Red power: Government publications and the rising Indian activism of the 1970s

Abstract

The proliferation of government publications about American Indians has continued at a steady pace since World War II, but the 1970s marked a minor watershed. Not only did the numbers of publications increase, but also a high percentage of these were directed at mass audiences, and many reports candidly investigated the problems caused by government policies. Although few items were written by Indians, some of the more important ones were based upon Indian testimony taken at the grassroots level. The person truly interested in learning about today's Indian concerns can therefore begin with readily available government documents, and from these move into Indian writings and direct interviews. To dismiss all government documents as mere justifications of federal policy would be a serious mistake for any scholar, and this article attempts to alert readers to the most important types of government-sponsored studies.