American Heritage

Name: Oklahoma Freedmen of the Five Tribes
Brand: Angela Y. Walton-Raji
SKU: 9781467154772
Price: 17.99 USD
Availability: InStock

The American Heritage history book series highlights the little-known stories of America’s marginalized populations. Meet Bessie Coleman from the Lone Star state, the first black person in the world to earn a pilot's license. Discover how the Grand Dame of the Everglades protected Florida’s unique wildlife, and tour iconic symbols of old Richmond architecture, built by talented Black laborers and architects. Learn how to interpret Wabanaki art, call shotgun with the San Diego lowriders, and get a taste for Baltimore’s Little Italy, all within the pages of the American Heritage books. [View all American Heritage books]

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Oklahoma Freedmen of the Five Tribes

$23.99 $17.99 Save 25%

Jewish Settlers in the Arizona Territory

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Galveston's Juneteenth Story

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Apache Legends & Lore of Southern New Mexico

$23.99 $17.99 Save 25%

Canary Islanders of San Antonio

$23.99 $17.99 Save 25%

Texas Women First

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

Apache Sunrise

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

The Jefferson Highway in Oklahoma

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

Oklahoma Cherokee Baskets

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

Texas Ranch Women

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

African American Bryan, Texas

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

New Mexico Civil Rights and Justice

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

The Texas Ranch Sisterhood

$29.99 $22.49 Save 25%

Oklahoma Black Cherokees

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

The Inspiring Life of Texan Héctor P. García

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

Miracle on the Salt River

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

Hispanics of Roosevelt County, New Mexico

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

Oklahoma Freedmen of the Five Tribes

9781467154772

$23.99 $17.99 Save 25%

Explore accounts of Oklahoma’s Freedmen as told by their descendants in these stories of resistance and resilience on the Western frontier. The Freedmen of Oklahoma were black people, both enslaved and free, who had been living among the Indian nations. After the official abolition of slavery in 1866, they forged an identity as their own people as they faced the challenges of the western frontier. By 1906, before Oklahoma statehood, over 20,000 people were classified as “Freedmen” from Five Tribes: Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole Nations. For decades, their descendants have been rediscovering their family history and restoring its place in the larger narrative. Angela Walton-Raji has compiled this collection of stories, told by descendants from all five tribes, to ensure that the Freedmen of Oklahoma claim their vibrant part of the state’s heritage.

Jewish Settlers in the Arizona Territory

9781467154659

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Pioneers in Broadcloth
In the 1800s, territorial Arizona offered excitement and adventure to new arrivals, including many Jewish families. Anna Solomon tended the family's general store in the remote Gila River Valley while her husband, Isadore, cut timber and burned charcoal for the furnaces at Henry Lesinsky's Clifton copper mines. In Phoenix, young Morris Goldwater sat at the telegraph in his father's store, sending and receiving the messages that kept the town in touch with the outside world. To the west, Ike Levy navigated his barge around treacherous shoals and sand bars on the Colorado River.
Join author and historian Blaine Lamb as he reveals the unique characters and events that shaped the pioneer Jewish community of Arizona.

Galveston's Juneteenth Story

9781467155274

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Galveston was the birthplace of Juneteenth.

Issued in Galveston on June 19, 1865, General Orders, No. 3 announced to the people of Texas that all slaves were free. It is one of the Island's most important historical moments. Although Juneteenth has now become the basis for a national holiday, many Americans wonder how and why this date emerged as the basis for the oldest continually celebrated commemoration of the end of slavery. To even begin to answer these questions, it is necessary to return to the historic roots of the event itself. The Galveston Historical Foundation's African American Heritage Committee tracks Emancipation Day observances through previously unknown images and untold stories which are also part of an interactive exhibit experience at Ashton Villa, the site of Galveston's city-wide Juneteenth celebration.

Apache Legends & Lore of Southern New Mexico

9781626194861

$23.99 $17.99 Save 25%

Storytelling has been a vital and vivid tradition in Apache life. Coyote tales, the creation legend and stories of historic battles with Comanche and Anglo intruders create a colorful mosaic of tribal heritage. Percy Bigmouth, a prominent oral historian of the Mescalero and Lipan Apache tribes, realized in the early twentieth century that the old ways were waning. He wrote in longhand what he had learned from his father, Scout Bigmouth, a prison camp survivor at Fort Sumner and participant in the turbulent Apache Wars. Join author Lynda Sanchez as she brings to light the ancient legends and lore of the Apaches living in the shadow of Mescalero's Sacred Mountain. Seventy-five years in the making, this collection is a loving tribute to a way of life nearly lost to history.

