Analysis Of Jeffrey Ostler's The Lakotas And The Black Hills

By 1940, Native Americans had experienced many changes and counter-changes in their legal status in the United States. Over the course of the nineteenth century, most tribes lost part or all of their ancestral lands and were forced to live on reservations. Following the American Civil War, the federal government abrogated most of the tribes’ remaining sovereignty and required communal lands to be allotted to individuals. The twentieth century also saw great changes for Native Americans, such as the Citizenship Act and the Indian New Deal. Alison R. Bernstein examines how the Second World War affected the status and lives of Native Americans in American Indians and World War II: Toward a New Era in Indian Affairs. Bernstein argues

Have you ever heard of the Cherokee Indians? Sure you have! Just as a reminder, they are the biggest tribe, and most known of out of all the Indian tribes there has ever been in the southeast. They are very important to American History and helped shaped us to be the Americans we are today, which is clearly what I 'll be explaining in this paper. Throughout the paper, I 'll tell you everything you need to know about the Cherokee Indians and continue to relate to the thesis.

Although the horrors of the American Civil War and Reconstruction within Indian Territory were fresh. Yet, the presence of Indian Territory changed drastically between 1865 and 1889, because of the “Second Trail of Tears”, the unrest of the Southern Plains tribes of western Indian Territory, and the impact of U.S. Polices on Indian Territory.

From its birth, America was a place of inequality and privilege. Since Columbus 's arrival and up until present day, Native American tribes have been victim of white men 's persecution and tyranny. This was first expressed in the 1800’s, when Native Americans were driven off their land and forced to embark on the Trail of Tears, and again during the Western American- Indian War where white Americans massacred millions of Native Americans in hatred. Today, much of the Indian Territory that was once a refuge for Native Americans has since been taken over by white men, and the major tribes that once called these reservations home are all but gone. These events show the discrimination and oppression the Native Americans faced. They were, and continue to be, pushed onto reservations,

“The Indian presence precipitated the formation of an American identity” (Axtell 992). Ostracized by numerous citizens of the United States today, this quote epitomizes Axtell’s beliefs of the Indians contributing to our society. Unfortunately, Native Americans’ roles in history are often categorized as insignificant or trivial, when in actuality the Indians contributed greatly to Colonial America, in ways the ordinary person would have never deliberated. James Axtell discusses these ways, as well as what Colonial America may have looked like without the Indians’ presence. Throughout his article, his thesis stands clear by his persistence of alteration the Native Americans had on our nation. James Axtell’s bias delightfully enhances his thesis, he provides a copious amount of evidence establishing how Native Americans contributed critically to the Colonial culture, and he considers America as exceptional – largely due to the Native Americans.

The existence of the Indian nations as distinct independent communities within the limits of the United States seems to be drawing to a close.... You are aware that our Brethren, the Choctaws, Chickasaws and Creeks of the South have severally disposed of their country to the United States and that a portion of our own Tribe have also emigrated West of the Mississippi--but that the largest portion of our Nation still remain firmly upon our ancient domain....Our position there may be compared to a solitary tree in an open space, where all the forest trees around have been prostrated by a furious

Due to the greed of the Americans, Indians were forced off of their lands by the Indian Removal Act of May 28, 1830 signed by President at the time, Andrew Jackson.1 The government developed a sly process for the exclusion of the Indians to move them out of the way of the “progress” of the U.S. It began with Coexistence (1789-1828) then moved into Removal and Reservations (1829-1886), then took a shift into Assimilation (1887-1932), then Reorganization (1932-1942), then

The Cherokee are perhaps one of the most interesting of Native American Groups. Their life and culture are closely intertwined with early American settlers and the history of our own nation’s struggle for freedom. In the interest of promoting tolerance and peace, and with regard to the United States government’s handling of Native affairs, their story is one that is painful, stoic, and must not be forgotten.

