BOOKS Available for purchase:
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Sunstone Press, Publisher
http://www.sunstonepress.com/preorder.html
USPS: P.O. Box 2321,
Santa Fe, NM 87504
Phone: 505-988-4418
Roberta Carol Harvey, Diné
- Citizen of Navajo Nation
- University of Denver BA
- (Political Science, Economics), MBA, JD
- University of Houston, BA Spanish
- Colorado Bar 11294
The author is an attorney and historian. She is a lecturer on Indian law related to policy, land, water, natural resources. She is committed to Indian self determination, ending assimilation policies and accurate education of our youth.
Writer, Lecturer, Storyteller:
Diné Stories: YouTube Videos (LINK)
AWARDS:
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD
CAHSS Lifetime Achievement Honoree
“Your work educating the community on Native American History in addition to preservation of Indian Culture among Native youth is truly inspiring, as is your involvement on campus at Denver University.”
Both presented by University of Denver, April 2024.
Available for purchase:
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THE EARTH IS RED
The Imperialism of the Doctrine of Discovery
In 1823, United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, based on his analysis of custom, not precedential law, proclaimed the Doctrine of Discovery” as the supreme law of the land in the case, Johnson v. M’Intosh. This “doctrine” held that whichever European nation first “discovered” land, then not ruled by a Christian prince or people, could claim ownership. From President Washington on it was a foregone conclusion that America’s legacy was a continental empire. Indigenous people in this New World, as it was called, were a mere obstacle to be eliminated or moved out of the way of colonial settlers in their westward expansion from coast to coast.
What followed was the loss of indigenous lives, land, game and valuable natural resources, along with the federal government imposing brutal economic sanctions and destructive assimilation policies. Thus, the United States acquired an empire at fire sale, rock-bottom prices, or without compensation at all, facilitated by Chief Justice Marshall’s decision in a feigned and fraudulent case.
Published November 2022
THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN
American Indian Culture in Colorado High Schools
In 1998, Colorado state lawmakers mandated that American Indian history and culture be included in the curriculum of high schools in Colorado, based on the persistent efforts of Comanche State Senator Suzanne Williams. In 2003, they broadened the law mandating that in order to graduate students must satisfactorily complete a civil government course which includes the history, culture and social contributions of Indians and other groups. Yet tens of thousands of students graduate each year in the state without learning any of the information that is mandated in that single state graduation requirement.
The U.S. Civil Rights Commission noted in 2018 that the “lack of appropriate cultural awareness in school curriculum focusing on Native American history or culture” can (1) be harmful to American Indian students; (2) contribute to a negative learning environment; (3) be isolating and limiting; (4) trigger bullying; and (5) result in negative stereotypes across the board. In Colorado, 81% of American Indian students don’t meet state math benchmarks, 85% don’t meet state science benchmarks, and 70% don’t meet state English language benchmarks. Colorado’s continuing neglect of Indian students by excluding anything Indian from their education is harmful.
The state is denying Indian students’ rights to see themselves in their education, which is necessary to ensure their academic success. The arguments made in this book are rooted in a sacred commitment to protect Indian children.
Published 2022
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Powell’s Books
Available for purchase:
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Powell’s Books
THE IRON TRIANGLE
The Theft of Indian Natural Resources
The trajectory was clear: removal, cession of millions of acres of land, interment on reservations, allotment of tribal land to individuals to break up tribes, and the sale of those allotments. Disease, starvation, extermination, massacres, private wars and war crimes ensued. This opened the “inexhaustible mineral, agricultural and natural resources within their dominion” for white exploitation.Congressional legislation opened the land of the west for $1.25 per acre or at times for free, without buying Indian land, just to get settlers’ boots-on-the-ground. Land sharks, in collusion with federal agents, cheated Indians out of their land and timber. Big business used its political and economic clout to assure its control of the country’s natural wealth. Lumber barons monopolized the timber industry and set prices. By 1920, three-fifths of the United States’ original timber was gone. Indians served as menial laborers for logging companies, cutting timber and peeling bark. “Scalped” of the wealth inherent in their natural resources, they were left destitute. This book is for them.
