The first intersectional history of the Black and Native American struggle for freedom in our country that also reframes our understanding of who was Indigenous in early America
Beginning with pre-Revolutionary America and moving into the movement for Black lives and contemporary Indigenous activism, Afro-Indigenous historian Kyle T. Mays argues that the foundations of the US are rooted in antiblackness and settler colonialism, and that these parallel oppressions continue into the present. He explores how Black and Indigenous peoples have always resisted and struggled for freedom, sometimes together, and sometimes apart. Whether to end African enslavement and Indigenous removal or eradicate capitalism and colonialism, Mays show how the fervor of Black and Indigenous peoples calls for justice have consistently sought to uproot white supremacy.
Mays uses a wide-array of historical activists and pop culture icons, “sacred” texts, and foundational texts like the Declaration of Independence and Democracy in America. He covers the civil rights movement and freedom struggles of the 1960s and 1970s, and explores current debates around the use of Native American imagery and the cultural appropriation of Black culture. Mays compels us to rethink both our history as well as contemporary debates and to imagine the powerful possibilities of Afro-Indigenous solidarity.
Includes an 8-page photo insert featuring Kwame Ture with Dennis Banks and Russell Means at the Wounded Knee Trials; Angela Davis walking with Oren Lyons after he leaves Wounded Knee, SD; former South African president Nelson Mandela with Clyde Bellecourt; and more.
About the Series
Beacon Press’s ReVisioning History series consists of accessibly written books by notable scholars that reconstruct and reinterpret US history from diverse perspectives.
“Nuanced and illuminating, this book is a worthy addition to a remarkable series.”
—Booklist
“This book reveals uncomfortable truths about the dehumanizing legacies of both capitalism and colonialism while forging a path of reconciliation between the Black and Native communities. Mays offers a solid entry point for further study. An enlightening reexamination of American history.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Accessible and informative . . . Mays’s colloquial voice enlivens the often-distressing history . . . This immersive revisionist history sheds light on an overlooked aspect of the American past.”
—Publishers Weekly
“This book underscores the importance of the bold truth-telling of American history. We all benefit when historians like Mays focus on dismantling misconceptions about Black and Indigenous struggles for liberation, justice, and unity.”
—City Book Review
“Dr. Mays reminds us that both the ‘Indian problem’ and the ‘Negro problem’ are, in fact, a white supremacist problem.”
—Melanin Mvskoke, Afro-Indigenous (Mvskoke Creek) activist
”Reading An Afro-Indigenous History of the US in addition to Beacon Press’s ReVisioning American History series more generally—are one among the many actions available to us for opening our hearts and minds into widening our circles of compassion and deeper solidarity across our differences.”
—The Rev. Dr. Carl Gregg, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick, Maryland
“Framed as an answer to questions in Mays’s life as well as in his scholarship, this is a startlingly ambitious and deeply engaging study. . . . Mays changes also the whole story of US whiteness as a system of thought and power. A perfect book to be read . . . to understand the mess we are in and the resources of those who resist.”
—David Roediger, author of How Race Survived US History
“Required reading to comprehend the deep historical relationship between the Indigenous peoples who were transported from Africa into chattel slavery and the Indigenous peoples who were displaced by European settler colonialism to profit from the land and resources, two parallel realities in search of self-determination and justice.”
—Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
“While we know that slavery and settler colonialism are intricately linked, Kyle Mays uniquely demonstrates that the afterlives of these two institutions are also linked. They provide the land, bodies, and capital for ‘newer’ systems of bondage to flourish, such as mass incarceration. You will never think of the peoples’ history the same way after reading An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States.”
—Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination
“Only twenty years ago, Kyle Mays’s voice wouldn’t even have passed through academia’s and media’s gatekeepers. The fact that a voice like this can be heard today and tell his own story is unexpected great news for America . . . and it’s just the beginning.”
