The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 76, July 1972 - April, 1973 Page: 106

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

Cherokees have not given up. As late as 1964 they were still trying
to establish legal claim to their former Texas lands, which had proved
to be rich in oil.
Clarke's book suggests an answer as to why a small group of Chero-
kee Indians played such a prominent role in the Indian affairs of
the Republic of Texas. It was obviously not this group itself that
disturbed the early Texans, but the fact that these Cherokees provided
leadership for other Indian refugee groups from the United States,
such as the Alabama, Biloxi, Choctaw, Delaware, Kickapoo, Koasati,
and Shawnee, all of whom occupied choice lands in eastern Texas and
resented Anglo-American encroachment. The Texans coveted those
lands and correctly sensed the potential for organized resistance. If
the Cherokees united the refugee groups, serious trouble could ensue.
Expulsion of the Cherokees would have come much sooner if Sam
Houston, who had lived among them in Oklahoma, had not stoutly
fought for their land rights in Texas. It seems likely that the con-
troversy, in which Houston stood against many other political leaders
of Texas, is the real reason why historians have been so interested in
the Texas Cherokees. Otherwise, perhaps we might have not only a
good study of the Texas Cherokees but also good books on the Texas
Delawares, the Texas Kickapoos, and various other refugee peoples.
University of Texas, Austin T. N. CAMPBELL
Big Brother's Indian Programs-With Reservations. By Sar A. Levitan
and Barbara Hetrick. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company,
1971. Pp. vii+228. Notes, illustrations, index. $8.95.)
This book has a good cover. Unfortunately, however, the cover
promises more than is delivered. The book is little more than an at-
tempt to cash in on the current interest in the problems of the
American Indian. In the first six of seven topically arranged chapters,
the authors shed oceans of tears over the plight of the Indian and beat
their chests in righteous indignation over government ineptitude.
In the last chapter they offer their solution. It can be simply stated:
appropriate more money and create new agencies to administer it.
We have heard it before; their solution has been tried before-with
little success.
Among its several shortcomings, Big Brother's Indian Programs
appears to have been hastily assembled. The sources listed at the end

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