The Chosen And The Damned: Native Americans And The Makings Of Race In The United States

In this episode of Relevant or Irrelevant, host Jay Swords and guest Dr. David Silverman, historian and author of 'The Chosen and the Damned: Native Americans and the Making of Race in the United States,' explore how racial identity was not innate but constructed through colonial ideology. Silverman dismantles the myth of inherent racial categories, arguing that race is a human-made social construct used to justify domination. He traces how European colonists viewed Native Americans as 'savages' and 'pagans' in contrast to their self-perception as 'civilized' and 'Christian,' a binary that justified land seizure and cultural erasure. Despite some nuanced interactions and individual colonists who challenged stereotypes, the dominant ideology remained monolithic. The episode examines how Manifest Destiny became a racialized ideology of white supremacy, used to legitimize genocide and displacement. Silverman also highlights the pivotal role of Native activism—from the National Congress of American Indians to AIM—in shifting white American perceptions from assimilationist policies to recognition of tribal sovereignty. Native voices, including prophets and reformers, actively defined whiteness as hypocritical and spiritually corrupt, challenging the moral foundations of colonialism. The discussion concludes with a reflection on how Native resistance and self-definition reshaped American identity itself.