And Still the Waters Run

By Angie Debo,

Book cover of And Still the Waters Run: The Betrayal of the Five Civilized Tribes

Book description

Debo's classic work tells the tragic story of the spoliation of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole nations at the turn of the last century in what is now the state of Oklahoma. After their earlier forced removal from traditional lands in the southeastern states--culminating in the devastating 'trail…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Why read it?

2 authors picked And Still the Waters Run as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

People were shocked to read about the Osage murders, but those who’ve read Angie Debo just had to sigh and shake their heads since it’s nothing new. Her 1936 work opened my eyes to the systematic devastation of the tribes, bite by bite. Forced off their homelands with removal, they were promised to hold land in Oklahoma “as long as the waters run,” but it wasn’t more than a few decades before allotment narrowed tribal holdings and opened up more land to be taken. With Native peoples not even legal citizens, anyone with money had to have a guardian, a…

In Angie Debo’s classic book And Still the Water Runs, the tragic history of the forced removal of the Five Civilized Tribes which consist of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole nations is well visualized in words by Debo.  Due to the murderous overthrow of the tribal ways of life, Europeans forced the Five Civilized Tribes off their land in the Southeast region to settle in Indian Territory (what is now known as the state of Oklahoma). The depiction of the tribes' fight for their land, the deadly trek of the Trail of Tears, to the foreseen dispossession…

From Jillian's list on the history of land dispossession.

Want books like And Still the Waters Run?

Our community of 11,000+ authors has personally recommended 41 books like And Still the Waters Run.

Browse books like And Still the Waters Run

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Oklahoma, African Americans, and the Dust Bowl?

Oklahoma 41 books
African Americans 801 books
The Dust Bowl 14 books