"I Am a Man"

Chief Standing Bear's Journey for Justice

By: Joe Starita

Narrated by: Armando Duran

In 1877, Chief Standing Bear's Ponca Indian tribe was forcibly removed from their Nebraska homeland and marched to Oklahoma - known then as Indian Territory - in what became the tribe's own Trail of Tears.

"I Am a Man" chronicles what happened when Standing Bear set off on a 600-mile walk to return the body of his only son to their traditional burial grounds. Along the way, it examines the complex relationship between the United States government and the small, peaceful tribe and the legal consequences of land swaps and broken treaties, while never losing sight of the heartbreaking journey the Ponca endured. It is an account of people left for dead who survived injustice, disease, neglect, starvation, humiliation, and termination. On another level, it is a story of life and death, despair and fortitude, freedom and patriotism; a story of Christian kindness and bureaucratic evil; a story of hope, of a people still among us today, painstakingly preserving a cultural identity that had sustained them for centuries before their encounter with Lewis and Clark in the fall of 1804.

Before it ends, Standing Bear's long journey home also explores fundamental issues of citizenship, constitutional protection, cultural identity, and the nature of democracy - issues that continue to resonate loudly in 21st-century America. It is a story that questions whether native sovereignty, tribal-based societies, and cultural survival are compatible with American democracy.

Standing Bear successfully used habeas corpus, the only liberty included in the original text of the Constitution, to gain access to a federal court and ultimately his freedom. This account aptly illuminates how the nation's delicate system of checks and balances worked almost exactly as the Founding Fathers envisioned, a system arguably out of whack and under siege today.

©2008 Joe Starita (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

This story is true!

I Am a Man should be read by every American. It’s part of our history. Powerful, interesting, impactful. It reads like a novel but is a true story.

Excellent book & narration

An excellent story highlighting some of the more nitty-gritty details revolving around Native American relocation (the "Trail of Tears") & the fight for Native American rights.

The narrator was excellent also. Armando Duran has a very smooth, steady voice that's easy to listen to for long periods of time. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for more books narrated by him.

Overall, I definitely recommend this audiobook.

If you are a history buff you will enjoy this boo

I enjoyed this book. It seems nothing has changed for the natives of this country.

Crucial to understanding the manipulation requires to achieve the American manifested destiny

Joe has done a fantastic job walking the reader through one story in great detail that allows us to extrapolate, should we choose to, the intentional and unintentional tactics adopted by American institutions to grab land through a complete spectrum of oppressive tactics that include forced marches, attacking women, children indiscriminately.