Population history of American indigenous peoples

did they impact Indigenous children and their families? This essay will attempt to answer this question by exploring the historical context and the consequences of residential schools in Canada. For more than a century, Indigenous children were forcibly taken away from their homes and families, stripped away from their culture, and forced to attend a boarding school far away from their communities. These residential schools were intentionally created to assimilate Indigenous people and eradicate…

be “Where are you from?” Even the individual is fluent in American English and well assimilated into American identity, this question is inevitable. As country of immigrants, there is nothing wrong about knowing person’s ethnic background, so we could be less ignorant about the world and appreciate the diversity. However, sometimes question of doubt is replace by question of assumption. An example from my personal experience, many people has asked me “Are you Indian?” or “You guys speak Indian…

International Norm: Rights of Indigenous People 1. Introduction More than 370 million people in over 90 countries (representing 5,000 different cultures) identify as indigenous people. They comprise 5% of the global population, and 15% of the world’s poor. Still, some countries deny the existence of indigenous peoples within their territory or argue that “all their citizens are indigenous“ (Dahl 5). Some groups of indigenous people are so small that their languages and cultures are…

In 1980, a Native American social worker and mental health professional named Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart spent time researching the long history of disempowerment found among the Lakota tribe. Maria’s work expanded far beyond one single tribe, and in turn translated to the entire Indigenous community. This resulted in her coining the medical term Historical Trauma. Historical Trauma is defined as, “The cumulative emotional and psychological wounding over one’s lifetime and from generation to…

Latin American society has faced for hundreds of years. The European colonization of modern-day Latin America has provided powerful examples of oppression and revolution, as it has been continually felt by various groups throughout recent history. As these European ancestors laid claim to this land, a series of indigenous populations suffered and endured hardships of slavery and perpetualized inferiority that left them severely mistreated, and in some cases, dead. Although these indigenous…

Firstly, the article on “Honduras Arrests 4 Men in Killing of Berta Caceres, Indigenous Activist” presents the murder of prestigious Goldman Environment Prize winner Berta Caceres. She was an activist protesting against the construction of the Agua Zarea Dam along the Gaulcarque River. She was fighting for the rights of the Lenca indigenous people’s right because the river was holy to her Lenca people (Malkin, 2016). She was working based on a Human Rights organization of Honduras. The…

Leif Eriksson, an Icelandic explorer, is widely credited with being the first explorer to arrive in the North American continent. A popular theory dictates that while Eriksson was returning to Greenland he sailed off course and reached the Americas around A.D. 1000; this is notably four centuries earlier than Columbus’s voyage. It is also common to forget Amerigo…

instability with the Native Americans. Attitudes from Native Americans towards white settlement was negative, shown by the Pontiac Rebellion (1763) and Tecumsch’s campaign against white settlement (1809), and seemed to continue throughout the 100 years. Americans committed atrocities, Sand Creek Massacre of 1846: c.700 members of the Colorado Territory militia attacked tribes, killing women and children, and took land from the Cheyenne and Arapaho. This made American expansion difficult as…

from multiple points of view. Juan de Oñate viewed from the side of Hispanic Americans is that he was a fearless explorer, irreplaceable in the history of their people in the region and the building of the American West. For the indigenous peoples, Juan de Oñate was not only representative of Spain, its explorers, and all of the atrocities committed, but also for being personally responsible for the cruelty of people specifically in Acoma Pueblo. Who was Don Juan de Oñate? Intrepid explorer…

The Beginning of Change What would life be like without western dominance exerted around the world? Throughout history, western influence has been present, most commonly seen in the Americas. Generations of indigenous people have been brainwashed into thinking they are different. Colonialism has fueled the western push for a world with western views. Merriam-Webster’s definition of Colonialism is, Colonialism is control by one power over a dependent area or people1. Colonialism was not…