The origins of settler violence: F. Evan Nooe, ‘”It’s in the Blood”: Settler Family Memories of Native Violence in the American South’, History & Memory, 37, 1, 2025, pp. 164-193 | settler colonial studies blog

The origins of settler violence: F. Evan Nooe, ‘”It’s in the Blood”: Settler Family Memories of Native Violence in the American South’, History & Memory, 37, 1, 2025, pp. 164-193

28Mar25

Abstract: This article analyzes how settler families in the US South constructed, propagated and perpetuated memories of Indigenous dispossession across generations, portraying themselves as both victims and heroes in the violent expulsion of the region’s Native people. Stories of Native American raids on settler households captivated regional attention and were retold in printed newspapers, memoirs, regional histories, and monuments. By the end of the nineteenth century, descendants leveraged recirculated printed accounts of their ancestors’ victimization to confirm family lore and memorialize conquered land in the name of righteous vengeance. By selectively remembering settler family origins as beginning with Native aggression, white descendants framed violence against Native peoples as defensive and fueled the erasure of Native identities, ethnicities and the historic claims of Native Southerners to the American South.

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