Created Equal: Michigan author digs into the Midwest’s Indigenous history
Robert Downes joined the show to talk about his latest book and his life-long interest in Native American history.
"Raw Deal: The Indians of the Midwest and the Theft of Native Lands" by Robert Downes.
At an early age, Michigan author Robert Downes became aware that the land his family’s farm sat on was formerly habited by Ottawa Indians, after digging up hundreds of artifacts in the fields.
In his latest book, “Raw Deal: The Indians of the Midwest and the Theft of Native Lands,” Downes aims to highlight the often unknown history of the Indigenous populations in the region and the bad deals that led to the theft of native lands.
Downes joined Stephen Henderson on Created Equal on Monday to talk about his book and his life-long interest in Native American history.
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Guest:
Robert Downes is a Michigan author and publisher, and author of the book “Raw Deal: The Indians of the Midwest and the Theft of Native Lands.” He says from an early age, he realized there were far more Indigenous people living in our continent than we have been led to believe.
“In the contiguous United States, there were about 15 million Indians, and they had these magnificent civilizations that were pretty much wiped out in the 1500s by the conquistadors and brought all these diseases such as smallpox and measles and diphtheria and the like. And I go deeply into that too,” said Downes.
Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.
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