Echoes of a Forgotten Past: Unearthing the Untold Story of Texas’ Indigenous Peoples
I have a knack for wondering what happened to the people of old. The answer gives some insights into the nature of the people of the present. Have you ever wondered about the indigenous people who lived in Texas (and the south USA) thousands of years ago? Perhaps you’ve been in the state for a while and realized you hadn’t met any Native Americans. You may have even asked yourself, “What happened to them all?” I decided to do some research to inform myself. In this blog post, I want to share my findings on the history of Native Americans in Texas (this could be for other southern states as well) and what happened to them.
First, it’s essential to understand that Texas was home to many indigenous groups before European immigration or settlement. According to the Texas State Historical Association, approximately 200,000 Native Americans lived in Texas during European immigration in the early 16th century. These groups included the Karankawa, Comanche, Apache, Caddo, Wichita, and many others.
Over time, European immigrants, aka settlers, began to expand the lands they considered their territory, leading to conflict with Native American groups. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the United States government backed the new immigrants and began to forcibly remove Native Americans from their land and place them on reservations. This policy was part of a larger effort to expand the new American territory and exert control over indigenous populations and the lands they lived on.
One of the most well-known examples of this public policy was the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which authorized the forced removal of Native Americans from their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States. Many Native American groups were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma, designated as the new Indian Territory. Ah, eureka! Why didn’t they teach me this when I was a boy playing cowboy and Indians with my cousins? The pop-pop guns always beat the bows and arrows. The violence we absorb as children!
The government also implemented policies in Texas to remove Native Americans from their land. The state government established reservations in the mid-19th century, and many Native Americans were forced (ahh, gunpoint) to move there. These reservations were often located in areas unsuitable for farming or hunting, so many Native Americans struggled to survive. Many outright starved!
In addition to being violently removed from their land, Native Americans in Texas faced brutality and discrimination. According to the Texas State Historical Association, the state government offered bounties for the scalps of Native Americans in the 19th century. I still think this practice of cutting skin and hair from a dead person's head is as barbaric as cutting a handoff in the Congo under King Leopold’s rule (topic for another post). This government policy encouraged European immigrants and soldiers to rape, enslave and kill Native Americans, resulting in the deaths of many indigenous people.
Today, Native Americans make up only a small percentage of Texas’s population. According to the US Census Bureau, Native Americans comprise just 0.7% of the state’s population. If interested, see all states’ percentages here. That’s why I don’t see any of them around when I visit Texas. This contrasts with the early 16th century when Native Americans comprised most of the state’s population.
So, my question remains. Where did all of the Native Americans go? Many were forcibly removed (much of the research used this term as a euphemism, I suspect) from their land and relocated to reservations in Oklahoma and other parts of the country. Others were murdered or died due to disease, starvation, and other factors like stress and a broken heart. Some Native Americans could remain in Texas and continue their way of life, but they faced significant challenges due to discrimination, murder, disease, starvation, and government policies.
It’s essential to note that the history of Native Americans in Texas is noted by much of the literature as being “complex and multifaceted.” I used to read this phrase in The Making of the West Indies, a history book from college. There is no one-story-that-fits-all explanation for what happened to all indigenous people who lived in the state except to say their life changed forever upon the immigration of Europeans.
Two books, Things Fall Apart and The People In The Trees, describe how this phenomenon happened in other countries. However, despite how complex and multifaceted the situation was, as one of my old bosses used to say, “it’s pellucidly clear” that many Native Americans were subjected to violence, bigotry, and violently forced relocation due to European immigration and expansion.
As we reflect on the history of Native Americans in Texas, it’s essential to recognize the impact of past policies and actions on current generations. Native Americans in Texas and throughout the country continue to face significant challenges, including poverty, discrimination, and limited access to resources. All this stuff needs to be taught in schools everywhere. By learning about and acknowledging the history of European immigrants, or ‘settlers’ as they prefer to be called, and their impact on indigenous people everywhere, we may be better equipped to right the wrongs with little judgment on people and governments who want to, indeed, right the wrongs towards a more just and equitable future for all.
Sources:
- “Native Americans in Texas” by the Texas State Historical Association: https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/native-americans
- “Indian Removal Act” by the National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/articles/indian-removal
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