Bad Treaties & Broken Promises, Local Author Bob Downes

Traverse City author Bob Downes will speak on “Bad Treaties and Broken Promises” in a slide talk based on his new nonfiction history, “Raw Deal: The Indians of the Midwest and the Theft of Native Lands.” 

 Although Indian lands were paid for with hard cash and services provided by the U.S. government, it was always for pennies per acre or less, backed by the threat of removal at the point of bayonets, sabers and guns wielded by federal troops and violent militias.

Downes’ talk will trace the heroic efforts of the Indians to retain their homeland through centuries of warfare, exploitation and legal wrangling, including all five of the major treaties signed in Michigan.