Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto

The NCAI was formed in 1944 as a means of resistance to assimilation and tribal termination laws. It continues to serve as an organization dedicated to meeting the needs of Indigenous Americans as a whole, especially in terms of federal government relationships. Many of Deloria’s observations in Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto relate to his experience as NCAI executive director from 1964-1967. Deloria believes that, like most large organizations, the NCAI has flaws, but he views it as an example of the kind of pan-tribal, Indigenous-led organization that can help tribal people amplify their voice within mainstream modern society.

The tribes of the Great Plains are often referred to both collectively and individually in Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto. In many ways, Deloria believes that they are the antithesis of the “civilized tribes” in the general white mind. Plains tribes have consistently resisted cultural assimilation and were the group that resisted the US Army most successfully during westward European expansion. Deloria himself was a member of a Plains tribe (Standing Rock Sioux), so many of his personal examples relate specifically to life and politics on Great Plains reservations.

In the modern day, these tribal groups have continued their long history of resistance and cultural continuity despite comprising some of the poorest reservations in the United States. A prime example of this can be seen in the activism surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline, which was built near the Standing Rock Reservation in the late 2010s despite major protests.

The United States government has been the most consistent regulatory force in tribal life since the time of the country’s founding. Most government agencies have impacted Native people in some way, but the DOI, particularly the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), has had the most consistent, direct influence.

To Deloria, the evolution of the BIA is an analog for the general white outlook toward Native people as it changed through time. It was originally founded in the 18th century as the Office of Indian Affairs, a branch of the War Department. It became part of the DOI in the 1820s, and at the time of the book’s publication, some government officials and tribal leaders were advocating for the BIA to be reorganized once again and placed into either the Department of Commerce or the now-defunct Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

The “five civilized tribes,” which include the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole people, are referenced several times in Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto. During the 19th century, these groups often received different treatment than other Indigenous people. They lived primarily on the East Coast and began developing strong economic and cultural ties to European society very early in the United States’ history. Deloria writes that, despite being seen as white-adjacent in the mainstream cultural mind, these tribes were still subjected to the same type of patriarchal treatment that other tribes faced.