual, multiethnic communities in which old traditions are reinterpreted anew, and new kinship societies form around town and regional identities. These communities come over time to be known you may know some of these names the cherokees. The creeks. The chickasaws. The choctaws. The lombies. The largest native population in the United States today. Still without federal recognition, by the way. And the cataba people. Formed out of the core of the mighty nassau peoples of the southeast. Neighbors to the cherokees. The cataba people formed relationships with both the fragments of older chiefdomera societies and they formed relationships with other new societies that are coalescing and coming into existence as political forces, as military forces. Over the course of the 16th and 17th century. You get a sense of those relationships from the map that you see on the screen here. This is a map that dates to 1721. It is the cataba deerskin map. At the certainty of the map of the nassau people who formed the political and cultural core of the cataba, and what you see branching off from that central political identity are these lines, these paths, connecting other communities, native communities, that have taken shape throughout the southeast. And also, you might see down the bottom here that sort of square box, the virginians. Virginians are on probation. Let me tell you why. Virginians were intrusive. They were rude. They tended to break agreements that they had formed with native southerners, both trade and diplomatic agreements. Good thing none of this has continued. And they were violent. And the violence ran the sort of spectrum from Sexual Violence against indigenous girls and women, to violence against young men and warriors and, indeed, peaceful communities who found themselves suddenly abutting what virginians called their backcountry settlements. So for that very reason, native people didnt turn virginians and carolinians, the english in the carolinas away, but they kept a very close eye on them and they tried to remind these europeans that they had to constantly live up to the responsibilities of the agreements that they had forged, the reciprocity that was at the core of identities, economic and political in nature, throughout the southeast and elsewhere throughout eastern native north america. You wanted to ensure, then, that you remained you kept, i should say, the wide path of peace open because if these paths were to become broken or you didnt find yourself on this map, then chances are you were at war with, in this case, the cataba. And so its very likely that cataba chiefs present the virginia english with a copy of this deerskin map to remind them of their responsibilities that they have entered into with the cataba people. Lest you become delinquent, virginians, on your agreement, theres a very real risk of you being erased from this map. Native people, then, in their ca catography, are stories of relationships, of friendships, that need to be constantly nurtured. Lest those relationship s splinter apart and end in war. This map that you see on the screen here tells a similar story. This is a chickasaw deerskin map from about 1728. Again, it places in this case the chickasaw at the center of the story and indicates, tells the story of who we have diplomatic and economic friendships with. Cant emphasize this strongly enough, you want to maintain the wide path of peace and you do that not simply by speaking without talking. That is, writing. English did that a lot and it didnt work out so well. Although they did want treaty. They did push for them and lobby for terms favorable to their communities, but you had to demonstrate through actions, through words, you had to perform the relationship on o regular basis. Very important. So, some of the stories ive shared with you thus far reveal how native American History, and most especially the history of native southerners, is not a static story. This is very much a dynamic moving story. Theres not one singular version of native history in the southeast. There is not one singular native american identity in the southeast. There is not simply one way than as now to be an Authentic Indian in the southeast. There are many ways. Native southerners create and recreate. They continue, indeed, to create vibrant and dynamic cultures and identities throughout the southeast and, indeed, as ive written about elsewhere, in dies a pra. These are rich stories. Theyre dynamic stories. Theyre stories that continue to keep these various identities alive and meaningful. Now, in the 18th century, the map on the screen is getting toward here, as im about to allude to, thing s do, indeed, begin o change and take another change and another turn in which these dynamic and adaptive qualities of southeastern native American Cultures will be tested and tested quite seriously over the coming century. The native south its important to emphasize this the native south is a map on the move. Native people are not static. The communities are not static. Their Belief Systems are not static. They dont exist as europeans like to try and and create this sort of image of the Authentic Indian. They dont exist outside of time. They very much are within history. They have a different version of history that emphasizes community and the cyclical nature of time and place, but they are very much attuned to the importance of constantly innovating and adapting and moving and shifting their identities, their community, sense of solidarity, when necessary. Responding in a creative and proactive