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,
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The legal institution used their power to create laws that justified their behavior toward Native Americans. For example, in the case of Johnson v. MacIntosh the United States gained possession of the Native American land and one of the arguments were that since white settlers discovered the land it was rightfully theirs and that the Native Americans were incapable of using the land properly. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall tried to defend this ruling by stating that the Native Americans were unruly savages that were too aggressive to handle the responsibility of owning land. Additionally, Marshall believed that the Native Americans should have been grateful that their white superiors allowed them to stay on valuable property. At this point, in the article Thompson recalls how literary works do not discuss how white settlers obtained Native American land. Literary works automatically state that whites have inherited the land because they were the first ones to discover it which is not true. Thompson is not surprised that the U.S. legal system used manipulation, deception, and white dominance to gain possession of Native American land. However, she is intrigued that Native Americans were viewed as subhuman creatures that needed to be civilized and had to depend on white, european settlers to properly assimilate them. Moreover, Thompson discusses captivity narratives and stories based on white people’s perception of how Native Americans act or think. Thompson begins by demonstrating that captivity narratives display how aggressive Native Americans can be because of their savagery. Furthermore, the narratives continuously display how European settlers are harmless people who are randomly targeted for scalping and cannibalism. Thompson also describes how authors used God as an explanation as to why the Native
The legal institution used their power to create laws that justified their behavior toward Native Americans. For example, in the case of Johnson v. MacIntosh the United States gained possession of the Native American land and one of the arguments were that since white settlers discovered the land it was rightfully theirs and that the Native Americans were incapable of using the land properly. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall tried to defend this ruling by stating that the Native Americans were unruly savages that were too aggressive to handle the responsibility of owning land. Additionally, Marshall believed that the Native Americans should have been grateful that their white superiors allowed them to stay on valuable property. At this point, in the article Thompson recalls how literary works do not discuss how white settlers obtained Native American land. Literary works automatically state that whites have inherited the land because they were the first ones to discover it which is not true. Thompson is not surprised that the U.S. legal system used manipulation, deception, and white dominance to gain possession of Native American land. However, she is intrigued that Native Americans were viewed as subhuman creatures that needed to be civilized and had to depend on white, european settlers to properly assimilate them. Moreover, Thompson discusses captivity narratives and stories based on white people’s perception of how Native Americans act or think. Thompson begins by demonstrating that captivity narratives display how aggressive Native Americans can be because of their savagery. Furthermore, the narratives continuously display how European settlers are harmless people who are randomly targeted for scalping and cannibalism. Thompson also describes how authors used God as an explanation as to why the Native