The official site of William Loren Katz and Black Indians

Black Indians–Revised, Expanded and Updated

The expanded and updated edition of Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage brings the Native American and African American alliance that for four centuries challenged the European conquest and slavery into the 21st century with additional research and documentary and photographic evidence. The new edition reveals the story of the African guides and translators of the colonial era who became valued contacts with Indigenous peoples, examines the African and Indian alliance known as the Pueblo revolt of 1680 that ended Spain’s rule of the southwest for a dozen years, introduces Francisco Menendez and the 1738 Black Indian community that defended its liberty in Florida against British incursions, and much more.

Recent essays

• April 18 2012 : A Black Indian March for Peace, 1861-1862
  

  As the country celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, one major event has passed unnoticed, though it stands as a massive demonstration of people power harnessed in the cause of peace and justice. It involved thousands of men, women and children of color in a painful and vast exodus to flee the Indian Territory which had fallen into [...]

• April 9 2012 : Gil Noble (1932-2012)
  

  Gil Noble was a well-informed, charming, confident broadcaster devoted to seeing real news reached his community – all of New York. Operating within a network and system [ABC-TV] that treated news as entertainment and, often as political containment, he stood as an intrepid, challenging force. From 1969 on when his “Like It Is” interviewed me as an author and teacher who [...]