the last 50 years. the city is not perfect. but it is conscious of that legacy. and it is continuing to deal with that. very much like the rest of the country. i think it would be a disservice to single out memphis in that way. it is a city that has allowed this museum to flourish. it has supported this institution. it is very much like the rest of the country. this racial inequity and economic inequity issue, it is a hard conversation to have. it is a hard issue to deal with. and like the rest of the country we are dealing with it. ,and we are are going to continue to do so. >> our staff recently traveled to memphis, tennessee to learn about its rich history. i'm more about mrs. and other c-span.org/citiestour.

>> next, president of the western history association which held its meeting in san antonio, texas. he describes current areas of study and how the field of native american history has changed over the past decade. this is about 12 minutes. antoniong us from san is a history professor at arizona state university, a graduate of the university of oklahoma, and for the purposes of our conversation today, the president of the western history association. we have gathered in san antonio. explain that the organization is all about. >> the western history organization is scholars and

students who are very much interested in the american west. we have been coming to this conference around various parts of the country. it was established in 1961 in santa fe. we have been meeting ever since. steve: explain some of the topics you have discussed, the speakers, panels and presentations. about 120ere are sessions at this conference. a rather large conference. there are 830 people in the registration. we might get close to 1000. that is a lot of sessions. the sessions are on water and mining, the military, women's subject matter, and also teaching. it is a variety of topics about the american west. steve: let's talk about the theme, race and ethnicity in

the west. donald: the president of the organization gets to choose the topic when you're president. i chose reimagining race and ethnicity in the west. i thought of that topic because the last 12 years we've had an increase in racial violence. a lot of protests involving people of color. i thought it was a very timely topic and that is why i chose that topic for this conference. steve: maybe you can elaborate. explain the role of native americans in the course of america's history, most notably in the 19th and early 20th centuries. donald: the role of american indians is that they have been in a situation of responding to seenry, but what we have is where the indian population has really decreased to less

than 238,000 by the year 1900. there was a very popular belief of the vanishing race. when you look at the last 100 years, the population has increased to over 5.1 million. arrival of of the columbus, we were estimated at 5 million overall. our estimates are like 10 million, 15 million. the american indian population has rebounded. it is increased to perhaps even larger than what it originally was. steve: where do you go for information? where do you travel? donald: you can travel widely, throughout the entire country and perhaps even museums and archives overseas. largely in the u.s. and the university archives, the private archives like the newberry , thery in chicago

huntington library, and just about every major city has a museum involving american indians and the national museum of american indians in washington, d.c. steve: do we educate americans enough on the role of native americans? their influence and impact on our history? donald: i think we need to educate our public and everyone more about american indians because people get so busy in --ir lives that they really they don't see american indians at all. they see in a very narrow way. american indians are there and we have always been here. organizations and conferences like this one that we see that presence. this association has more

sessions on american indians than other history organizations. steve: do you have any thoughts on how native americans are characterized of the big screen? notably the western movies with john wayne and others. that that damage have americans generally view native americans? donald: indeed. american indians have been portray by hollywood, and it is kind of a stereotyped image of american indians. scholars like myself and people who study american indians for accuracy, we try to correct that. it is an uphill battle trying to correct those images. i have counted the stereotypes. there are 36 that are negative. wars ande over 1500 battles skirmishes against native people.

there are six positive. negativees and six stereotypes. steve: can you explain your own background? donald: i have from oklahoma. creekfather's side, i am and seminole. i'm another side i am shawnee. how do the stretch come together? it was due to indian removal in 1830 during the andrew jackson administration. that is some ancestors came to the area which became oklahoma in 1907. steve: let me explain two of your books. the medicinenge: ways of american indian history." what did you learn researching it? donald: it was a book i was working on for a long time.