way. Thats what we see in the native south and thats the example that im going to share with you as it relates to a group of people who some of you may or may not have heard of. The yamasi indians. That was their experience in the late 17th century and 18th centuries. They the yamasis became refugees. Migrants. In what is roughly, today, the border between georgia and florida. They joined a series of refugee and resettlement movements that were beginning to take place over the course of the 17th and 18th centuries. As the maps that ive shared with you on the screen attempt to indicate. These are maps that were made by jack forbes back in the 1970s. Jack was a historian at university of california davis where i received my ph. D. Hed retired by the time id got there but he remained incredibly influential into how i thought about native American History. Jack, for the record, charted his heritage back to here in virginia and the powitan indians. What he was trying to do with these maps that ive shared with you today is to indicate just this very point, native people are not static, native people respond to the world around them in very creative and active ways. So you see that in magnified tomorrow from the 1700s, the 18th century. Native peoples not only in the native south but throughout Eastern North America, responding and moving and resettling and recrafting their communities. This is, indeed, what the yamasi, the people who come to be known at the end of the 17th century as the yamasi were engaging in. This exercise in creation and recreation. Theyre beginning to tell stories here about how they create a meaningful sense of existence for themselves, for their children, indeed, spiritual and important number in native culture, 7. For yamasis, seven generations from now. Now, at the midpoint of the 17th century, refugee indian communities began traveling across what becomes what had become, excuse me, northern laflorida. Thats roughly as i mentioned a moment ago the borderland zone of modern day georgia and florida. Many of these refugee communities, native southerners, were fleeing violence. They were fleeing disease. And they were fleeing the increased violence of captive and slave raiding. These are slave raids that are being conducted by other native communities, other nate ive warriors often from the north and from the west. Of the people who come to call themselves the yamisis. Among the most violent and feared of these captive raiding groups, the chichimico indians that target particularly the peoples of the maha, ocutes and achezi chiefdoms, too bad i dont have a laser pointer, are located here in modern day georgia. As a result of these captive raids, members of these three chiefdoms begin to migrate toward the coast, and coincidental coincidentally, there are a number of native peoples along the atlantic and gulf coasts who are also moving away from the coasts, themselves. Weve got this movement of peoples from the inland and from the coast and theyre moving for different reasons. The groups of people who are moving inland away from the coast are trying to move away from the impacts of disease and contact with french, english, spanish, pirates. Those from the inland fragmented communities that are beginning to emerge, theyre trying to get away from these captive or slave raids that are fueling the european demand for labor. So the out maha, ocute, chiefdoms relocate their communities to the atlantic coastline. By the 1660s, then, spanish documents indicate that peoples known as the yamasis have coalesced. Around an area which is located just toward the Savannah River, just outside the headwaters of the Savannah River. They formed the yamasis, about a dozen new towns. This sporis important. Native identities that are forming, coalescing, during this period, are coalescing in town formati formations. And so these are decentralized political identities that are taking shape. And thats very much unlike the more centralized chiefdom cultural and political societies that had existed prior to this. This decentralization is both a strength and a weakness of native communities as they are beginning to reform, political identities, at least, over the course of the 17th and 18th century. And as i mentioned, one of the more influential groups of yamisis form a town away from the coastline, away from the mouth of the Savannah River not far from the mouth of the Savannah River, excuse me, near patatalaigo, which some of you may know from your civil war history, famous battle there. Other people who call themselves yamisis seek protection among missions who are at this point in the late 17th century under the protection of spanish catholic missionaries. Some yamisis seek out this protection, form new island communities under the protection of the missions. But they never, to the frustration of the spanish and the catholic missionaries, particularly, embrace christianity. They refuse to build churches in their communities, and they absolutely refuse to erect a christian cross. They want a diplomatic and economic relationship with these outsiders, but they dont want their religion and their cultural beliefs that theyre trying to sell. And this utterly infuriates missionaries not only at this time but throughout the remainder of the 17th and 18th century and does, indeed, continue to cause periodic tensions. By president the 1680s the yami communities are continuing to develop and some are continuing to move and relocate and reestablish. Again, its because of french pirates, for example, and english slave