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The people are dancing again : the history of the Siletz tribe of western Oregon
2010
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Today's confederation of the Siletz nation comprises 27 tribes, speaking at least ten languages and living on dispersed allotments in Lincoln County, Oregon. From their first contacts with European coastal voyagers in the 18th century, their lands, resources, and culture have been under assault. Smallpox and other epidemics reduced their population 92 percent by the mid-19th century. The punitive treaties of 1853-55 forced them from the Willamette River and Rogue River valleys to a narrow coastal belt, and this domain was further whittled away within 20 years. Despite the brutal realities associated with federal neglect, resource degradation, and declining population, the survivors maintained a sense of community and cultural revitalization. Despite years of additional land loss under the 1887 Dawes Severalty Act and termination of all treaty rights in 1956, the Siletz continued their legal struggle on multiple fronts. Congress finally restored their tribal status in 1977, and the Siletz undertook successful economic enterprises. Former tribal attorney Wilkinson (law, Univ. of Colorado) has written the definitive history of four centuries of Siletz life by relying on official documents and over 100 interviews with tribal members. Summing Up: Recommended. For all adult readers. M. L. Tate University of Nebraska at Omaha
Summary

The history of the Siletz is in many ways the history of all Indian tribes in America: a story of heartache, perseverance, survival, and revival. It began in a resource-rich homeland thousands of years ago and today finds a vibrant, modern community with a deeply held commitment to tradition.

The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians'twenty-seven tribes speaking at least ten languages'were brought together on the Oregon Coast through treaties with the federal government in 1853?55. For decades after, the Siletz people lost many traditional customs, saw their languages almost wiped out, and experienced poverty, killing diseases, and humiliation. Again and again, the federal government took great chunks of the magnificent, timber-rich tribal homeland, a reservation of 1.1 million acres reaching a full 100 miles north to south on the Oregon Coast. By 1956, the tribe had been ?terminated? under the Western Oregon Indian Termination Act, selling off the remaining land, cutting off federal health and education benefits, and denying tribal status. Poverty worsened, and the sense of cultural loss deepened.

The Siletz people refused to give in. In 1977, after years of work and appeals to Congress, they became the second tribe in the nation to have its federal status, its treaty rights, and its sovereignty restored. Hand-in-glove with this federal recognition of the tribe has come a recovery of some land--several hundred acres near Siletz and 9,000 acres of forest--and a profound cultural revival.

This remarkable account, written by one of the nation's most respected experts in tribal law and history, is rich in Indian voices and grounded in extensive research that includes oral tradition and personal interviews. It is a book that not only provides a deep and beautifully written account of the history of the Siletz, but reaches beyond region and tribe to tell a story that will inform the way all of us think about the past.

Watch the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch'v=NEtAIGxp6pc

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