Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
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Dunbar-Ortiz in 2010
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| Born | September 10, 1938 San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
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| Spouse(s) | Simon J. Ortiz (third husband) |
| Children | 1 |
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Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (born September 10, 1938) is an American historian, writer, and activist. She is known for her work on social justice and women's rights. She has also written many books, including An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States. She used to be a professor of Ethnic Studies at California State University.
Early Life and Education
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz was born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1938. She grew up in Central Oklahoma. Her father was a sharecropper, meaning he farmed land owned by someone else and paid rent with a share of the crops. He was of Scots-Irish background. Dunbar-Ortiz says her mother had Cherokee descent. However, her mother did not talk about her Native ancestry after marrying into a white family.
Her grandfather on her father's side was a farmer and a labor activist. He was part of the Socialist Party and the Industrial Workers of the World. Her father was named after a leader of the Industrial Workers of the World. Her father's stories about her grandfather inspired her to work for social justice throughout her life. She wrote about her early life in Oklahoma in her book Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie.
Dunbar-Ortiz got married at 18. Three years later, she and her husband moved to San Francisco, where she has lived for most of her life. This marriage later ended. She has one daughter, Michelle. Later, she married the writer Simon J. Ortiz.
She studied history at San Francisco State College, graduating in 1963. She earned her doctorate degree in history from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1974. She also studied human rights law in France and earned a master's degree in creative writing from Mills College.
Activism and Writing
From 1967 to 1974, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz was a full-time activist. She traveled to different parts of the United States, Europe, Mexico, and Cuba. She was also very involved in the women's liberation movement, which worked for equal rights for women. Her book Outlaw Woman: Memoir of the War Years tells the story of her life during these years.
In 1968, she started an organization called Cell 16. This was a feminist group known for its ideas about women separating from men and learning self-defense. It was one of the first groups to suggest the idea of separatist feminism.
She wrote an essay called "Female liberation as the basis for social revolution." This essay was included in the 1970 book Sisterhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings From The Women's Liberation Movement. This book was an important collection of writings from the women's liberation movement.
In 1974, she became a professor at California State University at Hayward. She helped create new departments for Ethnic Studies and Women's Studies. After the Wounded Knee Siege in 1973, she became active in the American Indian Movement (AIM). This group worked for the rights of Native Americans. She also joined the International Indian Treaty Council. This started her lifelong dedication to the rights of Indigenous peoples to make their own decisions and to international human rights.
She edited the book The Great Sioux Nation, published in 1977. This book was an important document at the first international meeting about Native Americans, held at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. This book was re-released in 2013. She also wrote Roots of Resistance: A History of Land Tenure in New Mexico (1980) and Indians of the Americas: Human Rights and Self-Determination (1984). She also edited books about how Native American communities could develop their economies.
In 1981, Dunbar-Ortiz visited Nicaragua. She went to study how land was owned by the Miskito Indians. Her visits happened when the United States government started supporting a conflict to overthrow the government in Nicaragua. She traveled to Nicaragua and Honduras many times from 1981 to 1989. She watched the conflict unfold. She wrote about these years in her books Caught in the Crossfire: The Miskitu Indians of Nicaragua (1985) and Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra War (2005).
In her book An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, Dunbar-Ortiz criticizes the idea that European settlers had a right to take land from Native Americans. She explains how this idea led to the harm of Native American populations in the United States. She believes that Native peoples have strong claims for payment and the return of their land. She states that no amount of money can truly make up for land that was taken unfairly, especially sacred lands.
She is featured in the film She's Beautiful When She's Angry, which is about the history of feminism.
She is now a retired professor of Ethnic Studies at California State University, Hayward. Even though she is retired from teaching, she still gives many talks and continues to write books.
Awards
The Lannan Foundation gave Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz the 2017 Cultural Freedom Award. This award recognized her many years of hard work and achievements.
Selected Works
- Not "a Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion. Beacon, 2021. ISBN: 9780807036297
- Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment. City Lights Books, 2018. ISBN: 9780872867239,
- "All the Real Indians Died Off” and 20 Other Myths about Native Americans. Beacon, 2016.
- An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States. Beacon, 2014. ISBN: 9780807057834,
- The Great Sioux Nation: Sitting in Judgment on America. Random House, 1977, ; University of Nebraska Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780803244832,
- Roots of Resistance: Land Tenure in New Mexico, 1680–1980. University of California, 1980; new edition, University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780806138336,
- Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie. Verso, 1997; new edition, University of Oklahoma Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780806137759,
- Blood on the Border: Memoir of the Contra War. South End Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780806153841,
- Outlaw Woman: A Memoir of the War Years, 1960–75. City Light Books, 2002. ISBN: 9780806144795,
- The Miskito Indians of Nicaragua. Minority Rights Group, 1988. ISBN: 9780946690596,
- Indigenous Peoples: A Global Quest for Justice. (ed.) A Report for the Independent Commission on International Humanitarian Issues, Geneva. Zed Press, 1987.
- La Cuestión Mískita en la Revolución Nicaragüense. Editorial Linea, 1986.
- Indians of the Americas: Human Rights and Self-Determination. Zed Press; Praeger, 1984. ISBN: 9780030009143,
- Native American Energy Resources and Development. (ed.) Albuquerque: Institute for Native American Development (INAD), University of New Mexico, 1980. ISBN: 9780934090025,
- Economic Development in American Indian Reservations. (ed.) INAD, University of New Mexico, 1979.
See also
In Spanish: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz para niños
