White Mother to a Dark Race: Settler Colonialism, Maternalism, and the Removal of Indigenous Children in the American West and Australia, 1880-1940

by Margaret D. Jacobs

Overview

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, indigenous communities in the United States and Australia suffered a common experience at the hands of state authorities: the removal of their children to institutions in the name of assimilating American Indians and protecting Aboriginal people. Although officially characterized as benevolent, these government policies often inflicted great trauma on indigenous families and ultimately served the settler nations' larger goals of consolidating control over indigenous peoples and their lands.

White Mother to a Dark Race takes the study of indigenous education and acculturation in new directions in its examination of the key roles white women played in these policies of indigenous child-removal. Government officials, missionaries, and reformers justified the removal of indigenous children in particularly gendered ways by focusing on the supposed deficiencies of indigenous mothers, the alleged barbarity of indigenous men, and the lack of a patriarchal nuclear family. Often they deemed white women the most appropriate agents to carry out these child-removal policies. Inspired by the maternalist movement of the era, many white women were eager to serve as surrogate mothers to indigenous children and maneuvered to influence public policy affecting indigenous people. Although some white women developed caring relationships with indigenous children and others became critical of government policies, many became hopelessly ensnared in this insidious colonial policy.

Margaret D. Jacobs is a professor of history and the director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is the author of Engendered Encounters: Feminism and Pueblo Cultures, 1879-1934 (Nebraska 1999).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803235168
Publisher:	Nebraska Paperback
Publication date:	03/01/2011
Pages:	592
Sales rank:	710,430
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Margaret D. Jacobs is a professor of history and the director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She is the author of Engendered Encounters: Feminism and Pueblo Cultures, 1879–1934 (Nebraska 1999).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations  

List of Maps     

Preface: White Mother to a Dark Race     

Acknowledgments  

A Note on Terms  

Abbreviations    

1. Gender and Settler Colonialism in the North American West and Australia   

2. Designing Indigenous Child Removal Policies 

3. The Great White Mother    

4. The Practice of Indigenous Child Removal    

5. Intimate Betrayals  

6. Groomed to Be Useful

7. Maternalism in the Institutions 

8. Out of the Frying Pan     

9. Challenging Indigenous Child Removal  

Epilogue   

Afterword  

Notes

Bibliography     

Index

Editorial Reviews

“An important work. . . . Jacobs’s thoroughness, breadth of comparative research, and fresh analysis of the removal of indigenous children have earned three awards for this book (2010 Bancroft Prize; 2010 Athearn Western History Association Prize; 2010 Armitage-Jameson Prize).”—Christine Choo, American Historical Review

American Historical Review - Christine Choo

"Jacobs' focus on the role of white women, and specifically the function of maternalism, generates important insights into the interrelationship between race and gender in the creation of the modern white nation. Attention to the specificities of colonial regimes in the different locations of Australia and the American West—revealing the uncanny similarities as well as significant differences—can only enhance our critical understanding."—Trish Luker, International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies

International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies - Trish Luker

“A painstakingly researched and brilliantly written account of the key roles white women played in the removal policies of U.S. and Australian governments in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. . . . If you are ready to remove your blindfold, then this is a must read!”—Carrie Bourassa, Canadian Journal of Native Studies

The Canadian Journal of Native Studies - Carrie Bourassa

"[Margaret D. Jacobs] has produced a balanced, meticulously researched book filled with heartbreaking stories of loss and uplifting accounts of survival."—Lynette Russell, Great Plains Quarterly

Great Plains Quarterly - Lynette Russell

"[White Mother to a Dark Race is] a monumental comparative study."—Cristina Stanciu, Studies in American Indian Literatures

Studies in American Indian Literatures - Cristina Stanciu

"[Jacobs] has taken the study of these nineteenth and early twentieth century institutionalizing policies in a rewarding new direction. . . . I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in indigenous studies, women's studies, and the history of intercultural relations in colonizing situations like the American West."—Nancy J. Parezo, Journal of Arizona History

Journal of Arizona History - Nancy J. Parezo

"This study stands as an excellent model and should encourage further comparisons between federal Indian policy and other maternalist projects within the United States as well as intimate strategies in other colonial regimes."—Cathleen D. Cahill, Western Historical Quarterly

Western Historical Quarterly - Cathleen D. Cahill

"This book deserves wide readership in U.S. western history, women's history, Indian history, and comparative ethnic studies."—Peggy Pascoe, Montana, the Magazine of Western History

Montana, the Magazine of Western History - Peggy Pascoe

"[White Mother to a Dark Race is] a monumental comparative study."—Cristina Stanciu, SAIL

— Cristina Stanciu

SAIL

"This study stands as an excellent model and should encourage further comparisons between federal Indian policy and other maternalist projects within the United States as well as intimate strategies in other colonial regimes."—Cathleen D. Cahill, Western Historical Quarterly

— Cathleen D. Cahill

Western Historical Quarterly

"[Margaret D. Jacobs] has produced a balanced, meticulously researched book filled with heartbreaking stories of loss and uplifting accounts of survival."—Lynette Russell, Great Plains Quarterly

— Lynette Russell

Great Plains Quarterly

"Jacobs'' focus on the role of white women, and specifically the function of maternalism, generates important insights into the interrelationship between race and gender in the creation of the modern white nation. Attention to the specificities of colonial regimes in the different locations of Australia and the American West—revealing the uncanny similarities as well as significant differences—can only enhance our critical understanding."—Trish Luker, International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies

— Trish Luker

International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies

"Margaret Jacobs . . . has taken the study of these nineteenth and early twentieth century institutionalizing policies in a rewarding new direction. . . . I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in indigenous studies, women's studies, and the history of intercultural relations in colonizing situations like the American West."—Nancy J. Parezo, Journal of Arizona History

— Nancy J. Parezo

Journal of Arizona History