The Nez Perces in the Indian territory

"Following the Nez Perce War of 1877, federal representatives promised the Nimiipuu who surrendered with Chief Joseph repatriation to their Pacific Northwest homes. Instead, they were driven into exile - confined in federal prison camps in Kansas and the Indian Territory. This book tells the story of the Nimiipuu captivity and deportation and offers an in-depth analysis of the resistant Nez Perce, Cayuse, and Palus bands during their incarceration in three different prison camps." "The resistance of the survivors is a never-before-told story reconstructed through new sources and oral histories. Pearson tells how the Nimiipuu advocated for their aboriginal and civil rights and for the return to their Wallowa Valley homelands. And she describes how, when threatened with permanent detention, they turned their prison odyssey into a time of renewal, learning to adapt to federal strategies in order to force authorities to heed their voices, and finally negotiating their release in 1885." "The Nez Perces in Indian Territory is the only comprehensive record of this phase of Nez Perce history. It reveals how one Native group survived tragedy, strengthened American Indian sovereignty and self-determination, and advanced the struggle for civil rights."--BOOK JACKET.