The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own

understanding of their history.

– falsely attributed to George Orwell

Meaning:
– If you take away the history of a people you take away their culture, and the
"glue" that holds their society together. African-Americans, originally
brought to the Americas as slaves, were deprived of much of their rich
cultural heritage, for example, and this left them with no traditions to guide
their lives and give them a sense of purpose and meaning. 
– The meaning of the quotation, I think, is essentially as A.P. puts it in a
separate answer: History is cultural memory, and the loss of knowledge of
one's history destroys one's sense of community and shared identity,
casting one adrift in the present without meaningful reference points from
the past. This is true whether one is an individual person or an entire
population.
– This quote has been attributed to George Orwell and sounds a lot like his
famous "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the
present controls the past"
– The meaning here clearly applies to any society, not just to peoples (such
as Native American tribes).
– What the author is saying is that history is malleable. It is possible to
shape it via education, indoctrination, and propaganda.
– A people's history is their guide, their reference point. Take it away, and
they are fumbling in the dark, susceptible to other agendas and ideologies.
That, according to the author, is a sure way to control (or destroy) them.