When HeLa cells started to be sold, do you think Dr.Gey should have stepped in to assure that Henrietta Lacks’ family was compensated in some way? Do you think they should be compensated at all? Dr. Gey should have looked out for the Lacks family and let them know about the cells back in 1951. The lives of Henrietta’s children would have been greatly improved had they had that money. The Lacks family deserves compensation not only because Henrietta’s cells were taken without permission, but because without them, science would be nowhere near where it is today.…
Camilla Townsend, associate professor of history at Colgate University, wrote Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma which was published in 2004. The book is an account of Pocahontas’s life which has been dramatized through publications and movies. However, many myths exist surrounding her life. It is written chronologically and primarily covers the period from 1607 to 1622.…
Blood on the River and the Disney movie Pocahontas are very similar because both have most of the same characters. Both also had arguments between each other but in the Disney movie Pocahontas near the end of the movie Pocahontas sacrificed herself for one of the main characters John Smith whenever her dad was going to kill him and Chief Powhatan made peace with the colonists. John Ratcliffe wasn’t happy with this agreement so he got a gun and aimed for Chief Powhatan, but John Smith sacrificed his life and got shot, he was immediately brought back to England by ship. In the book Blood on the River, the colonists and Native Americans did have arguments, and did fight and killed many people because the Native Americans felt that the colonists took their land and abused it, “They have robbed the Indians’ temples? Taken the jewels from the bodies of their dead werowances?…
In 1608, Pocahontas saved the astonishing life of John Smith. Pocahontas and John Smith were friends, that's why she was willing risked her life for him. A strong independent is exactly how I would describe Pocahontas. In document B, “Pocahontas, the King's dearest daughter took my head in her arms and laid down her own upon it to save me from death. Then the Emperor said I should live.”…
Controversy came into play in the 1760s between Great Britain and the colonies when the Parliament looked to appoint a direct tax on the colonies for the purpose of raising capital Some colonists, known as Whigs, demurred the new tax program, saying that it was an infringement of the British Constitution. According to the Whigs, colonists could only be taxed by their own colonial assemblies and nothing else. Colonial boycotts culminated in the repeal of the Stamp Act. However, in the Declaratory Act of 1766, Parliament continued to insist that it had the right to legislate for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever.” When new taxes were established in the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767, Whig colonists again responded with even more boycotts…
The Disney movie Pocahontas offers the viewer a stark portrayal of how Englishmen viewed Indigenous American tribes upon their arrival to the United States. The movie features a song titled Savages where Pocahontas and her fellow Powhatan tribespeople are described by the English settlers as “barely even human” and “dirty shrieking devils”. In reality, the first European explorers had much more diverse accounts of their experiences with indigenous peoples in North and Central America. To accurately evaluate early settlers interactions with American tribespeople, the works of Christopher Columbus, Cabeza de Vaca, and John Smith will be examined. Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who landed in the Caribbean islands after a two month…
The story of Pocahontas and the colony isn’t some Disney happily ever after story, there was war, murder, spies, the struggle of surviving and many other things. There is nothing happy in the true story of the Indians and the…
In her article “A Sea of Good Intentions: Native Americans in Books for Children”, Melissa Kay Thompson argues that several institutions use power to display demeaning stereotypes of Native Americans and use those stereotypes in children’s books to further diminish the Native American culture. Thompson begins by stating that many of the children’s novels that portray the lives of Native Americans have a subliminal message which is white dominance and Indian savagery. Furthermore, the author discusses three types of novels that have good intentions to share the Native American culture but, make several contradictions by disregarding historical facts. The three types of novels that lack factual historical context are “Perils-on-the-frontier stories,…
As children we 've seen Disney movies such as Pocahontas which is based on Europeans coming to America looking for gold in a land already inhabited by Native Americans. Conflict automatically arises between the two groups seen in one scene where both are singing “Savages” about the other group in which the Indians are referred to as “heathens” and the European’s as “pale faced demons”. Though towards the end their conflicts are settled and the Natives are left to live in peace. Which completely contradicts what goes on in an Interview Between Derrick Jensen and Ward Churchill.…
History is the very important foundation that creates our present; therefore, it is very essential that it remains as accurate as possible. However, there are some cases in which the truths behind the history are stolen away, leaving only lies that people soon believe are true. This is the case with the 1995 Disney movie, Pocahontas. The very famous Disney movie, Pocahontas, shows lies about the life of Pocahontas that people soon believe as the truth. With using censorship in this movie, Disney builds a dramatized and flawed history of Pocahontas and illustrates a fake reality of who Pocahontas was.…
Camilla Townsend’s book, “Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma,” describes the detailed story of Pocahontas’s life and how the various Natives lived in sixteenth century Virginia. The Natives lives were ultimately altered when English colonists arrived. The English had specific intentions in mind; colonize the area, become great merchant traders, and convert the Natives to Christianity. The colonists were willing to achieve these even if it meant overwhelming and destroying the Indian culture around them.…
The study of Native American history, culture and customs indicates what has made Americans diverse, but also what makes us the same. Native involvement in the Americas is set apart by coercive and once in a while willing endeavors at assimilation into standard European American society. Starting with missions and paving the way to governmentally controlled schools the point was to instruct Native people so they could return to their communities and encourage the acclimatization process. Overall survival of indigenous stories and lifestyles that oppose colonization form a part Native identities through the despotism of European ideals. “This Is History” by Beth Brant (Mohawk) was one of the readings that was most impactful to me.…
Since the introduction of European culture to the Americas, Native American women have been either been portrayed as a squaw or a beautiful princess. And the first thing to be mentioned in a conversation between a native and non-native is that somewhere 7 generations back, their grandmother was a “Cherokee Princess.” While many natives and non-natives handle these situations well or brush it off with a light joke, there’s a over 100 years’ worth of deeper meanings behind these words. Native Americans have been subject to racial slurs, jokes and brutal treatment of their cultures and traditions across multiple platforms. From colonial press, staged photographs, inaccurate books, offensive mascots and most recently, social media native american…
The American government is going to take Cherokee land by any means possible, especially in Georgia. At this time, the United States is still expanding their territory and so they want the land that legally belongs to the Cherokee, even if it requires breaking laws. The main debate is over the Cherokee’s deciding which path offers the best chance of survival for the Cherokee in the early 1800’s: staying in their original territory or removal to the west. The best option, in regards to survival, is removal to the west. Some may disagree on the fact that the land legally belongs to the Cherokee but the best chance they have is to get away from the American government.…
Describe Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a western movie about the Sioux and Americans conflicts, was released in 2007 and was directed by Yves Simoneau. This movie occurs in the western part of America, in many Indian reservations. The main location was Pine Ridge, and the main battle was at Wounded Knee. The movie begins around the time when the Sioux were defeated at Little Bighorn.…