The British Museum Encyclopedia of Native North America [Paperback]

Rayna Green (Author), Melanie Fernandez (Author), Rayna Green (Author), Melanie Fernandez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1999

"My grandmother could make baskets. When I was a little girl, I would go with her down in southeastern Oklahoma to gather dye plants and buckbrush and honeysuckle ...I hated gathering black walnuts because they would stain my hands and clothes with a sticky black substance, and because they were hard to crack and eat. But mulberries tasted wonderful, and the pokeberries were juicy and fat and I loved the purple stain they made on everything. If we were gathering honeysuckle, I would help strip it of leaves and twigs, coil it in a circle for storing and carrying, then later strip off the bark after it was soaked and boiled ...My grandmother later in her life took the Baptist Church very seriously and she quit making medicines because the preachers told it was heathen nonsense. So she didn't make medicine for her arthritis, which made her hands hurt, and she quit making baskets ...But my house is filled with the baskets from Red Earth people. They tell histories ..." --Rayna Green, Cherokee An authoritative, fully illustrated reference book on the culture and history of the Native people of North America, from the 16th century to the present. The book explains ideas, issues, events, and themes in Native American history and culture through the materials, uses, and histories of objects and artefacts made by and related to the indigenous people of North America. It includes a wealth of stories, songs, recollections, and first-hand accounts of events from Native American people. The native cultures of North America flourished for many thousands of years before European contact. Indigenous North Americans developed a rich and varied social, political, scientific, spiritual, and material universe. While the arrival of Europeans some 500 years ago disrupted and changed their long-lived relationships with their lands, and with other native people, Indian nations exist today throughout the Americas, continuing to create and redefine their history. With over 300 illustrations, the encyclopaedia explores that history from a native perspective.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Green, an Oklahoma Cherokee, is the Director of the American Indian Program, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution; Fernandez is Community Arts Development Officer and Acting First Nations Officer, Ontario Arts Council. Theirs is a very interesting departure from what one expects in encyclopedias devoted to Native Americans, favoring a greater variety of topics with broader cultural relevance over an all-encompassing view of material culture and behavior. Among the carefully chosen topics are literature, art, invention and innovation, self-government, repatriation, and notable personalities, each placed within the broader context of a wide-ranging array of selected Native American groups. This work should foster a greater consideration of the rich diversity and cultural dynamic that characterizes all ethnic groups and encourage group discussion on a number of interrelated topics. Suggestions for further reading are included. For academic and all public libraries.AJohn Dockall, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Rayna Green is Director of the American Indian Program, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, and is herself of Cherokee descent. Her books include That's What She Said (Indiana University Press).

Melanie Fernandez is a Community Arts Development Officer at the Ontario Arts Council.

Product Details

• Paperback: 213 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253213398
• ISBN-13: 978-0253213396
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,535,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.