The first full professor that is native american at harvard. It only took a few centuries there. Just think of the next four centuries what might happen then. While we would never accuse harvard or michigan of theft, its in this beautiful fact that this absurd and good fortune for those institutions was ours before it was theres. Philip deloria received his degree from the university of colorado in 1982. Wanting to observe and understand humanity from many different angles, he then taught band at a denver metro high school. Having observing High School Music performance to satisfaction he turned an mma in journalism and communication which was back when you could remember what to call that program when it was an acronym that comes out whenever i try to say. So, by one of the providence most racist act of kindness he took my American History course which was called the early american frontier in the journalism program. In that course, the first assignment require students to write an autobiographical essay about western adventure that they experienced. The assignment launched me on the adventure and i had 50 students in the class but i ended up with 51 papers. So, i poured over the class registration list and was comparing the names there with the names of students who had submitted papers. This did not solve the mystery but it did give it a little bit more definition. A person named hank gomez returned a paper and something had gone awry with hank gomez and his relationship with the university in his name then did not appear on the course list. It probably figure out where this is going. From time to time, they filled the laureate fulfilled his workload and had very capable papers and had the work name of Philip Deloria had a different version of the paper of colorful, informal and full of vitality and probability and submitted it. That as the work of hank gomez. [laughs] laughs harvard has this story on their website or something. It is not on harvard website, no. Moving on. It is now Public Record and thats good. But its also a Public Record that hang comments and Philip Deloria were both a students. I never suggested that hank gomez applied to the yale american studies ph. D. Program so i wrote a letter of recommendation two Philip Deloria and a week ago i had a archive impulse to find the recommendation that i wrote him three decades ago but phil with a sigh of relief did not find a time to perform this exercise and have that resource and management. Were moving fast to get out of the way and with the existence of thank you gomez but first february is the two remarkable influential post what were combination of intricacy and original insight and common sense published in 1988 and ended not expected twice in 2004. Most recently has published an unsettling was becoming mary scholarly in an African American abstract in the well deserved attention to extraordinary in the artist whos also the great aunt and was widening and deepening what that means an American Indian art. Continuing his quest to observe human nature and illuminating and enlightening settings. He served as president of the American Society organization and the president of the organization and 2022. I see this as a continuity through the experience what which would be doing fieldwork and cheering on that board which is quite a bit more harmony at work then there sometimes is in those circles. He is also a trustee of the smithsonian of the American Indian and the Repatriation Committee which seems to be something of a family addition where they got us writing articles about white men and their hats again i think, hang on this will be an author probably. The associate dean will be an interviewer within the young and the Public Engagement and hes unstoppable a disciplinary and he incorporates that area and to his world and introduce it to other affects that have been waiting for decades to get to know each other. Finally phil deloria is the son you of the laureate junior. But i have a memory, we are at the Yale Art Gallery and we were giving comments on art. And in our audience, we began speaking and was this goofiest lady that any of us have any ever encountered. The goofiest white lady. So she got up, she was very outraged, and she looked at the panel and thought it was unconscionable, and intolerable that yale university, would have native american art without a need of american artist participating. I was not her fan, i will say that and not become that, but i didnt want to do, i thought i didnt want to do. So phil said to the white ladies bullet bewilderment, he said we cant be absolutely certain on the dates here, but sometime probably in the 17th century, french traders, came into the area that we now know as south dakota. And this lady is like what do we want his have to deal with anything. And it moves along, and that is the story of his origins. And she shut up quite quickly. And i do not recall her joining as a reception. But she is a smarter woman today. All of us here today, is here to hear the top that phil deloria, is about to give on him and his father. So here is Philip Deloria. Thank you. Im so happy to be in this room, of extraordinary people. Generously gathered together, to celebrate the 50th anniversary. And my collar my colleague and i were both discussing, about a set of emotional moments as we were remembering this book, and remembering my dad. That had a few of those going, and i expect there will be a few others. Im grateful for all of you for coming here today. And for hosting the celebration. And patty for putting all together, and for giving a revealing introduction. I feel i cannot begin without a couple of prefatory notes. First i want to bring regrets an appreciation for my mother. We hope that she would be able to be here today, but she had her second Knee Replacement just a month ago. And shes doing great, but she decided it was too early for her to start traveling around. So greetings and thanks to you from her, and my brother, and my sister and the extended extended family. And second, i want to