Native Americans

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America has a rich history that began many years ago when Europeans ventured to the New World. When the first of them arrived to this place that was so unfamiliar, they soon realized that they were not alone. There were already many people living in the land and they, too, have a rich history that has shaped who they are today. Who were these people? What was their culture like? And more importantly, what are they like today? (Not sure, but is it OK to end a sentence in "like", or to begin a sentence with "And"? It actually sounds good, flows well and may be fine. Like how you would say it if you were talking. How about...What was their culture? More importantly, what are they like today?) In order to discuss what they are like today, it is …show more content…
The Europeans’ demands of the Natives were unreasonable and led to brutal wars. The Europeans came out on top and now had power over the Native Americans (Hirschfelder 8). The Natives caught new diseases brought by the Europeans that their immune systems could not fight (comma not necessary here?) which wiped out many of the Native people. The loss of people cleared more land for the colonists thus expanding the European dominance over the New World. Boundaries were set to let the Natives keep some of the land; however, they were not enforced (Hirschfelder 9). In the early nineteenth century, things began to change (Hirschfelder 9). Tecumseh, a Shawnee leader encouraged all native tribes to band together and refuse to give up any more land. In the early-mid 1800s, the United States Indian office began to physically remove Natives from their land and force them to assimilate them into white culture. Some tribes moved, but some refused. This prompted Andrew Jackson to convince Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act in 1830, forcing almost all the Native tribes still east of the Mississippi River to leave their homes and travel west. When they were relocated to the Indian Territory, they had to learn to live with the other tribes who were already there. Missionaries and …show more content…
In the 1950s, the US government created a policy that did away with the former relationship between the tribes and the government. The Bureau of Indian Affairs created a program that relocated Natives from the reservations to urban areas in order to relieve the responsibility of the government for the Natives. There was resistance from the Natives, however, as well as some opposition from Congress, so the government disregarded the termination policy. This further damages the lives of the Native people *FIND CITATION*.
Through a series of programs and protests called “Red Power”, laws were passed that ended the termination policies in the 1970s (Hirschfelder 15). This phrase was coined by the National Indian Youth Council (“The Native American Power Movement”). The Natives began their journey towards self-determination. This journey would continue throughout the 1980s and 1990s. They had gained the morale to fight for what they deserved. According to Hirschfelder, “Indian attorneys fought for land, for the repatriation or Indian remains, and for the right to regulate and develop

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