| Summary: | What is decolonization and how does it work? The concept of decolonization surfaced during "the global Indigenous activism in the 1970s." Although the idea is not new, it has been given little attention by mainstream historians. A discussion of the meaning of decolonization begins with an understanding that colonization means to settle in a colony or colonies. For example, England and Spain began establishing colonies on the lands of the Indigenous Nations of the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries. Thus, the United States began as a loosely united group of colonies making decolonization a logical consequence. As such, decolonization means to remove or mitigate the consequences of colonization. According to Susan A. Miller (Seminole), "decolonization is a process designed to shed and recover from the ill effects of colonization." In this thesis, I utilize case studies of two women to demonstrate how decolonizing history using an Indigenous lens can construct a more comprehensive history and produce a distinct narrative from a Native American perspective. I argue using this methodology recasts the activism of Helen Hunt Jackson and Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (Yankton Nakota) as the progenitor to modern Native American rights movements. The political activism of Jackson and Bonnin resides within literary journals shadowed by analyses of their fiction and poetry. Utilizing a different perspective revealed the stories of two women whose work made a significant impact on relations between the United States government and Native American nations that was generally less celebrated among historians. The object of this research project is to use an Indigenous perspective to decolonize and reclaim the histories of Helen Hunt Jackson and Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (Yankton Nakota) and their activism for Native American rights. The historical importance of the reform work of both women went unnoticed for a few decades, but the activism of the 1960s resurrected their legacy. Preliminary research indicated scholars focused ...
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