The Intellectual Evolution of Sherman Coolidge, Red Progressivism’s Neglected Voice

Abstract

Abstract: Compared with his Red Progressive contemporaries, the Arapaho Episcopal priest and long-term president of the Society of American Indians, Sherman Coolidge (ca. 1860s–1932) has often been neglected in scholarly literature. This essay seeks to recover his important legacy as a thinker and intertribal activist through his writings, speeches, and statements while arguing against incomplete assessments of his work as assimilationist. A survey of his output from the 1880s to 1920s— which includes archival works never before discussed— instead reveals Coolidge’s transformation from a Christian proselytizer convinced of white society’s preeminence into a robust pluralist who forcefully defended Native cultures, values, religions, and heritage—and at times argued for their superiority. The presentation of this intellectual evolution is situated within Coolidge’s own personal history and an interpretive framework that distinguishes three key periods in his output as he developed his critique of Euro-American society and colonialism.