Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
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Roxanne 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 lives in San Francisco. She was born in Texas and grew up in Oklahoma. She is known for her work on social justice and women's rights. She has written many books, including Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra Years (2005) and An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (2014). She is a retired professor of Ethnic Studies at California State University.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz was born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1938. Her family was from Oklahoma, and she grew up in Central Oklahoma. Her father was a sharecropper, which means he farmed land owned by someone else and paid rent with a share of his crops. He was of Scots-Irish background.
Dunbar-Ortiz has mentioned that her mother might have had Cherokee descent. However, she later clarified that she never had strong ties to any Indigenous community. In 2021, she said that it was "pretty certain" her mother was not Cherokee and that there was no way to trace it. She stated, "I certainly would not call myself Cherokee."
Her grandfather on her father's side was a farmer and a veterinarian. He was also active in workers' rights movements, like the Socialist Party of America 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. Her book Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie tells the story of her life until she left Oklahoma.
At 18, Dunbar-Ortiz got married and moved to San Francisco three years later. She has lived there for most of her life since then. This marriage later ended. She has one daughter. She later married the writer Simon J. Ortiz, who is from the Acoma Pueblo people.
College and Advanced Studies
Dunbar-Ortiz graduated from San Francisco State University in 1963 with a degree in history. She continued her studies at the University of California, Berkeley and then at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she earned her doctorate in history in 1974.
She also studied the International Law of Human Rights in France in 1983. Later, in 1993, she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Mills College.
Her Work as an Activist
From 1967 to 1974, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz was a full-time activist. She traveled across the United States, to 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 describes this period of her life.
In 1968, she started an organization called Cell 16. This group focused on women's independence and self-defense training. It was one of the first groups to promote the idea of women separating from men to achieve their goals.
She wrote an important 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, which was a collection of writings from the women's liberation movement.
Supporting Indigenous Peoples
In 1974, Dunbar-Ortiz became an assistant 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 started her lifelong dedication to supporting the rights of Indigenous peoples to govern themselves and to have international human rights.
She edited the book The Great Sioux Nation, published in 1977. This book was a key document at the first international conference on Indigenous peoples held at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The 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).
Work in Central America
In 1981, Dunbar-Ortiz was asked to visit Sandinista Nicaragua. She went to study how land was owned by the Miskito people in the northeastern part of the country. Her visits happened when the United States government began to support a secret war to overthrow the Sandinistas. The border region became a war zone.
She made over a hundred trips to Nicaragua and Honduras between 1981 and 1989. During this time, she watched the Contra War, which was a conflict between the Sandinista government and rebel groups. 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).
Understanding American History
In her book An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, Dunbar-Ortiz talks about how the "Discovery Doctrine" and "settler colonialism" harmed Native American populations in the United States. The "Discovery Doctrine" was a belief that European nations could claim lands not inhabited by Christians. "Settler colonialism" is when people from one country move to another land and take control of it, often pushing out the original inhabitants.
She argues that because much of the land in the United States was taken through force and unfairness, Native peoples have strong claims for "reparations and restitution." This means they should receive compensation or have things returned to them. She believes that no amount of money can truly make up for lands that were taken illegally, especially sacred lands that are important for Indigenous communities to stay strong.
She is also featured in the film She's Beautiful When She's Angry, which is about the history of the feminist movement.
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is a retired professor of Ethnic Studies at California State University, Hayward. Since retiring from teaching, she gives many talks and continues to write.
Awards and Recognition
In 2017, the Lannan Foundation gave Dunbar-Ortiz the Cultural Freedom Award. This award recognized her lifetime of hard work and achievements.
Selected Books
- Not "a Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion. Beacon, 2021.
- Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment. City Lights Books, 2018.
- "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.
- The Great Sioux Nation: Sitting in Judgment on America. Random House, 1977; University of Nebraska Press, 2013.
- Roots of Resistance: Land Tenure in New Mexico, 1680–1980. University of California, 1980; new edition, University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.
- Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie. Verso, 1997; new edition, University of Oklahoma Press, 2006.
- Blood on the Border: Memoir of the Contra War. South End Press, 2005.
- Outlaw Woman: A Memoir of the War Years, 1960–75. City Light Books, 2002.
- Indians of the Americas: Human Rights and Self-Determination. Zed Press; Praeger, 1984.
See also
In Spanish: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz para niños
