Summary

Few populations around the world have been as deeply affected by outside cultures as Native Americans. The wide variety of people who lived in America prior to Western migration possessed an equally wide variety of faith, practices, and beliefs. This book is about how those beliefs began, how they changed due to the influence of outside forces, and how Native Americans today are working to preserve their faiths.

Tied deeply to the land and to nature, Native American faiths share some common traits. Native American Faith in America explores these basic beliefs, the “coming of the long knives,” and the impact of Western expansion, along with the ways that Native Americans and their faiths were deeply changed by this new civilization on their land. As the years have passed, many Native American ways have come into the general culture, influencing everything from fashion and music to medicine and sports. The dominant American culture continues to affect the social lives of Native Americans, both on reservations and elsewhere, while the sacred sites of some tribes have been the source of great controversy. In the political arena, Native Americans have been very active, and most of this political work, from the American Indian Movement to today’s reservation casinos, is based on faith and belief. Finally, the book focuses on how Native Americans young and old are working to ensure that their religious beliefs do not die out as some of their languages and customs have.

Coverage includes:

• Key concepts shared by most Native American religions
• Rites of passage in life
• Impacts of European conquest and Christian missionaries on native peoples
• The ways that Native Americans merge traditional beliefs with Christian faith
• Key political movements based on faith, including both Wounded Knee incidents
• Biographies of spiritual tribal leaders.

Specifications

Black-and-white photographs and illustrations. Bibliography. Glossary. Chronology. Index.