A Century of Dishonor: A Sketch of the United States Government's Dealings with Some of the Indian Tribes

Assimilation occurs when one people or community adopts the social mores of a more dominant group. In the book’s context, assimilation refers to Indigenous Americans adopting the habits and modes of thinking common among European-Americans. Jackson does not use this word, but she often refers to the general concept.

An administrative arm of the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs dates to 1824. As its name suggests, the Bureau of Indian Affairs oversees the implementation of all policies specific to Indigenous Americans and the US government’s system of reservations. Jackson quotes a number of Bureau officials.

Created in 1849, the Department of the Interior is a Cabinet-level department in the US government. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is housed under the Department of the Interior. Jackson quotes the Interior Department’s annual reports and engages in a brief correspondence with Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz.

As a specific, geographic location, the phrase “Indian Territory” refers to what is now the state of Oklahoma. In the 19th century, many tribes, including the Cherokee, were forcibly removed to Indian Territory. Some tribes, including the Poncas, found conditions in Indian Territory deplorable and attempted to flee.

Sometimes called the Dakota War or the Sioux Uprising, the Minnesota Sioux War of 1862 pitted some Sioux against US settlers on the Minnesota frontier in a costly and bloody conflict marked by atrocities against civilians and fueled by decades of festering Sioux grievances. The US War Department sent General John Pope, who recently had commanded Union forces at the Second Battle of Bull Run, to fight and defeat the Sioux. After the war, many hostile Sioux fled northward, while non-combatant Sioux and other tribes were expelled from Minnesota.

The Removal Era generally refers to the decade immediately following passage of the 1830 Removal Act, by which thousands of Indigenous Americans, including the Cherokees, were forced to leave their homes and move west of the Mississippi River. Jackson’s book, however, calls into question the idea of a single removal era, for she shows that removals occurred with regularity throughout the 19th century.