"Based largely on primary source materials, this volume details how white settlers forced Indian tribes off the plains, often simply by killing them. Though Hollywood and penny dreadfuls portrayed Indians as red devils who launched unprovoked attacks on innocent homesteaders. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by American writer Dee Brown is a history of Native Americans in the American West in the late nineteenth century that expresses a Native American perspective of the injustices and betrayals of the US government. Brown portrays the government's dealings as continued efforts to destroy the culture, religion, and way of life of Native American peoples in describing the people's displacement through forced relocations and years of warfare waged…
The native people are dehumanized throughout the poem. They are characterized as “new-caught captives” who are “half-devil,” “half-children,” and wild. Childish because they cannot see the benefits of the imperialism they are being exposed to and ungrateful they do not thank the white men that are gracious enough to bless their primitive people with advancements in technology and provide insight for their progression as a civilization. They were viewed as uncivilized people in darkness that need to be “brought into the light.” The natives blame, hate, and are ungrateful for the civility the “white man” brings to their land.…
Introduction Since the first white settlers landed there in the sixteenth century, Native Americans were mistreated and abused until Congress gave them their own civil rights in the 1960’s. It is, of course, easy to overlook this suffering when reading about the successful colonies and the blossoming nation of the United States of America. Who wants to focus on the shady activities of a nation who is always portrayed as the hero of the story? In The Last of the Mohicans, James Fenimore Cooper highlights this long history of abuse by invading white men.…
The Apache Indians are from the Apache Native American tribe. Originally, they lived in the Gran Apacheria, a territory that spread from western Arizona to eastern Texas and from southern Colorado to southern Mexico. The Apache tribe were one of the Native tribes in southern-western U.S. that came in contact with the first settlers. Today, over fifty thousand Apache Indians live in reservations in Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.…
In nineteenth century America, Indians were commonly viewed as an inferior race and one that could be taken advantage of. There were, however, white Americans who thought differently, believing that Indians were almost if not as advanced as their white counterparts and that they had the ability to coexist with them. As some of the ideas of Indians being an “inferior race” progressed and were passed along via word of mouth, they began to form from a classic case of racism to full blown myths and awful savage lies used to frighten whites and portray Indians as something close to monsters. A common theory among white Americans during the nineteenth century was the idea of the “vanishing Indian.”…
Secret Corners of the Forest John Muir and Chief Seattle shared a vision separated by time, race and culture. Although these two men were of common mind about the natural environment, respect for the natural order and its importance they differed in the prospect for the future and the effect that “whites” would exact upon it. Chief Seattle’s vision for his people was dire and prophetic. Seattle’s vision contain his sadness and anger over the ruination of the environment by man. Seattle wanted the “white man” to stop, and listen to what he had to say.…
I have studied high school in Vietnam, so I do not know much about American history. My American Indian history came from my history 1301 class in last semester. Before that, I thought that American Indian is just a tribe. They live in rainforest. They also have a lot of unique customs such as painting on face and body, wearing special clothes, having tree houses, and many other strange things.…
In Black, White, and Indian: Race and the Unmaking of an American Family, Saunt explains how the Grayson family tree became a tale of avoiding, dismissal, and denying a part of ancestry as well as family history. In a broader context, it can be traced to America’s denial of being related to African American slaves. As well as the idea that many families ancestors slept with their slaves and created a family tree that connect families together. Saunt mentions in a broader context of brother vs brother, white supremacy, the work that occurred to keep American Indians with African ancestry from having rights, as well as the denial that some families go through.…
I decided to enroll in the class of American Indian studies because over the summer I learned about the culture of Native Americans from a Pomo native, Betty. I worked at Ross with Betty and one day during our lunch, I asked her what her ethnicity was, and she responded she was Native American. For the rest of our lunch she gave me insight into her world, I learned about the injustices her people suffered due to the American government taking all of their land. She also told me how difficult it is to live in a reservation because they lack representation in the government, which makes it extremely difficult to better their tribe and their living conditions. Betty mentioned how there was not enough representation for her people and told me to…
I stumble into the house, not concerned about my absence - my presence in the household did not have high expectations, if any. My body takes me straight to the cabinet of booze; a disgrace of a liquor cabinet if you ask me. Shelves of empty bottles, maybe a quarter of the way filled if I am lucky. I continue to search the cabinet, examining a bottle here or there, before I am interrupted ( maybe for the better). “I promise!”…
Nine seconds left before halftime, the Indians only needs three points to be tied with the wildcats; number ten shoots for a tying score for the Indians. The crowed is on there toes, SWISH the Indian fans go wild, he made the shot and the score in now twenty six: twenty six. This basketball game is where it all started, I thought I met the guy of my dreams. I was a senior cheerleader for the Indians and my mother was working in the concession stand that night…
The Struggle for North America The seizing of North America by the Europeans is done largely without weapons. Of course weapons and warfare play a large part, but the Europeans don’t sail over and begin conquering their New World. European exploration began with the desire for trade and to spread religion. Finding the Indians offered them the chance to do both. These people had never seen anything like the Europeans and were mostly receptive to new goods to trade, and were willing to listen to new religious ideas.…
First Impression The Europeans had to greet Native American’s when they arrived in the New World. When just stepping off the boat all the Europeans were amazed by how the Indians looked. However, the European Empires would eventually treat and view the Indians in other ways than the others. The Europeans Nations viewed the Indians in different ways.…
Seattle compares the whites as “grass the covers vast prairies”, while describing the disappearing Indians as “scattering trees of a storm swept plane”. The use of similes describe the differences between the Native Americans and the whites. By comparing the whites to grass that grows anywhere they want and as a storm, chief Seattle suggests that whites are greedy. He calls the whites his “paleface brothers”, but is certain to point out that they believe in different supreme beings and don’t share the same beliefs and traditions. With rhetorical questions like “how then can we be brothers?”, he does not believe that the two people get along, suggesting that the two people are not meant to socialize.…
expresses concern for the new boundaries been set through religion and civilization. One of the concerns is the violence associated with modernity. One of the interlocutors at the meeting to discuss the way forward with Mr. Wright’s highhandedness in their village summarizes colonial violence thus “Yes, we are talking about the white man’s road. But when the roof and walls of a house fall in, ceiling is not left standing. The white man, the new religion, the soldiers, the new road – they are all part of the same thing.…