Canary Islanders of San Antonio

9781467138215

$23.99 $17.99 Save 25%

Acting on a decree from the king of Spain, the first Canary Islanders arrived in San Antonio in 1731, just thirteen years after the city's founding. In the intervening centuries, the descendants of those sixteen families became inextricably intertwined with the story of their chosen home. From the formation of the first city council to the siege of the Alamo, they contributed to the formative moments of San Antonio's legacy. Several of these descendants collected oral family traditions and combed archival records to preserve this important thread running through the rich tapestry of San Antonio's heritage.

Texas Women First

9781626197145

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

American history is teeming with unconventional, trailblazing Lone Star women with big, unprecedented achievements—outstanding, outrageous, outré women who know all about being Texas Big and being first. Texas's own Bessie Coleman was the first black person in the world to earn a pilot's license. Students and typists the world over breathed a sigh of relief when San Antonio–born Bette Nesmith Graham released Mistake Out, now known as Liquid Paper®. Way ahead of the curve, University of Texas graduate Aida Nydia Barrera saw the need for bilingual educational programming and in 1970 started Carrascolendas, the first television show of its kind in the country. In 1981, El Paso's Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female justice of the United States Supreme Court. Join author Sherrie McLeRoy for an introduction to the exceptional women of Lone Star history.

Apache Sunrise

9781626198616

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

In July of 1970, a red Volkswagen bus pulled into the dirt parking lot of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' offices on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Arizona. It was 113 degrees as Sonja and Richard David, with their three children, stepped into a new world. On a job reassignment, the family left the turbulence of Chicago for a new start on the expansive high desert where the Apache leader Geronimo fought for his freedom against the United States Cavalry a century earlier. Over five years, the family immersed themselves in the community and formed deep bonds, some of which remain strong. In this poignant collection of true stories, author and activist Sonja White David vividly describes those years at San Carlos with delicacy and respect for the local Apaches.

The Jefferson Highway in Oklahoma

9781467136334

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

Oklahoma's central location makes it a natural crossroads, and the trails of yesterday became the superhighways of today. Perhaps the best example is Route 69, also known as the Jefferson Highway. The paved highway was begun in 1915, but its course was heavily traveled for centuries before that. Engineers could map no better path than the generations who cut it through the wilderness out of necessity. Author Jonita Mullins leads a journey along this ancient way that recalls some of Oklahoma's most important history and celebrates some of its most fascinating characters.

Oklahoma Cherokee Baskets

9781467119825

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

The forced relocation of fifteen thousand Cherokee to Oklahoma nearly two centuries ago left them in a foreign landscape. Coping with loss and new economic challenges, the Cherokee united under a new constitution and exploited the Victorian affinity for decorative crafts. Cherokee women had always created patterned baskets for everyday use and trade, and soon their practical work became lucrative items of beauty. Adapting the tradition to the new land, the industrious weavers transformed Oklahoma's vast natural resources into art that aided their survival. The Civil War found the Cherokee again in jeopardy, but resilient, they persevered and still thrive today. Author and Cherokee citizen Karen Coody Cooper presents the story of this beautiful legacy.

Texas Ranch Women

9781626195981

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

Texas would not be Texas without the formidable women of its past. Beneath the sunbonnets, Stetsons or high-fashion couture, the women of the Lone Star State carved out ranches, breathed new life into spreads and expanded acreage when husbands, sons and fathers fell. Throughout the centuries, the women of Texas's ranches defended home and hearth with cannon and shot. They rescued hostages. They nurtured livestock through hard winters and long droughts and drove them up the cattle trails. They built communities and saw to it that faith and education prevailed for their children and for those of others. Join author Carmen Goldthwaite in an inspiring survey of fierce Lone Star ladies.

African American Bryan, Texas

9781609496982

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

Bryan was incorporated in 1872, but it would take more than ten years before its African American population was offered schooling. Nothing would come easy for them, but they persevered through hard work, ingenuity and family support. The success of today's generation is a direct result of determined, hardworking pioneers like Dr. Samuel J. Sealey Sr., Bryan's baby doctor in the 1930s and '40s, and Dr. William A. Hammond Sr., who opened Bryan's first black hospital and employed many blacks through his business ventures. Learn about the inspiration and guidance provided by the likes of Oliver Wayne Sadberry, an outstanding community leader and principal of Fairview and Washington Elementary. Dr. Oswell Person shares the story of this community's achievements, successes and contributions in the face of incredible odds.