raiding along the atlantic coast, taking native peoples out of their towns and relocate forcibly relocating them to the slave plantations of the english caribbean. So yamisis are experiencing a mixture here of refugee movements and resettlement by the 1680s and as we move into the 1690s. So some, some of these communities in desperate search for stability, again, begin to move inland into the carolinas. Some of these communities, at least one of these communities, from colonial records, we know, grows to about a thousand or more. So these communities are beginning to take root and theyre beginning to form relationships, economic and otherwise, with both english traders and native american traders. By 1700, what weve seen is over the decade of the 1690s something quite extraordinary occur. The yamisis, the people who had formed these yamisi communities were telling stories with their feet. They were forming new communities to evade disease, violence, and slavery. But over the decades, 1690 through 1700, yamisis, themselves, seem to have become slave traders. In 1700, for example, the yamisi provided the english in carolina with 200 indian slaves. By 1710, that number had grown to over 1,500. Now, there are reasons why the yamisi might be selling other native people to the english. And i can talk about those if youre interested in q a and i talk more about them in the book, but one of the most important rationales or explanations for this is that native people in the southeast are not a homogenous, unified, political bloc. They have preexisting rivalries and this is a fabulous opportunity to try and undercut the political and economic power of some of their rivals. Now, lets move into the 19th century quickly here because this is where the story begins to really escalate in a negative way for the yamisis. They engaged in this trade in slaves. Begin to rack up a whole bunch of debts. Theyre selling slaves to the english and theyre buy iing manufactured items from those english traders but they cant seem to get terms of trade that get yamisi communities out of a state of perpetual indebtedness and those debts continued to rack up as we move through the 18th century. So theres a delicate economic balance that is existing here in the early 18th century. Its delicate both for the yamisis but its also delicate for the english because what we have here are the yamisis are tied to a Global Economy at this point. Certainly, dimensions to this economy in slaves and manufactured goods that the yamisi and debt that the yamisi find themselves not unlike other native southerners increasingly tied into over the course of the 18th century. The english, themselves, are fully cognizant of this. This is a quote that you see on the screen here by from george ross. A georgia colonist who in may 1714 recognizes, makes the recognition that if this province, georgia, were lost, the whole continent would suffer. As a recognition of the regional interconnectedness then of yamisis, native southerners, more generally, with colonists. Everyones fate is tied up increasingly together. So tensions in this context are beginning to rise. So that by the 1713, 1714, period, yamisis are increasingly expressing their frustration with the english. Theyre increasingly annoyed that theyre getting ripped off by english traders and theyre increasingly upset with the d disadi disadvantageous terms of trade that theyre experiencing. And so the gentleman on the screen here, thomas nairn, he decides in 1714, april 1714, that hes going to travel down or travel out to pokatalaigo and try and smooth things over with some of these influential yamisis. April 1715, he sits down, its april 14th, actually, to be exact. April 14th, 1715, he sits down to break bread and discuss the issues that are troubling yamisi chiefs and elders. The meal was pleasant enough. Conversation did at times become heated. Theres a lot at stake. Right . The stakes are quite high for yamisis and for traders like nairn whos also acting as an indian agent for the carolina colony. Nairn, nonetheless, went to bed that april 14th evening fairly satisfied that talks had gone well enough. Some sort of understanding had been reached and we could make progress on this in the following days. This is april 14th. Goes to bed the night of april 14th. Hes not going to see april 15th. Why . Well, unbeknownst to nairn, another indian agent, a guy by the name of john wright, is also in pokatolaigo that april. And its safe to say that wright and nairn really cant stand each other. Theyre competitive, theyre constantly trying to undercut one another politically and economically. And so wright is in town that april 14th to try to undermine nairns activities and negotiations and hes doing it, though, in a way that sends a shudder of absolute fear and dread down the spines of yamisi chiefs and elders. Wright promises to enslave the yamisi if they dont agree to his terms. This doesnt sit well with the yamisi. So, heres what happens. Nairn and wright are dragged out of their lodgings that evening in pokatolaigo. Nairn is dragged and affixed to a pole in the town center. Hes confused. Hes been slapped around a little bit so hes probably quite scared. As you would imagine. Gets probably gets a look around. Tries to get his bearings. He, no doubt, saw wright being dragged out of his lodgings and wright terminated pretty quickly. Wright was killed with very little ceremony. Nairn, on the other hand, wasnt quite so fortunate. He was, as i mentioned, affixed to a pole at the center of town and he was tortured