Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) physician Robert H. Ruby arrived on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to oversee the health needs of the Oglala Sioux tribe during a period of significant transformation and change in federal Indian policies. As Ruby came to know the individuals living on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and as he grew more acquainted with the stories, traditions, and cultural systems of the Sioux, he was compelled to collect his observations and opinions on this tribe, considered at the time one of the most resistant to white culture and BIA “civilizing” efforts. Originally published in 1955, Ruby’s book The Oglala Sioux presents a vibrant picture of the ways in which the lives of these American Indians were altered under the influence of the U.S. government, and it details the deep and in many ways heroic struggle of the Sioux to recover and maintain their culture and sovereignty. Through Ruby’s work as a doctor on the reservation and through this compelling and informative narrative, he advocated understanding, compassion, and, in keeping with the tenor of the times in which he both lived and labored, change.

The Oglala Sioux: Warriors in Transition

History

Ruby, Robert H.

Americas

Bison Books

In 1953 young surgeon Robert H. Ruby began work as the chief medical officer at the hospital on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He began writing almost daily to his sister, describing the Oglala Lakota people he served, his Bureau of Indian Affairs colleagues, and day-to-day life on the reservation. Ruby and his wife were active in the social life of the non-white community, which allowed Ruby, also a self-trained ethnographer, to write in detail about the Oglala Lakota people and their culture, covering topics such as religion, art, traditions, and values. His frank and personal depiction of conditions he encountered on the reservation examines poverty, alcoholism, the educational system, and employment conditions and opportunities. Ruby also wrote critically of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, describing the bureaucracy that made it difficult for him to do his job and kept his hospital permanently understaffed and undersupplied. These engaging letters provide a compelling memoir of life at Pine Ridge in the mid-1950s.

A Doctor among the Oglala Sioux Tribe: The Letters of Robert H. Ruby, 1953-1954

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

University Of Nebraska Press

Book by Ruby, Robert H., Brown, John A.

The Cayuse Indians: Imperial Tribesmen of Old Oregon (Civilization of the American Indian Series, Vol. 120)

University of Oklahoma Press

Chinook Indians, Civilization of the American Indian Series

The Chinook Indians: Traders of the Lower Columbia River

Univ of Oklahoma Pr

More than one hundred Indian tribes in fifteen language groups inhabited the area of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Western Montana in the nineteenth century. This important work, the first composite history of the region's native inhabitants, covers the period roughly from 1750 to 1900, from the first white contacts to the aftermath of the Dawes Act. It is a valuable resource both for the serious scholars and general readers. The cultures of the Pacific Northwest tribes were as diverse as their lands. Coastal peoples, such as the Makahs, hunted whales in huge wooden canoes thirty-five feet long. Near Puget Sound they developed an advanced technology and a stylized art in carved wood. Whites were shocked by the head flattening practiced by some coastal peoples and by the potlatch ceremony, in which they gave away their possessions. Farther inland, along the Columbia River, tribal economies centered around the salmon. The smoked fish was traded all over the region. On the east the horse transformed the way of life of the Shoshonis, Nez Percés, Kalispels, and Blackfeet. Each spring they crossed the Rockies to hunt the buffalo and fight for control of the hunting territory. The first whites to enter the Pacific Northwest were Spanish mariners from the south and British and American traders stopping for furs on their way to China. Later the British North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company established trading posts. The whites brought gimcracks, guns, molasses, tobacco, alcohol, and disease. They took the pelts of the sea otter, seal, beaver, and buffalo in return. Missionaries and settlers followed the traders. Catholic black robes and Protestants in buckskins competed with mixed success for the Indian's souls, while at the same time native religions held sway. Indian religious leaders, such as Spokane Garry and the Dreamer prophet Smohalla, were almost as important as the fighting chiefs.

Indians of the Pacific Northwest: A History (Civilization of the American Indian)

The Spokane Indians: Children of the Rising Sun

World

Over the centuries the Indians of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana have adapted their lifeways to their regionâ€™s radically different environments-an evolution that in some tribes continues to this day, as they conform to the demands of contemporary American society.

A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest (Civilization of the American Indian)

Brown, John A.

Dreamer-Prophets of the Columbia Plateau: Smohalla and Skolaskin (Civilization of the American Indian)

Brown, John Arthur

Indian Slavery in the Pacific Northwest (NORTHWEST HISTORICAL SERIES)

Arthur H. Clark

Mylar protected dustjacket and boards have slight edgewear.

Ferryboats on the Columbia River, Including the Bridges and Dams

Superior Publishing Company

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Books by Ruby, Robert H.