Gary Clayton Anderson
Encyclopedia
Gary Clayton Anderson is a professor
of history
at the University of Oklahoma
at Norman
, Oklahoma
, known for his specialization in the American Indians
of the Great Plains
and the Southwest.
degree from Concordia College in Moorhead
, Minnesota
. He received his Master of Arts
from the University of South Dakota
in Vermillion
, South Dakota
. Anderson procured his Ph.D.
from the University of Toledo
in Toledo
, Ohio
. From 1981 to 1991 Anderson was a member of the history faculty at Texas A&M University
in College Station, Texas
.
In 2010, Anderson is working on a forthcoming book on native Oklahoman Will Rogers
, the "Cowboy Philosopher" and humorist who perished with aviator Wiley Post
in an airplane crash in 1935 near Point Barrow, Alaska. Anderson is also engaged in a study of the Great Plains wars from 1830–1890, culminating with the Massacre of Wounded Knee in South Dakota.
. The book repudiates traditional historians, such as Walter Prescott Webb
and Rupert N. Richardson
, who viewed the settlement of Texas by the displacement of the native populations as a healthful and inevitable development. Anderson writes that at the time of the outbreak of the American Civil War
, when the Texas population was nearly 600,000, the still new state was "a very violent place. . . . Texans mostly blamed Indians for the violence -- an unfair indictment, since a series of terrible droughts had virtually incapacitated the Plains Indians, making them incapable of extended warfare." The Conquest of Texas was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize
. Anderson lectures across the country, including an appearance at Augsburg College
in Minneapolis
, Minnesota, on the theme that the displacement of the American Indians constituted ethnic cleansing
, a term that had appeared on the international scene in the middle 1990s with the American intervention in Kosovo
.
Sitting Bull
. Anderson stresses the Battle of the Little Big Horn not so much as a mishap by Colonel George Armstrong Custer
but in terms of the past successes of the Lakota Nation and the merit of Sitting Bull himself.
. The work notes that the native tribes overcame conquest, drought, and disease. Many Indians became prosperous despite the odds they faced. Some of tribes joined Spanish
missions, and others assimilated with other native peoples. The Indians also developed significant economic systems which continue in essence for three centuries afterwards.
, entitled Little Crow: Spokesman for the Sioux, published in 1986 by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. A contributor to New Mexico Historical Review calls Little Crow a "major contribution to our understanding of an Indian tribe that profoundly influenced the course of history in the upper Mississippi Valley, partly at least through the personal role played by its most famous leader."
Still another Anderson work is Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862, an anthology
of thirty-six essays of the Indians' experiences in a conflict previously known only from the viewpoint of the victorious white culture.
in Ypsilanti
, Michigan
, of the textbook, Power and Promise: The Changing American West. A reviewer describes the book, accordingly, "An in-depth look at the United States west of the Mississippi
, the narrative combines a strong chronology with a region-by-region analysis to show how different areas have transformed in terms of population, economic status, and urban development. . . . Detailed and comprehensive coverage of Native Americans appears throughout the text . . . " The textbook also examines the myths of the American West of the popular imagination through films, literature, and culture.
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
at the University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...
at Norman
Norman, Oklahoma
Norman is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is located south of downtown Oklahoma City. It is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, Norman was to have 110,925 full-time residents, making it the third-largest city in Oklahoma and the...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, known for his specialization in the American Indians
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
of the Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
and the Southwest.
Background
Anderson received his Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree from Concordia College in Moorhead
Moorhead, Minnesota
Moorhead is a city in Clay County, Minnesota, United States, and the largest city in northwest Minnesota. The population was 38,065 at the 2010 Census. It is the county seat of Clay County....
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. He received his Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
from the University of South Dakota
University of South Dakota
The University of South Dakota ', the state’s oldest university, was founded in 1862 and classes began in 1882. Located in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States, USD is home to South Dakota's only medical school and law school. USD is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents, and its current...
in Vermillion
Vermillion, South Dakota
Vermillion is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of South Dakota, and the tenth largest city in the state. According to the 2010 Census, the population was 10,571. Vermillion lies atop a bluff near the Missouri River.The area has been home to...
, South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
. Anderson procured his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from the University of Toledo
University of Toledo
The University of Toledo is a public university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. The Carnegie Foundation classified the university as "Doctoral/Research Extensive."-National recognition:...
in Toledo
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. From 1981 to 1991 Anderson was a member of the history faculty at Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
in College Station, Texas
College Station, Texas
College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley. The city is located within the most populated region of Texas, near three of the 10 largest cities in the United States - Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio...
.
In 2010, Anderson is working on a forthcoming book on native Oklahoman Will Rogers
Will Rogers
William "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s....
, the "Cowboy Philosopher" and humorist who perished with aviator Wiley Post
Wiley Post
Wiley Hardeman Post was a famed American aviator, the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high altitude flying, Post helped develop one of the first pressure suits. His Lockheed Vega aircraft, the Winnie Mae, was on display at the National Air and Space Museum's...
in an airplane crash in 1935 near Point Barrow, Alaska. Anderson is also engaged in a study of the Great Plains wars from 1830–1890, culminating with the Massacre of Wounded Knee in South Dakota.