Published December 2022
ALL THAT GLITTERS IS OURS
The Theft of Indian Natural Resources
The Indians possessed an abundant natural resource environment which included (1) renewable natural resources such as timber, water and arable land, along with wildlife resources such as fish and game; and (2) non-renewable natural resources, such as gold, silver, copper, iron ore, coal and oil.
The deliberate policy of the United States Government, the Indians’ trustee, was to expropriate Indian mineral resources. MONEY was needed to fund the industrial engine that would make the U.S. a dominant world power. Indians were a mere obstacle to subdue through all the brutality imaginable. Combat would be conducted by a technologically superior Army, by vigilante forces armed by the government, by miners and by colonial settlers. Indian country was invaded, and Indians incarcerated on their reservations.
While Indians were lied to about the value of their lands, mining tycoons became wealthy from producing their minerals. Indians starved to death, froze to death, died from imported diseases and were wantonly exterminated while the Millionaires Club of the Washoe in Nevada was formed by the elite gentlemen of the Comstock in the 1870s, the hey-day of the mining activity, termed the “Silver Seventies.
Published 2023
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Powell’s Books
Available for purchase:
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SOCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF COLORADO’S INDIAN LEADERS
In 1998, Colorado state lawmakers mandated that American Indian history and culture be included in the curriculum of high schools in Colorado, based on the persistent efforts of Comanche State Senator Suzanne Williams. In 2003, they broadened the law mandating that in order to graduate students must satisfactorily complete a civil government course which includes the history, culture and social contributions of American Indians and other groups.
Yet tens of thousands of students graduate each year in the state without
learning any of the information that is mandated in that single state graduation requirement.
This book on Colorado’s American Indian leaders is to help fulfill this requirement.
Published 2023
WARRIOR SOCIETIES: A MANIFESTO
Indian Nations Survival
Make no mistake, Indian Nations are at war for their survival! In the past, War Societies were tasked with ensuring their peoples’ survival; we need to revive this class of Warriors, that are mentally and physically strong, confident and resolute, educated and connected to their Indian identities.
In January 2023, Montana Republican State Senator Keith Regier proposed a draft resolution to Congress arguing that the “Indian reservation system is a policy based solely on race, which is diametrically opposed to both the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the state of Montana.”
Further, he stated the continuation of the reservation system is not in the best interests of the state or the Indians.
Published 2023
Available for purchase:
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Available for purchase:
Amazon.com (Kindle version available)
Barnes and Noble Booksellers
Powell’s Books
A BRIEF COLORADO INDIAN HISTORY
OF THE 1800s
Through A Factual Lens
In 1998, Colorado state lawmakers mandated that American Indian history and culture be included in the curriculum of high schools in Colorado, based on persistent efforts of Comanche State Senator Suzanne Williams. In 2003 they broadened the law mandating that in order to graduate students must satisfactorily complete a civil government course which includes the history, culture and social contributions of American Indians and other groups. (Colorado Revised Statue 22-1-104.) This book on Colorado’s American Indian history, based on primary sources, is intended to help Colorado fulfill this educational mandate.
Published 2024
STEALING THE LAST ARROW
The Department of Interior Indian Probate Proceedings
The American Indian Probate Reform Act was enacted in 2004 and became effective in 2006. The Act applies to all individually owned trust lands, unless a tribe has its own probate code. State laws no longer apply. Its purposes include preserving the trust status of Indian lands by restricting non-Indian inheritance, reducing fractionation by earmarking federal funds for consolidation, and authorizing Indian co-owner and tribal purchase and sale of ownership interests. The Bureau of Indian Affairs estimated that heading into fiscal year 2024, it had a probate case backlog of more than 32,000 cases. Its ability to prepare cases for probate is limited due to under-staffing and under-funding. In 2022-2023, the Interior Board of Indian Appeals docketed 31 Indian probate cases and reached the merits only four times. It dismissed most of those cases for procedural errors, for problems with service and missed deadlines, or for failure to prosecute. To families struggling to put bread on the table, the cost of legal counsel is simply out of reach. The digital divide in Indian Country only makes communication more difficult, if not impossible, for the geographically isolated, disabled and elderly who may lack transportation in rural areas, telephones or postal service.
Published 2024
This book is to sound an alarm.
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