—Raoul Peck, director of I Am Not Your Negro and Exterminate All the Brutes
Author’s Note
INTRODUCTION
Afro-Indigenous History
CHAPTER ONE
Indigenous Africans and Native Americans in Prerevolutionary America
CHAPTER TWO
Antiblackness, Settler Colonialism, and the US Democratic Project
CHAPTER THREE
Enslavement, Dispossession, Resistance
CHAPTER FOUR
Black and Indigenous (Inter)Nationalisms During the Progressive Era
CHAPTER FIVE
Black Americans and Native Americans in the Civil Rights Imagination
CHAPTER SIX
Black Power and Red Power, Freedom and Sovereignty
CHAPTER SEVEN
Black and Indigenous Popular Cultures in the Public Sphere
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Matter of Black and Indigenous Lives, Policing, and Justice
CONCLUSION
The Possibilities for Afro-Indigenous Futures
POSTSCRIPT
Sovereignty and Citizenship: The Case of the Five Tribes and the Freedmen
Acknowledgments
Notes
Photo Credits
Index
- “8 Historical Moments More Important to Native Americans Than the ‘First Thanksgiving,’” TIME, author quoted
- “Book by block,” Chicago Reader, book referenced in reading roundup
- “Crested Butte writer, bookstore owner on the cliches of writing in the West and 5 books that break that mold,” CPR News/Colorado Public Radio, book recommended in feature
- “Celebrate Black History Month with These 9 Great Books,” Next Big Idea Club, included in Black History Month reading roundup
- “20 Must-Read Audiobooks with Indigenous Narrators,” Book Riot, book included in audiobook roundup
- “Stolen Lands: A Black and Indigenous History of Land Exploitation,” YES! Magazine, author quoted in article
- “How a reader helped deepen my reflections on the history of oppression for America’s Black and Indigenous people: Nancy Kelsey,” Cleveland.com, columnist recommendation
- “Black and Indigenous: When the Way You Look Doesn’t Match Expectations,” Black Voice News, interview
- “An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States,” Wednesday Talk Radio/KBOO, live interview
- “An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States,” New Books Network, interview
- “America’s REAL Afro-Indigenous History w/ Kyle T. Mays,” Majority Report with Sam Seder, interview
- “Enrich your playlist this Black History Month with these 8 audiobooks,” Seattle Times, audiobook recommended in Black History Month roundup
- “An Afro-Indigenous Perspective on Policing,” YES! Magazine, excerpt
- “Afro-Indigenous Histories of the US,” 15 Minute History, podcast interview
- “Revisited – Distinct Histories, Shared Struggles: A Conversation with Prof. Kyle Mays about Indigenous Peoples Day,” Then and Now (UCLA), podcast interview
- “BAR Book Forum: Kyle T. Mays’ An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States,” Black Agenda Report, Q&A
- “An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States,” Next Big Idea Club, audio essay feature
- “Intersection of Black and Indigenous Resistance & Justice in the United States,” EcoJustice Radio/KPFK (Los Angeles), interview
- “Kyle T. Mays — An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States,” Boston Public Library, recording of author event
- “The Forgotten History of Solidarity Between Black and Indigenous Freedom Movements,” History News Network, essay
- “Black and Native lives in US history / Kyle T. Mays,” This Is Hell!/WNUR (Chicago), interview
- “Five things to do around Boston, Nov. 29-Dec. 5,” Boston Globe, announcement of author’s Boston Public Library event
- “Revisiting US History Through Black and Indigenous Perspectives,” Black News Tonight with Marc Lamont Hill/Black News Channel, live interview
- “Fell in a Hole (aka True Stories Underground),” For Real (Book Riot), book reviewed in podcast episode
- “5 Questions with Kyle T. Mays, Author of An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States,” City Lights (blog), Q&A
- “The Best New Nonfiction to Read This November,” Literary Hub, book included in November nonfiction roundup
- “Why We Need to Rethink Afro-Indigenous History in the United States,” Literary Hub, adapted excerpt
- “Representation and Black & Hip Hop Culture in Reservation Dogs,” Ethnomusicology Review, piece on FX series Reservation Dogs
- “The ways Afro-Indigenous people are asked to navigate their communities,” High Country News, Q&A
- “Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Black-Indigenous Youth Advancing Social Justice | Youth in Action,” National Museum of the American Indian, recording of panel event
- “Young, Black Native activists say it’s time to appreciate Indigenous diversity,” NPR, write-up about National Museum of the American Indian panel event
- “Buzz Books Fall/Winter Preview: Nonfiction Part 2,” Publishers Marketplace, book included in Buzz Books Fall/Winter nonfiction preview