BobRingReflections

In the last few years, I’ve written tens of articles on some aspect of American history, ranging from the first settlement by native peoples, to European colonization, to the birth of the United States, and the country’s subsequent growth and expansion to today.   Along the way, I had numerous occasions to touch on the role of Native Americans and African Americans in that history - a role that with hindsight now seems both spotty and incomplete. So, with this blog, I wanted to revisit the American history of these two minorities in the population of the U.S. today, in a way that I could, in one article, capture the important facts, get a complete picture in my mind of their complex and interrelated stories, evaluate their impact on the overall history of America, and finally reflect on what I learned. I will start with Native American history, since it begins with the first indigenous peoples in America, thousands of years ago.   Then I will talk about African American History, be