Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

One of the themes used in the book is of racism towards the Natives. An example used in the book is of Edward Sheriff Curtis who was a photographer of 1900s. Curtis was interested in taking pictures of Native people, but not just any Native person. “Curtis was looking for the literary Indian, the dying Indian, the imaginative construct” (King, 2003; pp. 34). He used many accessories to dress up people up “who did not look as the Indian was supposed to look” (King, 2003; pp.34). He judged people based on his own assumptions without any knowledge of the group and their practices. Curtis reduced the identity of the Native Americans to a single iconic quintessential image of what Native meant to white society. The idea related to the image of this group of people during the 1900s consisted of racism in terms of the “real looking Indian”. This is not

For the longest time, Americans have celebrated Columbus day, commemorating the admiral’s supposed discovery of America. But, in “The Inconvenient Indian”, Thomas King shatters this idea and develops a new thought in the mind of the reader about natives. By using excellent rhetoric and syntax, King is able to use logos, ethos and pathos in his chapter “Forget Columbus”, where he develops the argument that the stories told in history aren’t always a true representation of how it actually happened.

The long history between Native American and Europeans are a strained and bloody one. For the time of Columbus’s subsequent visits to the new world, native culture has

When the first colonists landed in the territories of the new world, they encountered a people and a culture that no European before them had ever seen. As the first of the settlers attempted to survive in a truly foreign part of the world, their written accounts would soon become popular with those curious of this “new” world, and those who already lived and survived in this seemingly inhospitable environment, Native American Indian. Through these personal accounts, the Native Indian soon became cemented in the American narrative, playing an important role in much of the literature of the era. As one would expect though, the representation of the Native Americans and their relationship with European Americans varies in the written works of the people of the time, with the defining difference in these works being the motives behind the writing. These differences and similarities can be seen in two similar works from two rather different authors, John Smith, and Mary Rowlandson.

When examining early American history it is commonplace, besides in higher academia, to avoid the nuances of native and colonizer relations. The narrative becomes one of defeat wherein the only interaction to occur is one of native American’s constant loss to white colonizers. It is not to say that the European colonizers didn’t commit genocide, destroy the land and fabric of countless cultures, but rather when looking at history it is important to take a bottom’s up approach to storytelling. We must examine in what ways the native Americans fought English colonization, not just through war, but also through the legal system that was established after the area was colonized.

As the United States expands westward in the late 1800’s, Native American tribes that live on these frontier lands, are often feared ,misunderstood, and despised by white settlers who want to move onto the new lands. In “Fools Crow” by James Welch, the story of the Blackfoot Indians of Montana shares the growth and experiences of the Pikunis tribe and its people as they confront new white settlers and its impact on their society and culture. Blackfoot society in the late 1800’s is a patriarchal society that is led by chiefs, braves, and warriors. The relationships between fathers and sons in this patriarchal society affects the Pikuni people as they struggle with their relationships and interactions

The full measure of Columbus's failure as a colonizer was not yet apparent when he returned to Castile in 1496. Yet by the end of six or seven years of his governorship, with his own, the monarchs', and the settlers' objectives all still unachieved, and Hispaniola suffering an apparently interminable series of rebellions not only by the Indians but by the colonists too, Columbus was to be superseded and disgraced, and shipped home to Spain in chains.1 Overall, Fernandez-Armesto depicted Columbus as an annoyingly eccentric person incapable of succeeding. Although, he discovered the Americas, he failed to be a leader to his crew and the natives. Instead, he was on the lookout for ways of manipulating the motives for profit.

Native American literature from the Southeastern United States is deeply rooted in the oral traditions of the various tribes that have historically called that region home. While the tribes most integrally associated with the Southeastern U.S. in the American popular mind--the FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole)--were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) from their ancestral territories in the American South, descendents of those tribes have created compelling literary works that have kept alive their tribal identities and histories by incorporating traditional themes and narrative elements. While reflecting profound awareness of

As a child, I have always been intrigued about the vast traditions and the colorful histories of various Indian Tribes. I choose Dee Browns “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee” in order to be further educated about the Native American nations. I was familiar with the piece long before I even knew it was a book by watching and love the HBO special on “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee”.

“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.

Christopher Columbus and James Baldwin were both bearers of a new culture to their new frontiers. At first glance, Columbus’s and Baldwin’s experiences are rather dissimilar; these two men were of different races, lived in different time periods, and faced different social contexts. Despite these differences, Columbus’s and Baldwin’s experiences parallel each other well. Both were outsiders visiting an already established society and came from their own very different established societies. These huge culture shocks between Columbus, Baldwin and their respective encountered natives made the minority visitors a source of great wonder to the residential population. The Native Americans marvelled over

Everyone knows Christopher Columbus as the man that discovered America, but was he a hero? It depends on what one defines as a hero, but the most basic definition of a hero is someone who is known for their courageous and noble acts. If that is the case, then Columbus is not a hero for three different reasons. First, He only discovered America on accident. Second, he captured Native Americans and brought them back to Spain to be slaves.

Taught in public schools that Native Americans were more primitive than their European counterparts; children and even adults continue to believe that before Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492, the western hemisphere was essentially pristine, unsullied by mankind. To Columbus, the land must have looked ripe for the taking. However, despite his thoughts on conquering the ‘wilderness’, cultivating the land for the sake of his nation’s exploits, he was ignorant to the fact that man had already resided there and manipulated the land for generations. What is often unclear to society is the Native’s incomprehensible impact on their homeland, for the effects are not always visible to the naked eye.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is somehow a scary film. But it is a necessary story because regaining the truth helps replenish things into place, brings justice to those who were dispossessed of 'visibility' because of 'reasons' and shows a real America. The arrival of Europeans to America-from North or South is a feat as it is the source of serious problems because it was after all the origin of an invasion. The invasion of some lands from which a large number of communities, linked in large and small tribes were proprietary. An ecological relationship exists between the Indians also referred to as the "wild" with Mother Earth and its resources. A lovely example of their union with nature is found in many of their own names. Several million

Between 1790 and 1920 it was a tough time for the Indians. During that period Native Americans were forced to convert to the European-American Culture. Their whole life changed, the way of living, religion, and especially their children’s future. It was wrong of Americans to convert natives into a different society that they saw fit and not letting them express their own culture and treating them as an unworthy society.