Summary Of Creating Minnesota A History From The Inside Out

Annette Atkins is an American author and historian. Her book, published in 2007, is entitled “Creating Minnesota; A History from the Inside Out.” The history book gives an in depth look into the history of Minnesota from its very beginnings. She begins her narrative of Minnesota with the glaciers moving across it, leaving in its wake a fertile land. She moves on from this to the first Indian inhabitants, all the way to the time of Hubert Humphrey.

In the Chapter Three, she introduces to the reader a midwestern man named Scott Campbell. Scott Campbell was a half Native American, half Scottish man who lived his whole life in the midwest, and for a majority of that time he lived it in Minnesota around Fort Snelling. He was born in roughly 1790 …show more content…
She uses Scott’s experiences to personalise the history, making the plain facts readable. Although Scott was not always directly connected to the events and people that were essential to the creation of Minnesota, she tells us what he was doing during the time, and how he was affected. Scott was a “half-blood” which allowed him to be a neutral character to follow in this period of Minnesota history. He is not pro Euro-American, nor is he pro Native American. He also had quite a few children which allows Atkins more ways to connect the Campbell family to Minnesota history through different …show more content…
When viewing Minnesota race relations through the lens of Scott’s life, it constrains Atkins to write with a very narrow view of the times. Certainly, by using Scott’s experiences the reader is able to get a close look at Minnesota race relations, but there is more to it than just Minnesota. Nationally, the war of 1812 was going on, leaving the US Government unable to keep watch over the west. And soon after that the Civil War began, again taking the attention of the US Government from the midwest. With wars going on, many of the Whites were tense and suspicious. With many of the Dakota dissatisfied with being put onto reservations, tensions erupted into the U.S - Dakota war. Scott Campbell’s son, Joseph Campbell, was involved with this war, being pressured by certain Native Americans into fighting the Whites. Throughout American, people were being forced to choose sides by the Civil war, but in Minnesota many had to choose between the Dakota and the Whites. This division separates friends and families, the Campbell’s included. Some of the Campbell’s denied their heritage altogether, while others died