In reading the primary sources for this week: Chief Joseph on Indian Affairs (1877, 1879) and William T. Hornaday on the Extinction of the American Bison (1889) we are undoubtedly confronted with some of the sadder consequences of this irreversible process. How can we, as historians, learn from these sources so that we can understand and help guide similar processes in the world today? What kind of processes of migration, conquest, and change in today’s world could better be understood by reading the words of Chief Joseph and William Hornaday?
