Ned Blackhawk’s The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History is a groundbreaking exploration of the central role Indigenous peoples have played in shaping the history of the United States.
A historian at Yale and a member of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone, Blackhawk dismantles the myth that Native Americans were mere victims of European invaders. Instead, he argues that Native peoples were integral to every period of American history, contributing to its political, social, and cultural development in profound ways.
Blackhawk’s most provocative assertion is that Indigenous dispossession was not only central to the growth of the United States, but it directly facilitated the rise of white male democracy and the expansion of African American slavery.
The country was built for settlers, Blackhawk suggests, with the land taken from Native peoples fuelling agricultural expansion and strengthening the rights and wealth of white men, including those who owned enslaved people.
The dispossession of Native Americans, he contends, is a cornerstone of America’s historical flaws — an inseparable part of the legacy that continues to shape the nation’s inequality and violence.
A form of resistance
The book also dives into the painful history of Native American boarding schools, which were designed to strip children of their culture, language, and identity. Thousands of children were taken from their families, often placed in military-style institutions far from home.
This dark chapter of forced assimilation had lasting effects, but it also sparked a form of resistance. Many of the children who were subjected to this system gained enough knowledge about their oppressors to later challenge their domination in legal and political spheres.
In rejecting the traditional narrative of “discovery,” Blackhawk emphasises the long history of encounters between Indigenous peoples and European settlers. He explores how violence, disease, and slavery shaped early interactions, particularly along the northeast coast.
Massachusetts, often hailed as a “city on a hill,” was no untouched land. Smallpox and genocidal violence ravaged Native communities there as settlers moved in, pushing Indigenous peoples off their lands.
Throughout The Rediscovery of America, Blackhawk challenges readers to rethink the foundations of US history. He calls for a history that centres Indigenous peoples and their resilience, emphasising their agency in the face of violence and dispossession.
His work offers a powerful and essential re-examination of the American story, urging readers to confront uncomfortable truths about the nation’s past while acknowledging the enduring strength of Native peoples.
In doing so, Blackhawk reshapes how we understand the making of America, offering a history that is both more honest and more inclusive.
Ahmad Nazir is a UAE based freelance writer, with a degree in education from the Université de Montpellier in Southern France
