Book Review on Custer Died for Your Sins Essay

“The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand and, by the Indians involved, as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, was an armed engagement between combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. The battle, which occurred on June 25 and 26, 1876 near the Little Bighorn River in eastern Montana Territory, was the most famous action of the Great Sioux War of 1876.”i Was this battle led by a courageous General or a desperate man is search of being seen as an American hero by the eyes of America?

In the Last Stand, written by Nathaniel Philbrick he discusses a big leader in the Civil War, George Armstrong Custer and how he led his troops with reckless courage. Philbrick wrote this book which can be viewed in many ways: a bloody massacre that is a big part of American history, or a tale of crazy arrogance and even unmatched bravery. One way that this book can be viewed as is the Last Stand being viewed as an account of a well-known battle that encapsulates the treatment of Native Americans during the “Indian Wars.” The next option is that the Last Stand is a retelling story of a history that does not glorify the United States Army in the Indian Wars, but shows the hubris and reckless of the leaders and army. Finally, the Last Stand can be viewed as a double meaning, both the last stand for Custer and the Last Stand for the Sitting Bull and the Lakota Sioux. In this essay, I’m going to discuss the ways in which Custer leads his troops and how he was a powerful leader during this time.

In American Indian Stories, University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London edition, the author, Zitkala-Sa, tries to tell stories that depicted life growing up on a reservation. Her stories showed how Native Americans reacted to the white man’s ways of running the land and changing the life of Indians. “Zitkala-Sa was one of the early Indian writers to record tribal legends and tales from oral tradition” (back cover) is a great way to show that the author’s stories were based upon actual events in her life as a Dakota Sioux Indian. This essay will describe and analyze Native American life as described by Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories, it will relate to Native Americans and their interactions with American societies, it will

With the settlement of the American West, I discern that it was not nice to force Native Americans off their land onto reservations. There was a treaty given to the Sioux for the rights to the Black Hills until gold was discovered in the area. The white miners flocked to the territory to get the gold. I don’t think it was right that with the treaty the U.S. government still ordered the Native Americans back to their reservations. With the conflict that occurred between the U.S. Government and the Native American Indian in Battle of the Little Bighorn, also called Custer’s Last Stand, marked a significant victory for the Native Americans and unfavorable for U.S. Army’s defeat. The Native Americans would have to remain in government-controlled reservations.

In the south of central Montana during 1876 on June 25th and 26th, a battle happened known as the Battle of Little Bighorn or also known as “Custer’s Last Stand”. The Native American Tribes that were involved was the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes. They were battling against the 7th regiment of the US Cavalry which was led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. In the year of 1868 Lakota leaders agreed to a treaty known as Fort Laramie Treaty which was suppose to give the Lakota leaders a large reservation for their tribes. But in accepting the treaty they also accepted giving up their nomadic lifestyles and agreed to a more stationary livelihood in the reservation. Some leaders like Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse did not agree

Minority groups are defined as alien residents of nations who no longer have rights to their land. Ordinarily due to colonization. Minority status is the result of adverse discrimination some of the defining elements of these groups are commonly long-term occupation of land, common ancestry, traditional culture, language or formal membership. In the United States, Native Americans, also known as American Indians or just simply Indians are considered to be people whose pre-Columbian ancestors were indigenous to the lands within the nation’s modern boundaries. These people were composed of numerous distinct tribes, bands and ethnic groups. Custer Died for Your Sins is a 1969, non-fiction book by the lawyer, professor and writer Vine Deloria. This was noted primarily for its relevance to activist organizations like the American Indian Movement. The book consists of eleven essays and is critical of aid organizations, for their efforts to so called “help” Native Americans. The author shows readers that instead of helping they were stopping the progress. Deloria 's book discussed and offered many types of solutions in helping Native Americans.

“One of the first important acts of an oppressor is to define the oppressed victims he intends to jail or eradicate so that they will be looked upon as creatures warranting suppression and in some cases separation and annihilation” (Bosmajian 347). The writer, Haig A. Bosmajian, begins his essay with these words in “Defining the ‘American Indian’: A Case Study in the Language of Suppression.” In his essay, which targets mainstream Americans, he attempts to show his readers how language has been used in American history to “justify” the oppression of the American Indians. The use of language

“Dr. Mather, if the Ghost Dance worked, there would be no exceptions. All you white people would disappear. All of you. If those dead Indians came back to life, they wouldn’t crawl into a sweathouse with you. They wouldn‘t smoke the pipe with you. They’d kill you. They’d gut you and eat your heart.”

