Custer Died For Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto

Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto, is a 1969, non-fiction book by the lawyer, professor and writer Vine Deloria, Jr. The book was noteworthy for its relevance to the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement and other activist organizations, such as the American Indian Movement, which was beginning to expand. Deloria's book encouraged better use of federal funds aimed at helping Native Americans. Vine Deloria, Jr. presents Native Americans in a humorous light, devoting an entire chapter to Native American humor. Custer Died for Your Sins was significant in its presentation of Native Americans as a people who were able to retain their tribal society and morality, while existing in the modern world.

Content summary

The book is critical of aid organizations, churches, and the US government, for their efforts to 'help' Native Americans that often hindered rather than helped Native American progress. Deloria also objected to the efforts of anthropologists to understand Native Americans, devoting millions of dollars to the study of individual tribes that would have helped the tribes to advance themselves. The book advocated Native American religion, and encouraged church groups to lay aside their theological differences and help the tribes whose members they sought as converts.

Significance

Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto, was based on a bumper sticker, and a Native American slogan from the 1960s, "We Shall Overrun." The book was significant at the time of its publication, as the struggle for minority rights was gaining increased attention across the United States. It remains one of the most significant non-fiction books written by a Native American.

References