history and at american indians, we are looking at american indians from a non-indian point of view. there have been over 30,000 books written about american indians, but it is from a non-indian point of view. when you look at the history of native people, it is about relationships with the white world, the government for example. i refer to that as a second dimension. it is the third dimension from the american indian point of view -- the comanches have a logic, the navajo have their own egos. -- ethos. we don't think about american indians that way. it is the first to mention to them. there are 567 federally recognized tribes. you have men and women having different perspectives. that is a lot of perspectives

trying to teach one course when there are only 195 countries to the world. it is really collocated. steve: "the american indian mine in a linear world." what was that all about? book because i a was always wondering, who spoke for the indian people like my grandparents and my father he really spoke the native language? and because i grew up in that see them sitting close to the ground and drawing on the ground with their fingers or a stick and they were talking in their native language, that is a perspective in which you are close to your traditions, you are more visual and you think in terms of circles. circleshink in terms of because of circularity and patterns of rotation like day and night and the rotation of the sun and all of that being

circular, that is more circular in your way of thinking. when i began to teach as an assistant professor and taught in a circular, repetitive way so people would understand in a linear situation, most of my students being non-indian, that was a very different way of approach and they did not understand what i was saying. when it was teaching a long time professor,ssistant one student said, how come you don't put your notes in the black board and go across? i put my notes right in the middle of the blackboard. another one like a spoke to a wheel. how can you not misunderstand? it is a general way of having to relearn teaching. that kind of circularity visuality.ty -- and

people say i'm an artist and they think in terms of vi suality too. steve: what a surprise to the most from those non-indian students as you teach your classes at arizona state university? donald: what is surprising in the beginning is how much lack of knowledge about american indians may have. american history books, u.s. history books really devote maybe two chapters to american indians in the 1960's and the plains indian wars. it goes way beyond that. my courses are rather large. they will say something like i did not know that. why wasn't i taught that? i trying to get them to see things from a native point of view and from a non-native point of view which they already have. it is a balanced history i try

to bring to them. steve: this may be in a possible answer, whether it is arizona, oklahoma or somewhere in the u.s., if there was some place you recommend people to travel to to better understand american history, where should they go? what is the best place to visit? donald: i would think maybe my home state of oklahoma, because oklahoma was once called indian territory, which usually included kansas and nebraska. when the kansas-nebraska act was passed, the reduced the size of indian country to the state of oklahoma. about 60 tribes were removed from different parts of the united states to the indian territory but about half a dozen indigenous tribes already. there was compression of indian people from various parts of the country that were forced to

march to the indian territory. you see a complex indian community there of plains tribes and tribes from california, the great lakes area, and from the eastern and southeastern part of the united states. they are having trouble governments. there are now 39. all these trouble governments were sometimes working together and sometimes against each other. steve: you are meeting in san antonio. what about next year? donald: next year we go to las vegas. last year we were in san diego. after las vegas and we go to albuquerque. hen we go to albuquerque. steve: thank you for being with us on c-span3's american history tv. donald: thank you, steve. >> you are watching american

history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. like us on facebook. american history tv is on featuringery weekend, museum tours, archival films and programs on the presidency, the civil war and more. there is a clip from our recent program. chattanooga, the first part authorized in 1890 and dedicated in 1895, that encouraged northerners and southerners to embrace their former foes in the spirit of brotherly love and american progress. the american soldier. not the union soldier or confederate soldier, but the american soldier is increasingly highlighted. in all of these accounts, the causes of the war, namely slavery, and the consequences of war, often emancipation and reconstruction were left out.

instead the focus was on the battlefield of bravery, of soldiers blue and gray, north and south. american soldiers. this culture of reconciliation, whether it is playing out in politics or economics or popular culture helped convince americans on both sides of the mason-dixon line that the horrors of war were behind them. the peoples of reconstruction are behind them. 1890's,e in the 1880's, there is a generational shift going on. veterans are not only aging. the 1890's is the high point of veterans on both sides in the u.s. congress. there is the notion you want to sell things throughout the country. sally pickett is very savvy about this when she writes her account. she wants to sell accounts to northerners and southerners. she paints this reconciliation in picture. the united states is trying to