for several hours, at least. According to one english source, a great number of pieces of wood, to which they set fire, punctured nans body. That, yes, this was a slow, painful, death, which indicated the story that the yamisi are telling here is that nan is speaking out of both sides of his mouth. They dont trust him, and so physically, your body is not only going to be ended, its life ended here, but your spirit, your soul, is going to be destroyed to ensure that you cannot in any way undermine or destabilize yamisi society into the future. This incident sparks what comes to be known as the yamisi war, and it it initiates a change in colonial policy among the english and a rethink among other europeans as well, certainly in terms of the nature of slavery and the role of indian slavery in this region. But what it does emphasize, i think, this particular story, very clearly, is that region. It does emphasize that towns and town elders and chiefs took the lead in negotiating with europeans. And this remains the case throughout much of the 18th century, this decentralized diplomacy which didnt serve the most centralized economic and political purposes of european colonialism very well at all actually. But served native southerners and their political interests reasonably well. Things do begin to change and the strength of this decentralized system will begin to come under increasing strain by the mid point of the 18th century, the seven years war and through the revolutionary war period. So much so that there is a major rethink that is beginning to go on throughout the native south and among native southerners, how do we respond to the emergence of the United States . Do we consist with a centralized model . Or do we embrace some sort of centralized political and diplomatic system . To answer that question, youll have to buy the book. Thank you for listening. Im happy to take questions. You described the situation with what he was thinking about, his attitude and when he went to bed. And later his death. What were the sources for this information . Very good question. So one of the wonderful things about the 18th and 19th century is people kept diaries they wrote. For a historian, its much more useful than this modern era. I cant imagine being a historian trying to piece together peoples thoughts based on tweets which are usually illegible anyway. So we have personal writings from nan leading up to this event. And we have accounts from other english officials who reported on anytime Something Like this happened, official reports had to be filed. It doesnt mean that those reports are strictly speaking accurate. And you need to read those colonial sources with a good deal of skepticism as you need to ask questions about all historical sources. So we get some of our information to answer your question directly from those types of sources. And then from the oral traditions that have been passed down and kept alive about the story among embassy people, we also get those accounts and those versions of the story, as well. So its a combination of written and oral stories that we as native american historians rely upon to try and approximate what the past looked like. In your introductory remarks, you talked about the myths around our understanding of indigenous people. Can you elaborate briefly on what some of those misconceptions are . I talk about this in other works and with my students who probably i think one of them is here today and has been with me all semester so is probably sick of hearing me talk about this. One of the things that emerges through throughout the colonial experience from very early is europeans even before they encou encounternative peoples have a sense of what they think they are going to find. And there are nothing short of indians, people who are in touch with nature and can communicate with wildlife and flora and fauna, for example. These stories help european colonists during the early centuries give some sort of meaning and purpose to what theyre doing, logic and rationale to what theyre doing in what most cases is an invasion and to sort of rationalize how these are people who exist outside of the civilized realm, that is christian realm. They are savages. They are pagans. So to frame them in that way and then to engage in war with some of these communities is indeed just because they have been constructed as being outside of that christian civilized norm. And you see this literally written sources from all european communities. So thats some of the earliest stuff. And then the stereotypes and the mythologies evolve over time. What i will say quickly about this in the interest of time is that you do see an appropriation that begins to gather momentum at various moments throughout American History that reflect a longing on the part of european americans to assert some sense of their own indignayty and political legitimacy over what they are calling north america or the United States. So whether its dressing up as indians and dumping chinese tea into Boston Harbor during the revolutionary war, whether its white southerners claiming that they are the true indigenous desce descendants of cherokee princesses who happen to work the slave plantations, or whether its Marketing Companies in the late 19th and 20th century who try to sell butter and soap and football teams by appropriating native then we see there is a lineage that you can chart in all of this. You can date it back as i do in my courses to those earliest. Thats a very thumbnail sketch to a very big question that i can