Product Review

Myths, mysteries and misinformation have hidden the true story of ISAIAH DORMAN the only African American to die at Custer's famous last stand on the Little Bighorn River in 1876. Lilah Morton Pengra questions the myths and solves many of the mysteries by INTERPRETING THE EVIDENCE that she gathered over fifteen years of research. She deftly leads the reader into accompanying Isaiah Dorman on his journey through life as a black man in nineteenth-century America, part of white colonial expansion into the West but also enmeshed in the culture and struggles of his wife's Dakota people. He was born free in Pennsylvania and married in Minnesota. He participated in the Civil War then created a home in Dakota Territory. But what kind of man was he? Join anthropologist Pengra in looking beyond the simple facts of his biography to consider the more complex challenges of his multicultural world. Pengra's extraordinarily gifted and persistent research unveils the complexities of Isaiah Dorman, one of history's fascinating but widely misunderstood African American heroes. Her effort further stands as an important and sensitive contribution to truth and understanding of the racial frontier. -William Loren Katz, author, Black Indians and The Black West Pengra's study of Isaiah Dorman is a tightly woven tapestry depicting an ordinary life made unusual by circumstance. Her writing is concise and compelling, and her scholarship rests on thorough research, careful judgment, and meticulous attention to detail. -Linda M. Hasselstrom, author, Windbreak House Writing Retreats