And peacekeepers and conquerors about the u. S. Armys Officers Corps on the borders and frontiers between the war of 1812 and the war with mexico. Which together won the distinguished book award from the society for military history. Incidentally cited military history of which we are a part. Professor watson is coeddy tore of the history of warfare which won the society for military history george c. Marshall Foundation Prize for the use of Digital Technology teaching military history. He is coeditor of the west point history of the civil war which won the distinguished writing award. And he is also a coauthor of the west point history of the american revolution. Forthcoming from simon shuster, this autumn. Professor watson teaches courses at westpoint on 19th century warfare and 19th Century America and about the american frontier. Ladies and gentlemen, tonight, sam watson. [ applause ] thank you. Bob. Thanks to all of you. Bob noted ive been teaching west point for 18 years and gave
American experiences into American History. And i suggested kind of a little cameo appearances, pocahontas, indians waving rifles at wounded knee in 1973. Doesnt really help. And i think on sunday i said if we really did this seriously and effectively, we would come up with a very different narrative of American History. And that may not be attainable and it may not even be desirable because we live in the real world. And School Boards and textbook publishers and so on may have problems with that. So there is another approach. Thats what im going to suggest today. Is to look at, if you like the narrative we have, right, the one that i critiqued yesterday. That east west narrative of American Growth and expansion of the nation. To look at that and identify in that narrative a missing strand. And that missing strand would be the native american strand. What im going to talk about this morning is kind of a large swath of American History where i pull out native american strand out of it a
Gregory according to the u. S. Census, almost one million americans suffer identify as cherokee. Everyone travels the United States, someone is likely to lay claim to a cherokee ancestors somewhere in their family tree. In fact, as far as scotland, hawaii, even australia and chances are youll meet someone who insists that they are descended from cherokee forebears. How can so many people on the scattered all over the world claim to be cherokee . Historian Gregory D Smithers addresses this question in his new book the cherokee diaspora an indigenous history of migration, resettlement, and identity. He reveals for the first time the origins of the dispersion of the cherokee people. He takes the reader back to the 18 and 19 centuries to uncover the importance of migration and tradition,nds, and and culture and language in defining what it means to be cherokee while living in diaspora. The story is a remarkable one. Full of bravery, innovation, and resilience. Gregory smithers is associate
Chair keep,orical maps, storytelling, and pictures to explore my friday of people identify with the Cherokee Nation. Mr. Smithers according to the u. S. Census, nearly one million americans self identify as cherokee. Wherever someone travels in the united states, they will likely someone in their family tree who identifies as cherokee. Trouble as far as scotland, australia, and someone will claim to have cherokee for ers. Ers forbear Gregory Smithers reveals for the first time the diaspora of the cherokee people. He takes readers back to the 18th and 19th century to recover the importance of migration, land, choosing, and culture and language into defining what it means to be cherokee while living in diaspora. The story is a remarkable one, filled with bravery, innovation, and resilience. Gregory smithers is associate professor of history at virginia commonwealth university. His research and writing focuses on history of native americans and African American people since the 18th centu
That everybody else has and to be told he cant have that . John demos repressor emeritus at the university is next on booktv. He recounts the creation of the school by a group of protestant ministers in the 19th century whose goal was to evangelize and educate students throughout the world namely native americans and Pacific Islanders and then send them back to their respective communities as missionaries. This is about an hour and a half. Thank you very much. I really appreciate the chance to talk to you tonight about this new book of mine. Its actually published only a week ago and to me this feels like a little like a kickoff of whats going to be actually a number of talks i will be doing here and there. This is the first one and a chance to try it out on all of you. I hope to be doing it later on as well but i will find out what works and what doesnt work when i talk here tonight. Let me just say that my plan for this presentation has two or three different parts. I will start by s