City Indian

Native American Activism in Chicago, 1893–1934

Rosalyn R. LaPier, David R. M. Beck

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9780803248397
• eBook ISBN: 9780803278486
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Social Sciences

In City Indian, Rosalyn R. LaPier and David R. M. Beck tell the engaging story of American Indian men and women who migrated to Chicago from across America. From the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition to the 1934 Century of Progress Fair, American Indians in Chicago voiced their opinions about political, social, educational, and racial issues.

 

City Indian focuses on the privileged members of the American Indian community in Chicago who were doctors, nurses, business owners, teachers, and entertainers. During the Progressive Era, more than at any other time in the city’s history, they could be found in the company of politicians and society leaders, at Chicago’s major cultural venues and events, and in the press, speaking out. When Mayor “Big Bill” Thompson declared that Chicago public schools teach “America First,” American Indian leaders publicly challenged him to include the true story of “First Americans.” As they struggled to reshape nostalgic perceptions of American Indians, these men and women developed new associations and organizations to help each other and to ultimately create a new place to call home in a modern American city.

 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Photographs
• Preface and Acknowledgments
• 1. American Indians and Chicago in the Nineteenth Century
• 2. The World Comes to Chicago (The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition)
• 3. Indian Professionals in the City
• 4. Indian Encampments and Entertainments
• 5. The Indian Fellowship League
• 6. Emerging Organizations
• 7. Definitions of Indianness at the Century of Progress
• 8. Self-Determination
• Appendix of Tables
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• About Rosalyn R. LaPier
• About David R. M. Beck