The Conquest of Texas: Ethnic Cleansing in the Promised Land
Anderson's most recent book is The Conquest of Texas: Ethnic Cleansing in the Promised Land, 1830-1875, published in 2005 by the University of Oklahoma PressUniversity of Oklahoma Press
The University of Oklahoma Press is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. It has been in operation for over seventy-five years, and was the first university press established in the American Southwest. It was founded by William Bennett Bizzell, the fifth president of the University of...
. The book repudiates traditional historians, such as Walter Prescott Webb
Walter Prescott Webb
Walter Prescott Webb was a 20th century U.S. historian and author noted for his groundbreaking historical work on the American West. As president of the Texas State Historical Association, he launched the project that produced the Handbook of Texas...
and Rupert N. Richardson
Rupert N. Richardson
Rupert Norval Richardson, Sr. , was an American historian and a former president of Baptist-affiliated Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas...
, who viewed the settlement of Texas by the displacement of the native populations as a healthful and inevitable development. Anderson writes that at the time of the outbreak of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, when the Texas population was nearly 600,000, the still new state was "a very violent place. . . . Texans mostly blamed Indians for the violence -- an unfair indictment, since a series of terrible droughts had virtually incapacitated the Plains Indians, making them incapable of extended warfare." The Conquest of Texas was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
. Anderson lectures across the country, including an appearance at Augsburg College
Augsburg College
Augsburg College is a selective liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Augsburg was named for the Augsburg Confession, the document of Lutheran belief. The school was founded in 1869 in Marshall, Wisconsin as Augsburg Seminary and moved...
in Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, Minnesota, on the theme that the displacement of the American Indians constituted ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
, a term that had appeared on the international scene in the middle 1990s with the American intervention in Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
.
Sitting Bull and the Paradox of Lakota Nationhood
Anderson's Sitting Bull and the Paradox of Lakota Nationhood is a revisionist examination of the Lakota Sioux medicine manMedicine man
"Medicine man" or "Medicine woman" are English terms used to describe traditional healers and spiritual leaders among Native American and other indigenous or aboriginal peoples...
Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull Sitting Bull Sitting Bull (Lakota: Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake (in Standard Lakota Orthography), also nicknamed Slon-he or "Slow"; (c. 1831 – December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux holy man who led his people as a tribal chief during years of resistance to United States government policies...
. Anderson stresses the Battle of the Little Big Horn not so much as a mishap by Colonel George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Raised in Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1858, where he graduated last in his class...
but in terms of the past successes of the Lakota Nation and the merit of Sitting Bull himself.
Kinsman of Another Kind
Another Anderson work is Kinsman of Another Kind: Dakota-White Relations in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1650-1862. Anderson is considered the first scholar to employ an ethnohistorical approach to his discipline. He finds that originally the Dakota developed a friendly kinship with whites, some of whom intermarried with the tribe. As economic conditions worsened and the whites defrauded the Indians of their property and possessions, the Dakotas or Eastern Sioux began to view the whites as enemies who must be driven from Minnesota.The Indian Southwest
Anderson's The Indian Southwest, 1580-1830: Ethnogenesis and Cultural Reinvention, was awarded a prize by the San Antonio Conservation Society in San Antonio, TexasSan Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
. The work notes that the native tribes overcame conquest, drought, and disease. Many Indians became prosperous despite the odds they faced. Some of tribes joined Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
missions, and others assimilated with other native peoples. The Indians also developed significant economic systems which continue in essence for three centuries afterwards.
Little Crow
Anderson also has written a book on the Sioux chief Little CrowLittle Crow
The Little Crow is an Australian species of crow, very similar to the Torresian Crow in having white bases to the neck and head feathers but slightly smaller and with a proportionately smaller bill...
, entitled Little Crow: Spokesman for the Sioux, published in 1986 by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. A contributor to New Mexico Historical Review calls Little Crow a "major contribution to our understanding of an Indian tribe that profoundly influenced the course of history in the upper Mississippi Valley, partly at least through the personal role played by its most famous leader."
Still another Anderson work is Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862, an anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
of thirty-six essays of the Indians' experiences in a conflict previously known only from the viewpoint of the victorious white culture.
Power and Promise: The Changing American West
Anderson is co-author with Kathleen P. Chamberlain of Eastern Michigan UniversityEastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...
in Ypsilanti
Ypsilanti, Michigan
Ypsilanti is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,362. The city is bounded to the north by the Charter Township of Superior and on the west, south, and east by the Charter Township of Ypsilanti...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, of the textbook, Power and Promise: The Changing American West. A reviewer describes the book, accordingly, "An in-depth look at the United States west of the Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, the narrative combines a strong chronology with a region-by-region analysis to show how different areas have transformed in terms of population, economic status, and urban development. . . . Detailed and comprehensive coverage of Native Americans appears throughout the text . . . " The textbook also examines the myths of the American West of the popular imagination through films, literature, and culture.