Native people have been written out of the American story, but without us you don’t know what happened. This summer the United States will celebrate the 250-year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. When you read the Declaration, you realize it is a list of complaints. The last entry, the climax in our founders’ reasons for rebellion against the Crown, is this: “He has excited… the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.” We have been told the Revolution was fought over taxation and representation. But what the founders were most angry about in our country’s most famous document was Indian affairs. How did generations of Americans miss this? The first armed rebellion against the Crown was an attack on British forts that traded with tribes. When colonists threw tea into the Boston harbor, they dressed up like members of the Mohawk tribe—not for disguise, but because pretending to be Indian symbolized freedom and rebellion. The founding fathers’ first government failed because Indigenous nations were too powerful; war and diplomacy with Native people is why we have a central federal government. Hosted and reported by Rebecca Nagle and featuring leading Native historians, First America unveils how the founders’ treatment of Indigenous nations—and their resistance—shaped US democracy. The show does not simply add another blemish to the image of the founding fathers, it reveals the real story of why the colonists rebelled, what kind of government they created, and, crucially, how our current political moment was 250 years in the making.
We’ve all been told our founders created a democracy. Rebecca talks with Maggie Blackhawk (Ojibwe) about why that's only half the story. Because our founders also wanted an empire. And so, they built both: a democracy that gave its citizens a voice and a vote; and an empire that controlled the lives and lands of people who had no say. That playbook never went away. Today, when our government wants to annex Greenland, deny citizenship to people born here, or put migrants in detention camps, it uses laws first passed to colonize Indigenous nations to do so. Resources: - July 31, join First America, Tulsa Artist Fellowship, the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, Red Media, and the Lindy Waters III Foundation for an evening celebrating Indigenous futurism, storytelling, and the release of "From the Heart of Our Nations" - Get "From the Heart of Our Nations," a collection of short stories from First America's Indigenous youth writing workshop, here - Dig further into Maggie Blackhawk's scholarship here See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Did you know that foreclosure was invented as a way to take Native land? Free, Indigenous land once built the American dream. But the mechanisms our government used to take it are now robbing everybody. With the help of Nick Estes (Lakota), Michael Blaakman and K-Sue Park, Rebecca tells the story of how our founding fathers used Indigenous land to bail out the early republic. And how their decisions planted the seeds for our current housing crisis. Resources: - Speculation Nation by Michael Blaakman - " Money, Mortgages, and the Conquest of America " by K-Sue Park See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
After America won the Revolutionary War, the Continental Army was disbanded. After the abuses of British soldiers, the founding fathers didn’t want a big standing army. That small, disorganized military then went off to fight Indigenous nations and lost. Rebecca talks with George Ironstack (Myaamia) about how a 15-year war with the Myaamia Nation forever changed both countries. In the United States, it is why we have a standing army, why it is so big, why the president can fight undeclared wars, and why our country can never seem to end them. Resources: - Myaamia Center See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The American Revolution wasn’t just a fight for liberty. It was also a sprawling conflict with Indigenous nations over who would control the continent of North America. And to stake out their claim, the United States was willing to commit genocide. Rebecca talks to Maggie Blackhawk (Ojibwe) about how our country’s early treatment of Native Americans is the root of authoritarianism in the United States. Resources: - Jeffrey Ostler, " “To Extirpate the Indians”: An Indigenous Consciousness of Genocide in the Ohio Valley and Lower Great Lakes, 1750s–1810 ," The William and Mary Quarterly, by Thurman Wilkins - Rhiannon Koehler " Hostile Nations: Quantifying the Destruction of the Sullivan-Clinton Genocide of 1779 ," American Indian Quarterly, 2018 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Did you know that when colonists threw tea into the Boston Harbor they dressed up like Native Americans? Rebecca goes to Boston with historian Phil Deloria (Dakota descent) to try and understand Americans’ obsession with playing Indian. In the early republic, pretending to be Indian symbolized freedom and helped the colonists form a new, national identity. From boyscouts, to new agers, to sports fans, the American tradition of white people dressing up like Natives never went away. Resources: - Phil Deloria's book Playing Indian is a fantastic resource on this subject - Not In Our Honor is working to change the name of Kansas City's football team See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Welcome to First America: the true story of how the United States came to be, and how our current political moment is 250 years in the making. Dropping June 22nd, with early episode releases for Pushkin+ subscribers . