Ebook237 pages5 hours
An Indian in White America
By Mark Monroe
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this ebook
"At time when most Americans don't realize that over 66 percent of Indians live off the reservation, this book is a powerful witness ... it will reward the reader with an illuminating look into what it means to be a member of America's Native minority."
--Kirkus Reviews
Narrated with intense honesty, this autobiography of Mark Monroe, a Lakota Sioux Indian, is a story of courage, faith, and determination, and a rare opportunity to witness the life of a contemporary American Indian. Despite lifelong confrontations with violence, racism, and personal hardship--alcoholism, family deaths, illness, poverty, and unemployment--Mark Monroe has worked to instill ethnic pride in his fellow Indians.
After an early idyllic childhood at the Rosebud South Dakota reservation, Monroe moved with his parents off-reservation to Alliance, Nebraska. There he first felt the sting of white America's racism from signs outside local businesses that read "No Indians or dogs allowed." As a young man, Monroe enlisted in the military, for the first time experiencing outside acceptance and learning vocational skills. Upon his return to the United States, he worked as a baker. At the same time, however, he was being sucked into a life of alcoholism, begun years earlier with social drinking. Eventually he was unable to eat or to work. After rehabilitation, he ran for Police Magistrate. Monroe was the first Indian ever to have filed for public office in Alliance, and his candidacy divided the town. Though he lost the election, he gained community support and a growing sense of dignity from the campaign.
From the misery and hopelessness he suffered as an alcoholic, and the pains of recovery, Monroe became aware of the cultural difference between Indian alcoholism and white alcoholism. This understanding led to his work with Indian alcoholics at the Panhandle Mental Health Center in Scottsbluff, Nebraska--another first. No Indian had ever served on the Center's staff. Since his recovery, Monroe has been an active participant in his community and continues to fight for the legal rights of American Indians. In 1973 he founded the American Indian Council, which today offers a variety of health, educational, and social programs, including a nutrition program, a hospital busing program, and alcohol counseling.
"[An] interesting representation of Lakota male experiences in the realities of present-day life in the Great Plains."
--Wicazo Sa Review
"Mark Monroe has broken out of society's cage and achieved outstanding things. We are all better off for it. His personality and stature--qualities of leadership, determination, and stamina--quickly override the poverty-stricken times and the tragic aspects that linger constantly at the edges of this Indian world, this seemingly desolate place. Compared with other Native American biographies, An Indian in White America stands near the top."
--Charles Ballard, Institute of Ethnic Studies, University of Nebraska
"I know of no other volume that deals so frankly with the familiar Indian problems of poverty, racism and alcoholism while offering, at the same time, the powerful example of one man's struggle out of those traps which still threaten Native people. Although Mark Monroe describes himself as 'just an ikee wicasa--a common man who's trying to provide for his family,' he provides us all with lessons for healing and survival. His autobiography is an uncommon gift."
--Joseph Bruchac, Editor, Greenfield Press Review
--Kirkus Reviews
Narrated with intense honesty, this autobiography of Mark Monroe, a Lakota Sioux Indian, is a story of courage, faith, and determination, and a rare opportunity to witness the life of a contemporary American Indian. Despite lifelong confrontations with violence, racism, and personal hardship--alcoholism, family deaths, illness, poverty, and unemployment--Mark Monroe has worked to instill ethnic pride in his fellow Indians.
After an early idyllic childhood at the Rosebud South Dakota reservation, Monroe moved with his parents off-reservation to Alliance, Nebraska. There he first felt the sting of white America's racism from signs outside local businesses that read "No Indians or dogs allowed." As a young man, Monroe enlisted in the military, for the first time experiencing outside acceptance and learning vocational skills. Upon his return to the United States, he worked as a baker. At the same time, however, he was being sucked into a life of alcoholism, begun years earlier with social drinking. Eventually he was unable to eat or to work. After rehabilitation, he ran for Police Magistrate. Monroe was the first Indian ever to have filed for public office in Alliance, and his candidacy divided the town. Though he lost the election, he gained community support and a growing sense of dignity from the campaign.
From the misery and hopelessness he suffered as an alcoholic, and the pains of recovery, Monroe became aware of the cultural difference between Indian alcoholism and white alcoholism. This understanding led to his work with Indian alcoholics at the Panhandle Mental Health Center in Scottsbluff, Nebraska--another first. No Indian had ever served on the Center's staff. Since his recovery, Monroe has been an active participant in his community and continues to fight for the legal rights of American Indians. In 1973 he founded the American Indian Council, which today offers a variety of health, educational, and social programs, including a nutrition program, a hospital busing program, and alcohol counseling.
"[An] interesting representation of Lakota male experiences in the realities of present-day life in the Great Plains."
--Wicazo Sa Review
"Mark Monroe has broken out of society's cage and achieved outstanding things. We are all better off for it. His personality and stature--qualities of leadership, determination, and stamina--quickly override the poverty-stricken times and the tragic aspects that linger constantly at the edges of this Indian world, this seemingly desolate place. Compared with other Native American biographies, An Indian in White America stands near the top."
--Charles Ballard, Institute of Ethnic Studies, University of Nebraska
"I know of no other volume that deals so frankly with the familiar Indian problems of poverty, racism and alcoholism while offering, at the same time, the powerful example of one man's struggle out of those traps which still threaten Native people. Although Mark Monroe describes himself as 'just an ikee wicasa--a common man who's trying to provide for his family,' he provides us all with lessons for healing and survival. His autobiography is an uncommon gift."
--Joseph Bruchac, Editor, Greenfield Press Review
Related to An Indian in White America
Related ebooks
Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Around Burnt Hills Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChickahominy Indians-Eastern Division: A Brief Ethnohistory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Collected Folklore and Poetry of Hen-Toh Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNorth for the Harvest: Mexican Workers, Growers, and the Sugar Beet Industry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Flight: From Farm Boy to Fly-Boy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNorth Aurora: 1834-1940 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEben Smith: The Dean of Western Mining Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTaney County, Missouri Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoy Hugh: The Boy from Bisbee That Went to War Pfc to Brigadier General Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Legends: The Life of John Wayne Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeering Plantation: Sixty Thousand Acres in the Bootheel of Missouri Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFinding Your Native American Ancestors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForestville Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeroy Smith: 20th Century Impresario of Denver's Five Points District Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDaybreak Woman: An Anglo-Dakota Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDon Perkins: A Champion's Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Saga Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAppalachian Echoes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDaniel Boone and His Neighbors: Romance and Realism of the Pioneer Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarion County in Vintage Postcards Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A True Likeness: The Black South of Richard Samuel Roberts, 1920–1936 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sioux Code Talkers of World War II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPeregrinations: How the Davises Overran America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA LIFE IN THE SADDLE Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Autobiography of a Kiowa Apache Indian Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLegends of Country Music: Johnny Cash Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Black History of Union City, Tennessee Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWilmington Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoss Township Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
History For You
Whore Stories: A Revealing History of the World's Oldest Profession Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Joy of Gay Sex: Fully revised and expanded third edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ZERO Percent: Secrets of the United States, the Power of Trust, Nationality, Banking and ZERO TAXES! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5100 Things You're Not Supposed to Know: Secrets, Conspiracies, Cover Ups, and Absurdities Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters--And How to Get It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Amazing Facts About the Negro with Complete Proof Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Power of Geography: Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wise as Fu*k: Simple Truths to Guide You Through the Sh*tstorms of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Richest Man in Babylon: The most inspiring book on wealth ever written Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Grief Observed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret History of the World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lessons of History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for An Indian in White America
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
An Indian in White America - Mark Monroe
e\ book_preview_excerpt.html
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1