go into more detail with for days. Tsome other readings like these books of 1491 or 1391, it seems i remember Larger Population numbers on the natives than what you did here. Well, some of the population numbers that i gave you were town specific. So im breaking them down into sort of more granular rather than macro figures. The population figures that we have in general for the americas in total and for north america in particular, we still have quite substantial ranges in Population Estimates that are based on a number of factors such as arcia logical evidence, from some of the estimates of early european contacts with native communities. And so you will still see to this day some quite dramatic macrolevel estimates of how large the native population of north america was in 1491 and 1492. But what i can say about that is that populations do decline, and they decline quite dramatically in the early 16th century typically as a result of its not just disease as most people usually think, although that does have a major impact, but it is violence. Its violence with both europeans and the increasing violence among native southerners, too, thats exacerbated as a result of pressure from europeans entering into the region and heightening preexisting tensions. That leads to an intensification of violence between different native groups. And then the impact during the 16th, 17th century into the early 18th century of indian slavery. We see people moved around throughout the American Continent and into the caribbean and places like cuba, as well. So all of these factors combined do lead to some quite major and dramatic demographic changes over the centuries immediately after european invasion. So greg will be in the lobby to answer any other questions that you might have. Happily answer them. And also to sign copies of his new book. Happily sign it. One more round of applause. Thank you. Labor day weekend on American History tv, tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of virginias first General Assembly held at jamestown. Explore our nations past on American History tv every weekend on cspan 3. Tonight on the communicators, George Mason University professor talks about the black hat Cyber Security conference in las vegas and the vulnerabilities associated with electric motors. So an electric motor has the control system, the power system and electromagneticism. Thats how it actually generates the momentum and the moment by essentially moving an electric wire across a magnetic field. So any and all of these components are subjected to some kind of interruption, disruption or moment that was not expected to be there. Tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan 2. American history tv is on cspan 3 every weekend featuring museum tours, archival films and programs on the presidency, the civil war and more. Here is a clip from a recent program. So on march 15th, on that day, george spent the entire day crafting a speech, agonizing over every word that he was going to say to those officers. And that evening, he went to the officers meeting. And as he came in, these were battle trained soldiers. These are men who had served with george throughout much of the conflict. As he went in, there are cold, icy stares almost froze george himself. He was friends with a lot of these men, but yet you would never know by the look on their faces. And as george began to speak, he tried to explain to these officers the larger cause they were fighting for and how they should remain loyal to that cause. And he looked out, and there was still this icy stare al him. He remembered he had a letter in his jacket from the continental congress, another letter where the congress was promising the officer would be paid and would be given their land as promised. So he pulled that letter out. And he opened it up because he was going to read it to them. And then all of a sudden, he paused. And he quietly made the comment, ive already grown gray in the service of my country. Now it seems im going blind. And all of a sudden, those icy stairs melted. What george had just done, he admitted his frailty. He admitted his weakness. He admitted his vulnerability that he had sacrificed so much for this cause that even his health was declining. And as he looked out over the crowd, many of those battle hardened soldiers had tears in their eyes. George simply folded up the letter, put it back in his coat, never read it and walked out of the meeting. The officers then voted unanimously to remain loyal to george and remain loyal to their government. You can watch this and other American History programs on our website where all our video is archived. Thats cspan. Org history. Next on American History tv, former Navy Fighter Pilot dan peterson, the first officer in charge and cofounder of the u. S. Navy Fighter Weapons school discusses his book, top gun and american story. In his illustrated talk about the program popularized by a hollywood film, he offered a firsthand account of the real story behind its development. The myth sewn yn associasmithso hosted this event. Good evening. Id like to welcome you to tonights program. To our members, im so glad that youre here. Its your support that makes events like this possibly. If you are joining us for the first time an equally warm welcome. Now is the perfect time to turn off your cell phone or anything else that might make noise during the program. Thank you for doing that. This past march marked the 50th anniversary of the u. S. Navy g
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