The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance

By: Rebecca Clarren

Libby audiobook 9 hours

Read by: the author

Published: 2023

Genre: non-fiction, history

 

This was recommended to me by a dear friend. It is an incredibly well researched and well written book. I'm so glad it was read by the author! What an experience to listen to this. Challenging in a lot of ways, but so worthwhile.

This summary (author unknown) is wonderful. I copied it from Birchbark Books because I thought that was a good option (and it's a wonderful store in the Twin Cities):

Growing up, Rebecca Clarren only knew the major plot points of her tenacious immigrant family’s origins. Her great-great-grandparents, the Sinykins, and their six children fled antisemitism in Russia and arrived in the United States at the turn of the 20th century, ultimately settling on a 160-acre homestead in South Dakota. Over the next few decades, despite tough years on a merciless prairie and multiple setbacks, the Sinykins became an American immigrant success story.

What none of Clarren’s ancestors ever mentioned was that their land, the foundation for much of their wealth, had been cruelly taken from the Lakota by the United States government. By the time the Sinykins moved to South Dakota, America had broken hundreds of treaties with hundreds of Indigenous nations across the continent, and the land that had once been reserved for the seven bands of the Lakota had been diminished, splintered, and handed for free, or practically free, to white settlers. In The Cost of Free Land, Clarren melds investigative reporting with personal family history to reveal the intertwined stories of her family and the Lakota, and the devastating cycle of loss of Indigenous land, culture, and resources that continues today.

 

Since I was listening instead of reading text, I have fewer notes. Here are some of my observations and take-aways:

•  The slaughter of buffalo with the goal of eradicating Indians (there are source writings that point to this "solution" to the "Indian problem") is even more horrific than killing the buffalo for sport!
• The lies and "promises made, promises broken" strategy of dealing with Native Americans is simply evil. Labeling them "savage" or in need of "culture" is so ignorant and twisted.
• I didn't really understand the Treaty of Fort Laramie (signed in 1868) and the link I've provided uses pretty mild language. The fact that we "gave" indigenous peoples "rights" to their own land . . . and then tried to take it back to find gold (and later, oil) is just another example of evil, greedy, selfish treatment. Ugh!
• Why did our government use coercion and outright fraud to steal from people? And reneg on promises and treaties? And then continue to steal and subjugate? Why do we continue to rationalize decisions which were clearly self-serving.
• I will need to wait a while, but I think I need to read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee . . . It's kind of painful to read these books, so I'll put that on a "later" list.
• Frank L. Baum . . . yuk. I used to think more highly of him. He was definitely part of the problem rather than a solution.
• The continuous use by white historians of the term "battle" for what was definitely a "massacre" by U.S. Soldiers of Indian encampments . . . words have power.
• One of the most interesting parts of her book is how she describes the treatment of her Jewish ancestors escaping ill treatment in Europe and their benefiting by "free land" in South Dakota. Hence the title of the book - there was a very high cost to this land!
• She says that Hitler was inspired by the U.S. government's treatment of American Indians and his concentration camps were modeled on Indian reservations. I think Hitler had his own level of evil going on, but for him to be inspired by some of our country's worst policies toward our neighbors is so sad.
• Forced lease, 1923 anthrax, cattle vs. buffalo, . . . this book is both interesting and informative. Clarren has done an amazing job and gave me lots of food for thought.
• I loved the epilogue and the ways we can all think about restitution and reparation. I may read this again in a few years (in print) and will definitely recommend it to others.