*****NEW ILLUSTRATED EDITION****** IT AMAZES ME HOW QUICKLY WE FORGET OUR HISTORY. JUST OVER 100 YEARS AGO THIS SPEECH WAS WRITTEN BY THE LEADING NATIVE AMERICANS OF OUR TIMES, YET VERY FEW PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT THE SIGNIFICANCE IT HAD ON OUR COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE OF TODAY. THE IROQUOIS CONFERENCE WAS ESTABLISHED TO MEET WITH SOME OF THE LEADING MINDS AT THE TIME TO DEAL WITH A PROBLEM EACH ONE OF THE TRIBES WERE DEALING WITH INDIVIDUALLY AS WELL AS NATION OF PEOPLE; DESTRUCTION OF THEIR PEOPLE AND LAND. IN THIS BOOK, THE PUBLISHER, HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT, WAS SENT TO THE CONFERENCE BY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT TO RECORD THE CONFERENCE AS IT WAS DELIVERED. HE WAS HIRED TO DO THIS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS AND WROTE DOWN HIS FINDINGS NOT ONLY IN REPORTS, BUT IN SEVERAL BOOKS DOCUMENTING THE CULTURE OF NATIVE AMERICANS. THIS WAS ESSENTIAL IN USING THE INFORMATION AGAINST THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLE OF THIS LAND TO MAKE PROMISES THAT WERE EVENTUALLY BROKEN AS WELL AS WIPING OUT THE ABORIGINAL POPULATION. IT IS SAD TO SAY THAT THERE HAS BEEN MORE WARS WAGED AGAINST THE ABORIGINAL NATIVE AMERICAN ON THIS SOIL WE CALL THE UNITED STATES THAN ANY OTHER WAR COMBINED. THERE HAS BEEN MORE LIVES LOST, IN THE NAME OF DISCOVERY, GOLD, AND RELIGION AGAINST THE NATIVE AMERICANS THAN ANY HOLOCAUST OR WAR IN THE WORLD. SOME SEE IT AS GENOCIDE, AND WE ALL CAN AGREE, MANY OF THE TRIBES ARE NO MORE. YET, WE HAVE A STRANGE CONNECTION TO THE INFORMATION AND THE HISTORY UNLIKE ANY OTHER. I BELIEVE YOU WILL FIND THE CONTENT OF THIS LITTLE BOOK BEAUTIFUL AND MOVING AS THE NATIVE AMERICANS MAKE THEIR SPEECHES FROM THEIR PERSPECTIVE OF HISTORY, THE LAND, AND ITS PEOPLE. BUT WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IS THE FACT THAT THE CHIEF TAKES HIS TIME TO NAME SEVERAL TRIBES OF PEOPLE AND THE LAND WHICH THEY ORIGINATE FROM AROUND THE WORLD AS HE DESCRIBES IN SO MANY WORDS THAT WE KNOW THESE PEOPLE, AND THEY ARE A PART OF THE HUMAN FAMILY; THEY ARE OUR DISTANT RELATIVES IN DISTANT LANDS; WE ARE ALL ONE. THIS BOOK BEING FULL OF PICTURES OF NATIVE AMERICANS LIVES GIVES US BUT A GLIMPSE AT SEEING THE WORLD IN THEIR EYES. I TRULY HAVE A GREATER APPRECIATION AND CONNECTION TO PEOPLE OF ALL COLORS AFTER READING THIS BOOK AS I BELIEVE AS THE INDIAN CHIEF; WE ARE ALL ONE. -ZAAFIRAH BEY, Editor and Chief Table of Contents: Forward by Zaafirah Bey PICTURE CHEROKEE WOMAN WITH HER CHILD THE WAS-AH HO-DE-NO-SON-NE Speech PICTURE OF BLACKFOOT CHIEF PICTURE OF OSAGE NATION IN 1924 WITH PRESIDENT CALVIN COOLIDGE SIGNING THE CITIZENSHIP ACT PICTURE OF STATEN ISLAND NY NATIVE AMERICANS 1822 PICTURE OF CHOCTAW INDIANS ON MISSISSIPPI RIVER PICTURE OF CATAWBA INDIANS IN ROCK HILL PICTURE OF CHIEF COOK OF THE PAMUNKEY INDIANS PICTURE OF PIMA INDIANS PICTURE OF IROQUOIS CHILDREN PICTURE OF INDIAN CHIEF CHEYENNE 1895 PICTURE OF HOPI INDIAN BOYS PICTURE OF INDIAN WITH EAGLE PICTURE OF CROW WARRIOR PICTURE OF CROW WARRIOR CRYING PICTURE OF CHEROKEE INDIAN NC PREFACE TO GENUNDEWAH PICTURE OF NAVAJO GENUNDEWAH, A LEGEND OF THE CANANDAIGUA LAKE NOTES PICTURE OF CHEROKEE FAMILY 1900 PICTURE OF THREE INDIAN BOYS PICTURE OF CHEROKEE COUPLE