Available From UC Press

The history of Native American child removal is a history of violence.

Beginning in the late nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth century, Indigenous child removal in the United States through fostering and adoption devastated tribal nations—and continues to do so today. Author Amy Lonetree (Ho-Chunk), in collaboration with Sandy White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota), brings light to this dark history and addresses the lack of studies of this practice and its enduring effects on Native American communities. Foregrounding the experiences of adoptees affected by this violence, Soul Wounds gives primacy to Indigenous perspectives on this history that have been overlooked or silenced in the past. The Native American adoptees who are the heart of this book take center stage, bringing together voices across generations as they find space to heal.

Amy Lonetree is an enrolled citizen of the Ho-Chunk Nation and Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is the author of multiple books, including Decolonizing Museums: Representing Native America in National and Tribal Museums.

Sandy White Hawk is an enrolled citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the founder of the First Nations Repatriation Institute. She is the author of “A Child of the Indian Race”: A Story of Return.

“Lonetree makes an important contribution to the contemporary legal discussions taking place around American family making, women’s reproductive rights, Native American treaty rights, and Indigenous rights. Soul Wounds reflects critical scholarship around Indian child welfare and Native American sovereignty, including recent studies on the harms of adoption, and also integrates voices of Indigenous adoptees and their Native communities. This book is particularly timely and important for Americans, especially those without a background in Native American histories or tribal communities as collective rights holders. It is written for every person, with accessible language about a topic that is often shrouded in romantic and inaccurate ideas about benevolence, rescue, and happy endings.”—Allyson Stevenson (Métis), Associate Professor, University of Saskatchewan