Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz grew up in rural Oklahoma, the daughter of a tenant farmer and part-Indian mother. She holds a Ph.D. in history and has been an activist in the international Indigenous movement for more than four decades.
The late great Howard Zinn, author of the now world famous book: A People’s History of the United States, was her friend and he played a role in convincing Beacon Press to commission and publish An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States.
This first part of the program brings you Dunbar-Ortiz’ description of North America before invasion, the emergence of the US concept of a chosen people, the development of the role of the US military as a force for genocide that seamlessly transitioned into the US foreign wars, the role of militias, a brief history of AIM, the American Indian Movement, and the consequences of the Gold Rush in California.
Dunbar-Ortiz is the author or editor of seven other books, including Roots of Resistance: A History of Land Tenure in New Mexico; The Great Sioux Nation; Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie, and Blood on the Border: Memoir of the Contra War. She lives in San Francisco.
I recorded Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz on Dec. 4, 2014, at Green Apple, one of the last used bookstores in San Francisco. Her book had been published two months earlier.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)