The use of traditional Native American names and images by the White culture perpetuates a blatant categorization of Native Americans that continues to marginalize them. Native American names including but not limited to the Sioux, Blackhawks, Seminoles, Redskins, Indians, and Chiefs are all current names held by high school, college, professional, and even some youth teams in White society. Along with some teams is a comical depiction of or even a mascot that is an Indian; which further mocks Native American culture by leading participation in dances, “War-Whooping,” and misuse of symbolism. Victor reflects on this cultural appropriation by stating, “Indians can easily survive the big stuff. Mass murder, loss of language, and land rights. It’s the small things [like this] that hurt the most,”(49). His thoughts have a humorous cover to the pain that is beneath

Thomas King’s The Inconvenient Indian tells the story of Indigenous people in Canada and the United States, it challenges the narrative on how Indigenous history is taught and explains why Indigenous people continue to feel frustrated. King’s seeks to educate the reader as he provides a detailed accounts of the horrific massacres Indigenous people endured, yet he simultaneously inserts humorous moments which balances out the depressing content and enhances his story. The books highlights the neglect and assimilation that Indigenous were subjected to and how their survival was seen as an inconvenience to western culture. King directs his message at a Euro-centric audience to offer an accurate explanation of Indigenous culture and

This book is the story of Thomas Yellowtail, a religious leader, and a “pivotal figure in Crow tribal life”. In his youth, Yellowtail lived alongside great men who have tasted the freedom of the days before the reservations life, and were familiar with the sacred ways. Thomas Yellowtail was a Crow healer and also a top religious figure in the Sun Dance, which was the most important part of the Plains Indian spirituality. Yellowtail describes the social problems in reservations, and explains how alcoholism, drug abuse, and poverty were manifested by declining values (pg.28). By trading their daily contact with the nature and prayer, for the modern day fast pace, and things like television, Yellowtail suggests that Indians have become out of

In the Summer of 1876 the Seventh Cavalry of the United States, led by Lt. Colonel George Custer was dispatched to Montana to put down the defiant Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. On June 25th Custer made the mistake of splitting his force into three, ignoring orders to wait, and attacking the main Indian camp. One group of cavalry forces were led by Captain Fredrick Benteen another by Major Marcus Reno. Benteen was to prevent native escape in the upper valley, and Reno was to follow the Indian forces in pursuit. Reno's forces, however, were attacked and soon overwhelmed. Around 200 of Custer's men arrived to distract the Indian forces, but they too were soon overwhelmed by a large Indian force. While arrows and gunfire rained down on the men, they

Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors by Stephen Ambrose is a novel about the lives of two american warriors. These two warriors were defined by the circumstances in their life which in turn, made them be on opposing sides of the war. I liked this book better than the trail of tears, probably because I love the writing style of Ambrose. Both of these men have a lot in common, but as we read the book, we discover that that this was simply a natural side effect of their roles as warriors.

As a cadet at West Point, Custer had promptly raced to the bottom of the academic standings not because he couldn't master the material but because he couldn't give a damn. He had the easy charm of a natural slacker; he made himself popular with his classmates by playing coarse practical jokes on the underclassmen; he was full of bonhomie and high spirits and good fun to the friends who worshiped him and somewhat of a bastard to everyone else. Most of his biographers write about his "pranks" and "antics" and "boyish frolics" at West Point, but in truth there was a nasty edge to it all. He broke into an instructor's room to steal a copy of a test, he led clandestine after-hours excursions to taverns, he mocked the teachers, he was always skating

“Dead Indians are dignified, noble, silent, suitably garbed. And dead. Live Indians are invisible, unruly, disappointing. And breathing” (King 2012, p.66). After reflecting on the marketing of the Dead Indian, one can only begin to imagine the dehumanizing effect this must have on all Indians–dead or alive. Live Indians (whom North America decided cannot be genuine) experience the “annoyance” of being invisible and the “crushing” burden of being “inauthentic.” King quotes that real Indians do not have televisions or mustaches, but instead ride horses and sing with drum groups (King 2012, p.64-65). All that can be said about this devaluing is that it makes it easier for humans to act in an inhumane way toward their fellow human. Just as is if a person considers Indians to be dead, it makes it easier to strip them of their land, their family, and their