Mission San Jose Essay

you can gain a deeper understanding of what has occurred. The museum and the site itself give a person a window into the Antebellum time period and what happened to the people that lived in it.
Another significant aspect of Mission San Jose is that it allows you to understand the general attitude towards non-Europeans, or in this case, Native American’s at the time. Despite being converted to Christianity, it’s clear that the racism towards non-Europeans was still present towards Native Americans. Examples that can enhance understanding of this can be found in the history of Mission San Jose. According to the history provided by the museum, the Native American’s were abused by soldiers, and their culture was being taken away from them. Those …show more content…
In class, learning about Antebellum US history is interesting, but I always found the parts of class where we focused on specific places more interesting than when we were talking about the US in general. This is why, in my personal opinion, I think Mission San Jose is deserving of it’s significance. Reading about events in a book is one thing, but being able to physically go to a place and learn about it first hand by observing old artifacts and imagery is something that greatly increases my appreciation for historic sites as a whole. For example, looking at the pre-mission Native American exhibit, entrenches a better understanding of what the Native American’s were losing in converting to Christianity. They had an entire culture. They used weapons, had rituals, and even had games they liked to play. This kind of understanding isn’t something I can gain by staring at words on paper for hours on end. The history of the site in general is intriguing to me in that it shows us that not all of the European contact with Native American’s were inherently violent. There was still violence regardless, but the modus operandi was to convert Native Americans to Christianity because in the minds of the missionaries, they truly believed they were saving them from hell. It shows just how good or misguided intentions can harm people. An example of this at another point in Antebellum US history would be John Brown’s Rebellion. As documented in his defense, he wanted to end slavery, which in of itself, is a goal with good intentions, but his way of doing so caused harm to people. A similar situation occurred at Mission San Jose and other parts of the country where Natives were being converted. The Missionaries “saving” took many things away from the Native American’s and their