Linford Fisher and the Hidden Story of Indigenous Slavery in the United States

Key Takeaways

• 600,000 Indigenous people enslaved, exceeding African slave numbers
• Enslavement persisted through westward expansion and Indian boarding schools
• Archives were manipulated to hide Native bondage from public memory
• Fisher’s database aims to centralize Native slavery records
• Upcoming book 'Stealing America' sparks national conversation on reparations

Pulse Analysis

The story of Indigenous slavery has long been eclipsed by the more widely taught narrative of African chattel slavery, yet recent scholarship shows it was a massive, systematic enterprise. Linford Fisher’s research estimates that more than 600,000 Native individuals were forced into bondage across the colonial and early‑national periods—outnumbering the African enslaved population that arrived in the same timeframe. This hidden labor underpinned the economic development of early American settlements, providing a foundation for agricultural production, construction, and trade that has rarely been acknowledged in mainstream histories.

Beyond the eighteenth century, the mechanisms of Native enslavement evolved but persisted. As Euro‑American settlers pushed westward, they captured and sold Indigenous peoples, integrating them into the emerging market economy. The 19th‑century Indian boarding school system functioned as a form of cultural and physical captivity, stripping children of language, identity, and autonomy. Fisher’s work also highlights deliberate archival tampering, where records were altered or omitted to conceal the scale of this oppression, leaving descendants with fragmented evidence of their ancestors’ suffering.

Fisher’s forthcoming book, *Stealing America*, and the Stolen Relations database aim to bring these erased narratives into public view, prompting a national reckoning. By quantifying the magnitude of Indigenous slavery and linking it to present‑day inequities, the research fuels discussions about reparative justice, curriculum reform, and tribal sovereignty. As policymakers and educators grapple with how to address historical injustices, Fisher’s findings provide a crucial evidence base for shaping more inclusive, truthful representations of America’s past.