The Lakota tribe, also known as the Teton Sioux, is the largest tribe among the seven major Sioux tribes on the Great Plains in North America. After the introduction with the horse after the seventeenth century, the Lakota devision emerged. They quickly expanded west to Rocky Mountain and north to the Great Plains. The Lakota people speaks Lakota language, one of the three languages that belong to the larger Siouan language family.

During the late 1970’s the American Indian community acquired its greatest achievements in the battle for equal rights. But it would not have been possible to achieve without the following three major events, which gave growth and prosperity to the American Indian Nation, the Occupation of Alcatraz Island, the Siege of Wounded Knee, and the BIA take-over. These events instigated the up rise of aboriginal peoples in the quest for fair treatment. Ultimately resulting in the sovereignty of Indigenous people.

The Lakota are a sub-nation from the Sioux of South Dakota, however, they are originally from near the great lakes of Minnesota. According to the South Dakota State Historical Society Education Kit the story of their migration to the plains goes a such, “one day a man appeared, and told them to travel northward. The Lakota obeyed, and began the journey north. On their way they got cold, and the sun was too weak to cook their food. Two young men had a vision, and following its instructions, they gathered dry grasses and struck two flint stones together, creating a spark and making fire. There were seven groups of relatives traveling together. Each group took some of the fire, and used it to build their own fire, around which they would gather.” From that moment on, they were known as the Seven Council Fires, or Oceti Sakowin.

Throughout high school history class, students often learn about “how the West won” during the period of western expansion era in the United States. Americans had this ideology of Manifest Destiny hoping the United States would stretch from sea to sea. However, not everyone won during these so called “fabulous times” of the western expansion era. Native Americans view the westward expansion as a painful and sad time period during which they lost their cultures. Through the perception of the settlers, westward expansion was good and beneficial to a great country, but what is not read in high school history class is the the negative role the settlers had on the Native Americans. Night Flying Woman by Ignatia Broker depicts the hectic uprooting of the Ojibway tribe on the account by Broker’s great-grandmother, Oona or her native name, Night Flying Woman. The Ojibway tribe struggled to keep their beliefs and traditions as the settlers came in and forced them to assimilate.

Most of us have learnt about the Trail of Tears as an event in American history, but not many of us have ever explored why the removal of the Indians to the West was more than an issue of mere land ownership. Here, the meaning and importance of land to the original Cherokee Nation of the Southeastern United States is investigated. American land was seen as a way for white settlers to profit, but the Cherokee held the land within their hearts. Their removal meant much more to them than just the loss of a material world. Historical events, documentations by the Cherokee, and maps showing the loss of Cherokee land work together to give a true Cherokee

One cannot examine U.S. history without looking at the interactions between Native Americans and Americans. From colonization to industrialization, conflicts between these groups have always been prevalent. Indians have been stripped of their land, heritage and status. Our guns, germ and culture have killed them. One can see this power struggle in many pieces of literature. Two being, “Crazy Horse: A Life”, a secondary source focusing on a Sioux warrior Crazy Horse and the Plains peoples, and “Indian Trader John Lawson’s Journal of Carolina 1709,” a primary source that describes an English merchant’s encounter with Indians in Carolina. This paper will focus on the effects of Americans on Indian life.

Who are these Native American’s who roamed the Great Plains? They were once a proud and large nation of people, who honor the land, each other, and traditions that were passed down from father to son and mother to daughter. The years were not kind to them when the white man descended upon their great world. There were hundreds of different nations of Indians who lived in the America’s; all had similar goals in life. They wanted a family, provide for that family, and live accordance to the laws that were passed down. The historical trauma delivered to this great people was only equal to the holocaust according to several writers. The American Indians are not classified as a race, but a sovereign nation with the federal government (Warrior, 1995, p. 95). The sovereign nation of Indian cultures still struggles to keep the tribes together. Sovereign identity is a struggle to which scholars acknowledge “dynamic and ongoing process, demanding constant self-assessment and evaluation” (Warrior, 1995).