Some time ago I wrote on one of these boards about a book I read shortly after leaving the cult called God is Red. The book, written by a Native American lawyer and scholar, had a profound effect on my world-view, clouded as it was at the time by cultic christian doctrines. I found out this morning that the author, Vine Deloria Jr., died yesterday.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4237677,00.html
Native American scholar dies
By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
November 14, 2005
Revered Native American scholar Vine Deloria Jr. died Sunday at a Denver area hospital, friends confirmed this morning.
Rick Williams, president of the Denver-based American Indian College Fund, said Mr. Deloria had battled an unspecified illness for the past several weeks. Mr. Deloria was a longtime University of Colorado professor and award winning scholar best known for his many books, including "Custer Died For Your Sins" and "God Is Red."
Williams said Mr. Deloria was 73. He retired from CU in 2000 and had been living in the Golden area.
No details were available this morning from Mr. Deloria's family.
"He was one of those individuals who really kept Indian people from becoming extinct," said Williams. "He was politically active early in his career, with the National Congress of American Indians, and he really helped turned the nation's view around, about Indian people," said Williams.
"He was also probably one of the first recognized political, cultural and historical geniuses, who was allowed to develop the intellectual thought of Indian people. He was one of my teachers, and I just had the utmost respect for him."