In the 1800s, white pioneers were moving west and looking for places to settle. Native Americans occupied the Great Plains, and the white people were about to take over. Starting around the 1860s, the United State’s government started forcing the native peoples to leave their homelands and either move into the designated areas called “reservations”, or in some cases be exiled to Mexico. The Native people did not like this forceful threat at all, particularly because in the reservations they could not hunt buffalo, one of their main resources. In protest of this command, the natives decided that their only chance of keeping their home was to fight back. The Indians fought the United States’ government many times trying to win back their
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They treated the Indians as if they were animals that needed to be locked away because they were dangerous and threatening. In Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, according to Brown, “When Mangas fell back, the guards emptied their pistols into his body…dumped the headless body in a ditch.” (199). In the story when the Great War chief of the Apaches became a prisoner of the soldiers, he was lured in by trickery and then tortured inhumanly by burning him and eventually dismantling his body. The stories told depict the natives as revolting criminals, when in reality all they wanted was to be left alone and in peace. The chief approached the soldiers in hopes of settling the argument, and finding peace. Even though the Native Americans kept falling into similar situations, they kept fighting for their homeland. Describing the situation of the Black Hills, Tatanka Yotanka’s quote perfectly captures all Native American’s response and reaction to the United States’ government’s acts of horror. “We want no white men here. The Black Hills belong to me. If the whites try to take them, I will fight.” (273). This idea perfectly represents all of the Native Americans response to the pioneers particularly because it states plain and simple that they do not want to be bothered at their home, and if they do happen to be bothered they’re ready to
They treated the Indians as if they were animals that needed to be locked away because they were dangerous and threatening. In Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, according to Brown, “When Mangas fell back, the guards emptied their pistols into his body…dumped the headless body in a ditch.” (199). In the story when the Great War chief of the Apaches became a prisoner of the soldiers, he was lured in by trickery and then tortured inhumanly by burning him and eventually dismantling his body. The stories told depict the natives as revolting criminals, when in reality all they wanted was to be left alone and in peace. The chief approached the soldiers in hopes of settling the argument, and finding peace. Even though the Native Americans kept falling into similar situations, they kept fighting for their homeland. Describing the situation of the Black Hills, Tatanka Yotanka’s quote perfectly captures all Native American’s response and reaction to the United States’ government’s acts of horror. “We want no white men here. The Black Hills belong to me. If the whites try to take them, I will fight.” (273). This idea perfectly represents all of the Native Americans response to the pioneers particularly because it states plain and simple that they do not want to be bothered at their home, and if they do happen to be bothered they’re ready to