Additional information
by Margaret D. Jacobs (Author)
Winner of the 2010 Bancroft Prize
Winner of the 2010 Athearn Western History Association Prize
Winner of the 2010 Armitage-Jameson Prize
White Mother to a Dark Race takes the study of indigenous education and acculturation in new directions in its examination of the key roles white women played in these policies of indigenous child-removal. Government officials, missionaries, and reformers justified the removal of indigenous children in particularly gendered ways by focusing on the supposed deficiencies of indigenous mothers, the alleged barbarity of indigenous men, and the lack of a patriarchal nuclear family. Often they deemed white women the most appropriate agents to carry out these child-removal policies. Inspired by the maternalist movement of the era, many white women were eager to serve as surrogate mothers to indigenous children and maneuvered to influence public policy affecting indigenous people. Although some white women developed caring relationships with indigenous children and others became critical of government policies, many became hopelessly ensnared in this insidious colonial policy.
Author Biography
Margaret D. Jacobs is a professor of history and the director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is the author of Engendered Encounters: Feminism and Pueblo Cultures, 1879-1934 (Nebraska 1999).
Number of Pages: 592
Dimensions: 1.5 x 8.9 x 5.9 IN
Illustrated: Yes
Publication Date: March 01, 2011