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We’ve all been told the American Revolution was fought over taxation and representation. But that's not what the Declaration of Independence says. According to our founders, in their own words, what they were most upset about was Native Americans. How did we all miss that? Rebecca sits down with historian Ned Blackhawk (Western Shoshone) to talk about how hunger for Indigenous land drove the Revolution. Welcome to First America, the true story of how the United States came to be, and how our current political moment was 250 years in the making. Resources: - Dig into more of Ned Blackhawk's scholarship here See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The This Land team is back with a new show! Stay tuned for First America, the true story of how the United States came to be, and how our current political moment is 250 years in the making. Dropping June 22nd, with early episode releases for Pushkin+ subscribers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The police tell us they are here to protect us. But what if their original purpose was something else altogether? Peabody Award-winning host Chenjerai Kumanyika takes listeners on a journey to uncover the hidden history of the largest police force in the world – from its roots in slavery, to rival police gangs battling across the city, to everyday people who resisted every step of the way. As our society debates where policing is going, Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD explores where the police came from. From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack. Follow Empire City wherever you get your podcasts and listen to the second episode, available now. You can listen ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
BY THE FIRE WE CARRY, the new book by Rebecca Nagle, is a powerful work of reportage and American history that braids the story of the forced removal of Native Americans onto treaty lands in the nation’s earliest days, and a small-town murder in the 1990s that led to a Supreme Court ruling reaffirming Native rights to that land more than a century later Before 2020, American Indian reservations made up roughly 55 million acres of land in the United States. Nearly 200 million acres are reserved for National Forests—in the emergence of this great nation, our government set aside more land for trees than for Indigenous peoples. In the 1830s Muscogee people were rounded up by the US military at gunpoint and forced into exile halfway across the continent. At the time, they were promised this new land would be theirs for as long as the grass grew and the waters ran. But that promise was not kept. When Oklahoma was created on top of Muscogee land, the new state claimed their reservation no longer existed. Over a century later, a Muscogee citizen was sentenced to death for murdering another Muscogee citizen on tribal land. His defense attorneys argued the murder occurred on the reservation of his tribe, and therefore Oklahoma didn’t have the jurisdiction to execute him. Oklahoma asserted that the reservation no longer existed. In the summer of 2020, the Supreme Court settled the dispute. Its ruling that would ultimately underpin multiple reservations covering almost half the land in Oklahoma, including Nagle’s own Cherokee Nation. Here Rebecca Nagle recounts the generations-long fight for tribal land and sovereignty in eastern Oklahoma. By chronicling both the contemporary legal battle and historic acts of Indigenous resistance, By the Fire We Carry stands as a landmark work of American history. The story it tells exposes both the wrongs that our nation has committed and the Native-led battle for justice that has shaped our country. Learn more: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/by-the-fire-we-carry-rebecca-nagle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Episode 1: The Police Officer and the Priest: One night back in the late 1970s, an officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police pulled over a suspected drunk driver. When he walked up to the vehicle, he came face-to-face with a ghost from his past: a residential school priest. That officer was journalist Connie Walker’s late father. What happened that night on the side of the road compelled her to return home to Saskatchewan nearly 40 years later to try to investigate a secret in her own family. What she uncovers is a much bigger story. Subscribe to Stolen to hear more episodes, wherever you get your podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Last week the Supreme Court made an historic ruling upholding the Indian Child Welfare Act. Rebecca Nagle takes us inside the courtroom to break down the decision, how we got here, and what it all means. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
While we wait to see whether the Supreme Court takes the case, we attend a ceremony run by a program that helps Native adoptees reconnect with their tribes. Show Notes This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/ Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/ Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/ Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As the case heads to the Fifth Circuit - the last stop before the Supreme Court - we go inside the courtroom to hear the arguments and the decision. Show Notes This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/ Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/ Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/ Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/ Jennifer Brackeen’s Personal Blog https://web.archive.org/web/20201221201802/https://thebrackeens.blogspot.