say a word about humility. As it was mentioned earlier, its a great dakota virtue. And to be humble is to admit, not only are ignorance, unless the possibility of are learning, put the possibility of other perspectives and possibilities. That we might discuss. So i knew my dad is a son those a father. I knew him as a colleague, here at the university of michigan, as he was closing out his academic career. And in his last semester of teaching, we share the same office. Convenient thing for the chair of the department to be able to do. And ive known him as an intellectual, i studied his writings, and ive known him in other ways as well. Others of you have known him through different experiences. As a teacher or collaborator. A close colleague. As a mentor. And as a detailed subject analysis. And an author. He was a complicated man, active in many spheres of life. Patty complementary, said he is in the disciplinary, but he is much more than i am. Science, religious studies, law, ethnic studies, history and probably a few others that i cannot remember. And i never failed to learn something new, about him when i met people who knew him, or engaged in his work, and i want to thank everyone here for engaging in the learning. What was said by robert was natives critics can and should engage one another with more vigor and energy that in the past. So maybe its a piece of heresy, that custard died. Its a world historical book, but is not a perfect look. Its greatness to rise from the arguments that have advanced, and Self Determination and responsibility and the way that it catalyzed movement, and said possibilities. Particular style and voice, that model for those who came after. And only sings right, they are super important about this book. But to see, it name and discuss it and even joke about it, the imperfections and ambiguities, is not a sign of disrespect. Its a gift that any book gives us. We need to embrace those gifts. And we do so with humility and respect. That engagement measures, a sort of respect that my father would appreciate. He was a guy who would not shy away from a tussle, and combat was a part of the battle at the dinner table, and what we play monopoly, and sometimes he would bring my sister and i to tears, even though we are playing he was destroying us but. I do feel it incumbent, because so many people have told stories about his relationship to the telephone. But to do one of my own, that one of my favorite moments, was when my dad, who would love the film the godfather, and watched it many many times. He watched the film, before he would sit down to right. And you can watch the godfather over and over again. And on the weekend, my wife and i got married he recorded this message on her answering sheen. If you come to be before even now, the suffering this very day. And that really captures, some essence of him. As a prankster, a guy with an incredible sense of humor. So enough of that. For the American Indian people of his period, custard died for your since, is the capitalizing text of the indigenous political consciousness. I called out to a non native audience with a critical voice. And the demand for accountability and action. Five decades later, it is still relevant. We can begin with some of the obvious reasons, that we talk about this morning. So the book institutionalized, it was a delicious defensiveness on the part of margaret mead, and collections of commentary and in the end, a real transformation of that discipline. It may be the books most visible contribution. Maybe not the most significant but visible. At the same time one might argue, then already fading Christian Church in Indian Affairs one had been dominant for centuries, was not entirely to the detriment of indian people. The book took the pummeling to new heights new audience. It was a bestseller, at a time when no indian checks had a voice in the market. So 1969, was a moment of native president president s, and by the native American Indian movements, and everything that came after. 1969, white americans, and black americans and others, saw native people, in ways that were new to the 20th century. Many of the reviews in the writing, threatened my father as the young radical voice of red power. That is often have stories told. But for those who like the american west, they wouldve interesting to see how they reviewed this new york times. Reading the book now, we are struck by a different configuration. And problem solving. And i think in the 1975 interview, my father framed himself in part as being merely sympathetic to the young radicals. He was frustrated at the failure of the federal government to respond to the 20 points. That was a document that looked at the broken treaties. And the restoration of treaty relationships. He was more frustrated by what he saw as a failure, to travel counselors councils, and organizations that would wrestle. Reading custard in that light one might recognize what came before that said he was not exactly a young radical as we oftentimes think of it but he was in many ways fundamentally institutional person and he claimed no membership in the American Indian movement. Though he provided strategy and testimony, and he seems to pay dues to the native indian youth council, but was not associated with most of its members. And indeed he rather consistently, and in this book named the National Congress of American Indians, and traveled governments, as the best and most hopeful institutions for the future. At the conclusion of his 1971, edition of red men in the new world drama, he provides a list of the major indian groups at work today. And he encourages readers in this to go and promote and support these particular groups. There is nothing illogical about it you see he grew up in the shadow of the 1934 indian organizations act. He had a powerful fate, in the future of indian people. And tribalism, tribal nationalism, i think it was one of the cornerstone bases, for that faith. He contrast to tribalism with militancy, and framed as more challenging, and ultimately the more