New Mexico Civil Rights and Justice

9781467159531

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Taking a stand for equality in the Land of Enchantment

Veterans returning to New Mexico after World War II found a home altered by more than just the explosion of the first atomic bomb. Former ranchers were forced to eke out a living in zinc mines, leading to protests of conditions that were memorialized in the movie Salt of the Earth, which both the film industry and the government tried to suppress. As the civil rights movement swept across the country in the 1960s, New Mexico found its own champions in activists like Reies López Tijerina, who denounced the widespread mistreatment and abuse of the helpless. Ray John de Aragón follows the heritage of protest in New Mexico, from folk heroes like Padre Don Antonio José Martínez to more contemporary battles against racism and prejudice.

The Texas Ranch Sisterhood

9781625858481

$29.99 $22.49 Save 25%

Most people may think of ranchers and cowboys as men. But although they are under-chronicled, ranch women work from dark to dark, keeping step with hired hands, brothers, fathers and husbands. They blaze trails through unforgiving scrub. They cook supper and feed bulls. At any given time, they wear the hats—and the gloves—of geologist, veterinarian, lawyer and mechanic. They are fierce and feminine and powerful. Photojournalist and writer Alyssa Banta spent over a year following more than a dozen Texas women through their grueling daily routines, from the messy confines of the working chute to the sprawling reaches of the back pasture. The result of this unprecedented access is an intimate portrait of the challenges and achievements of the ranch women of the Lone Star State, along with the land and livestock that sustain them.

Oklahoma Black Cherokees

9781625859952

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

Over the generations, Cherokee citizens became a conglomerate people. Early in the nineteenth century, tribal leaders adapted their government to mirror the new American model. While accommodating institutional slavery of black people, they abandoned the Cherokee matrilineal clan structure that once determined their citizenship. The 1851 census revealed a total population nearing 18,000, which included 1,844 slaves and 64 free blacks. What it means to be Cherokee has continued to evolve over the past century, yet the histories assembled here by Ty Wilson, Karen Coody Cooper and other contributing authors reveal a meaningful story of identity and survival.

The Inspiring Life of Texan Héctor P. García

9781467119016

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

As a Mexican immigrant, Dr. Héctor P. García endured discrimination at every stage of his life. He attended segregated schools and was the only Mexican to graduate from the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, in 1940. García's passion for helping others pushed him to advocate for equal rights. After serving in World War II, the doctor worked to help minorities achieve greater access to healthcare, voting rights and education. He started a private practice in Corpus Christi and in 1948 founded the American GI Forum. Cecilia García Akers shares a daughter's perspective on her father's remarkable achievements and sacrifices as an activist and physician.

Miracle on the Salt River

9781626196940

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

Following enactment of the Reclamation Act, the first federally constructed dam broke ground in Arizona's Salt River Valley in 1905. With the inauguration of Roosevelt Dam, the distant dream of an abundant life in the desert became a reality. The dam and farmer-operated water distribution system tamed the vicious drought, created arable land and became an irrigation model for the West. With the water came farmers and families, all eager for the chance to build new lives and communities. Many were just like the Haley family, farmers from Kentucky and Missouri who settled in the area and whose descendants still call the valley home. Follow their journey and discover a snapshot of the life and community that grew from the ditches of the valley. Author Meredith Haley Whiteley explores this story from the ordinary person's perspective, weaving valley history through drought, loss, plenty and joy.

Hispanics of Roosevelt County, New Mexico

9781626199156

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

In 1942, several Hispanic families left drought-devastated Encino and headed for the small, peanut-farming town of Portales in Roosevelt County, New Mexico. Among them was the Trujillo family, including five-year-old Agapito, who later became the county's first Hispanic law enforcement officer. The new arrivals did not feel welcome in Portales, which was almost entirely Anglo and a rumored sundown town. However, determined to put down roots and take advantage of economic opportunities, they eventually thrived. Agapito Trujillo tells the story of his family's migration to Roosevelt County alongside the struggles and triumphs of the Hispanic community with candor, grace and an obvious love for his heritage and neighbors.