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We know which law firms and think tanks are bringing these lawsuits, but no one has been able to figure out who’s funding them—or why—until now. Show Notes This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/ Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/ Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/ Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The fight against the Indian Child Welfare Act is much bigger than a few custody cases, or even the entire adoption industry. We follow the money, and our investigation leads us to a powerful group of corporate lawyers and one of the biggest law firms in the country. Show Notes This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/ Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/ Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/ Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/ Mashpee Wampanoag face double crisis: COVID-19 and feds https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/mashpee-wampanoag-face-double-crisis-covid-19-and-feds Interior takes reservation away from Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/interior-takes-reservation-away-from-mashpee-wampanoag-tribe Mashpee Wampanoag ruling a 'win for all of Indian Country' https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/mashpee-wampanoag-ruling-a-win-for-all-of-indian-country The Fight for Baby Veronica, Part 1 https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/the-fight-for-baby-veronica-part-1 The Fight for Baby Veronica, Part 2 https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/the-fight-for-baby-veronica-part-2 The Fight for Baby Veronica, Part 3 https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/the-fight-for-baby-veronica-part-3 The Fight for Baby Veronica, Part 4 https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/the-fight-for-baby-veronica-part-4 The Fight for Baby Veronica, Part 5 https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/the-fight-for-baby-veronica-part-5 Supreme Court Takes on Indian Child Welfare Act in Baby Veronica Case https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/supreme-court-takes-on-indian-child-welfare-act-in-baby-veronica-case See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The private adoption industry has been fighting against the Indian Child Welfare Act the longest. We learn why by following one couple’s journey to adopt and their mixed feelings about the process. Show Notes This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/ Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/ Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/ Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/ Blood Memory documentary https://www.bloodmemorydoc.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Brackeens aren’t the only ones suing to strike down the Indian Child Welfare Act. So are Danielle and Jason Clifford, a foster couple from Minnesota. Show Notes This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/ Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/ Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/ Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Brackeens' case would have been a normal adoption dispute, but then one of the most powerful corporate law firms in the United States took it on and helped the couple launch a federal lawsuit. Show Notes This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/ Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/ Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/ Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/ Blood Memory documentary https://www.bloodmemorydoc.com/ “Indian Adoption Project Increases Momentum” April 18, 1967 press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior https://www.indianaffairs.gov/as-ia/opa/online-press-release/indian-adoption-project-increases-momentum See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
ALM – as referred to in court documents – is a Navajo and Cherokee toddler. When he was a baby, a white couple from the suburbs of Dallas wanted to adopt him, but a federal law said they couldn’t. So they sued. Show Notes: This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/ Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/ Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/ Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/ Jennifer Brackeen’s Personal Blog https://web.archive.org/web/20201221201802/https://thebrackeens.blogspot.com/ "An Untold Number Of Indigenous Children Disappeared At U.S. Boarding Schools. Tribal Nations Are Raising The Stakes In Search Of Answers." https://theintercept.com/2018/09/25/carlisle-indian-industrial-school-indigenous-children-disappeared/ "My Relatives Went To A Catholic School For Native Children. It Was A Place Of Horrors" https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/30/my-relatives-went-to-a-catholic-school-for-native-children-it-was-a-place-of-horrors "Indigenous Children Finally Headed Home" https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/indigenous-children-officially-headed-home "Indian Boarding School Investigation Faces Hurdles In Missing Records, Legal Questions" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/indian-boarding-school-investigation-faces-hurdles-missing-records-legal-questions-n1273996 "U.S. Boarding Schools To Be Investigated" https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/us-boarding-schools-to-be-investigated See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Observed July 31, 2026.
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