productive route. He recommended tribal nationalism. He criticize hippies and countercultural lists. And he was even willing, on occasion to praise counter cultural lists, for kind of getting it right. He had an open mind, on this question. He tried to see, as we heard earlier, the corporation in modern form of tribalism. Failing to launch, the requisite critique, of later capital and profit under capitalism. And i think youre right, if this was an open question for him, it was an interesting intriguing one. Seems to me, he was perhaps interested in a different question, about the kind of writes that might be held with different entities. And how it might be thought of in bigger broader terms. His definition of travel nationalism, was in precise. It rested on his relationship to other governments. Another bit of the nationalism, came out of his convictions, that indeed people had distinct, and i want to emphasize this, superior forms of self governance. Social relations, and cultural production. Those forms, crucially were tribal. Relational, interdependent, responsible and spiritual. And how it evolved over time. This is words matter to him, it developed over time, and can reach a certain level, which things work better. Like trial and error, and experience an action result produces a certain kind of result. In a way the radicalism of the book, it reads maybe differently as radical in retrospect, but it comes from how much optimism and faith he had, that indian people, when given control over their lives, would do well. And would develop new forms of travel nationalism. They would be a model for changing the contemporary social relationships across the board. This is the tone that struck me when i read the book. So how much faith he had, how much confidence he had. This is a critique of course, but this is a futuristic book. This is a book looking towards things that can and do and will happen. Theres nothing crazy about this either, that same moment that the i. R. A. , was one of both in eternalism intense internalism, and quietly effective self management. The possibility for strong trouble administration, was real for him. He was a personal admirer of many of the travel leaders in the 19 fifties in 19 sixties. And he cares characterize them as an excellent cohort. Ready for challenge. Us i myself thinking in parallel, in terms of his friend. I want think that is striking about her career, and revealing about his, is the sheer numbers that indian leaders with and she partnered with over the years. This is and was a massive as of hundreds of leaders and political workers. And in that context, its not difficult at all to identify political and important work. In these kind of fittings. Today we often point to, in the niyc, the red power movement. Indeed the critique of travel councils, searches something as an origin story. It is worth remembering, that that is not the story in this book though. As he sat down to his typewriter, in 1968, those narratives had an attraction for him. 1968 poor peoples march, is center in his mind. The teacher triumph, over udalls bill, was one of the shining moments. It offers a linchpin that is less remember today. As he wrote alcatraz, the takeover had not happen. It broke at the same time as the first reviews of kuster came in. And their views were november 9th, 14th and 18th. Alcatraz the takeover, was november 20th. So its all unfolding in november of 1969. And those things are not quite magical, at that moment. In the book he surveys the landscape of Indian Country, and he thought strategically. As robert warrior, become slightly later, 1972 imagine the kind of flan of confederation and. They would recruit and support to form the next cohorts of leadership. Travel chair organization, would have policy and legal strategy across tribes. Its actually pretty good vision of how things mightve unfolded. But they didnt unfold that way. Not to say its not a good vision. One way to trace the origins of this book, in the institutional political activism, would be to focus on the three years my father served as the director of the. From 64 till 67. In kuster he presents, woody often or gave as an origin story. He found himself escorting a visitor around wyoming, and it was indian days. In a moment of political struggle and uncertainty, and somehow the dust cleared and he became the director. A young guy, who they did think they could push around. So my father did come with the slogan platform, and a competitor he had to debate thats how we came there. It is essential to his career, the planning and strategy and forethought. It meets up with situational awareness, good timing and operational deafness. He was situational, and he had vision. His first months were taken up by administrative things, power struggle with the previous director, who refused to give up the checkbook and financial records. This was a time of financial stress, physical stress fiscal stress for the organization. And then there is point of learning on the job. And my grandfather, ted sociological study for the church, at that time it was driving to reservations around the country. It was an introduction, to look at Indian Country as a diverse hole. So my father was traveling around with his father, going into the communities, going to the church, is being there but another part was drawing on what my grandfather has had done as a sociologist. And he was sociologist but also Football Player in 1922. And my grandfather sort of schooled him in many ways. And in this interesting, my father was also taking the experience of his aunt. Who hurt work as field would, was came through her Fathers Network of church and kin. And the information that he provided to her. When i show the deloria men, in a trajectory like this, i feel impaired to also i feel that i must show the women to. One of the things that is cool, is there is that painting my great great grandmother. Done by alfred sala, who would be a father of her child. So the Institutional Capital in a way, it was administrative. But also was at its core, bas