Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto

The middle chapters of Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto expand on how specific, mostly white groups have influenced Indigenous American life in both negative and positive ways. He dedicates one chapter each to anthropologists, missionaries, and the government, the three major non-tribal forces at work in reservations. These chapters are constructed much in the same way as previous essays. Deloria presents specific and often very ironic examples of dysfunction in Indigenous-white interactions, then explores what these anecdotes can reveal about that relationship on a larger scale. As usual, the writing is consistently humorous and reveals key information about the changing nature of Native people’s place within white America.

Deloria sees the anthropologists, missionaries, and bureaucrats as three arms of a larger Anglo-American hierarchy and argues that they have all played a part in The History of Indigenous Oppression in the United States. Even if individuals within these systems do not actively want tribes to assimilate, the system itself is designed toward it. For example, a missionary may believe wholeheartedly that they are saving Indigenous people from hell, rather than robbing them of their culture. However, as more tribe members turn to Christianity, Indigenous religious customs and social structures based upon them become less relevant, and thus white clergymen attain more control over tribal politics than traditional religious leaders. Similarly, an anthropologist may see themselves as a “friend” to the Native people and may believe that their research will serve to protect endangered cultural traditions. In practice, though, they often see Indigenous ceremonies and traditions as artifacts of an idealized, untainted past. In the eyes of many academic “experts,” Indigenous-led attempts to update traditional cultural practices for the modern world is a sign that the “real” version of that practice is at risk, rather than a natural trend of cultural evolution.

For the most part, Deloria believes that anthropologists should step away from studying Indigenous people completely. He balks at the massive expense incurred by elaborate summer research trips and wonders why, if the people truly care about preserving Native culture, there is not a system of payment in exchange for access and information. He is also highly critical of the modern missionary system. Older missionaries, he writes, often lived on the same reservation for years and eventually integrated into the local culture. He sees a disturbing trend within the modern missionary class: Individuals and couples are sent to reservations for short mission trips without any cultural context or personal relationships with the people there. He sees these new Christians as more condescending and dismissive of Native voices than their predecessors.

Deloria also speaks to Native Resistance and Cultural Revitalization, making it clear that Indigenous people have consistently resisted assimilation but often had to adopt to the white lifestyle simply to survive. Early attempts at large-scale resistance included the Ghost Dance movement of the 1890s. The movement was inspired by a vision that Northern Paiute holy man Wovoka had during an 1889 solar eclipse. He believed it would bring the spirits of the dead into contact with the living. Spirit warriors would assist the western tribes in resisting westward European expansion once and for all, and all Native people would live in unified harmony. The Ghost Dance itself was based on the circle dance, a ritual found throughout many traditional belief systems throughout the world, including many Native tribes. Tribes across the country began performing the Ghost Dance, which prompted the US government to ban Indigenous religious practices altogether. Deloria interprets this as a fear response: Government officials knew that if Native people could band together to retain their traditions, assimilation may not be possible. With these direct restrictions on traditional practices, Indigenous cultural practices were forced underground. Many embraced Christianity, at least on the surface, and pan-tribal groups like the Native American Church became taboo subjects on reservations apart from a few adherents, who were seen as radical. These details indicate not only Indigenous resistance to assimilation but, by showing how Indigenous people actively and collectively worked against US attempts to suppress their religious and cultural practices, the text upends the infantilizing stereotype about the “Indian plight” commonly held by white society.

Deloria himself was an Episcopal clergyman, and as a professor and tribal leader, he had direct personal contact with many church officials, anthropologists, and government personnel. These facts lend credence to his evaluation of Indigenous-white relations. Most anecdotes are taken from personal stories about his interactions with white academics, other church leaders, and in tribal council meetings. In every situation, Deloria’s conclusion is very similar; Indigenous people would be better prepared to survive in the modern United States if white leaders trusted them to make their own decisions.