McWhorter wanted to present the Nez Perce perspective to help preserve their cultural identity. The Nez Perce had gone through much change since the signing of the Walla Walla treaties on June 11, 1855: "It had taken the commissioners less than a month to acquire over thirty million acres of land in three future states...and added a fresh layer to the shifting sands of Native American identity along the Columbia River". Between 1855 and 1877, the United States forced a reduction in the Nez Perce Reservation to a fraction of its original size.