Essay On Cherokee Indians

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

The Cherokee people were forced out of their land because of the settler’s greed for everything and anything the land had to offer. Many Cherokee even embraced the “civilization program,” abandoning their own beliefs so that they may be accepted by white settlers. Unfortunately for the Cherokee though, the settlers would never accept them as an equal citizen. A quote from historian Richard White says it very well, “The Cherokee are probably the most tragic instance of what could have succeeded in American Indian policy and didn’t. All these things that Americans would proudly see as the hallmarks of civilization are going to the West by Indian people. They do everything they were asked except one thing. What the Cherokees ultimately

To begin with, the Cherokee tribe was one of the three primary Native American tribes in South Carolina that called themselves “the real people.” Upward in the mountains, they lived in these villages called “longhouses.” For the girls, their daily lives consisted of doing work in the field, planting and hoeing corn, then harvesting it. On the other hand, the boy’s daily lives consisted of being taught to fish and hunt. Their food was examples of fruits, nuts, corn, pole beans, squash, pumpkins, bottle gourds, and tobacco. Next, the Catawba tribe was another one of the three primary Native American tribes in South Carolina that called themselves the “river people. They used Carolina clay to make their pottery which they were known for. The Catawba dwellers lived in villages that had an open rounding on the top. The Catawbas were primarily farmers because every day they planted crops by the river, fished and hunted. Therefore, the Yemassee tribe was the third primary tribe in South Carolina that was from Spanish Florida. Throughout the summer, they lived on a beach, staying in Wigwams concealed in palmetto leaves. However, during the fall, winter, and spring they stayed in wattle and daub homes with a roof of leaves like the Cherokee. Every day they would eat clams which were part of their diet and equip the land for crops. Women were obligated for child rearing, making clothes, and served food and the men congregated the rest of the food in fishing and hunting.

There are hundreds of Native American tribes and millions of people that are within North America that identify themselves as Native Americans. Each tribe has their own unique customs, language, and myths. However, within the confines of this paper I will take a broad view with regards to Native American customs and traditions from a small sample of tribes that were observed prior to the vast expansion of colonizing the west.

Popular culture has shaped our understanding and perception of Native American culture. From Disney to literature has given the picture of the “blood thirsty savage” of the beginning colonialism in the new world to the “Noble Savage,” a trait painted by non-native the West (Landsman and Lewis 184) and this has influenced many non native perceptions. What many outsiders do not see is the struggle Native American have on day to day bases. Each generation of Native American is on a struggle to keep their traditions alive, but to function in school and ultimately graduate.

In her book American Indian Stories, Zitkala-Sa's central role as both an activist and writer surfaces, which uniquely combines autobiography and fiction and represents an attempt to merge cultural critique with aesthetic form, especially surrounding such fundamental matters as religion. In the tradition of sentimental, autobiographical fiction, this work addresses keen issues for American Indians' dilemmas with assimilation. In Parts IV and V of "School Days," for example, she vividly describes a little girl's nightmares of paleface devils and delineates her bitterness when her classmate died with an open Bible on her bed. In this groundbreaking scene, she inverts the allegation of Indian religion as superstition by labeling

The American Indian History of the United States is always associated with the Cherokee Indian nation. The Cherokee's were by far the largest and most advanced of the tribes. This man was Hernando de Soto was the first European explorer to come into contact with the Cherokees, when he arrived in their territory in 1540. Then he went and came in contact with Native Americans Cherokee's since many of their ways and customs is my family that the Cherokees occupied a large expanse of territory in the Southeast. Their homeland included mountains and valleys in the southern part of the Appalachian Mountain chain. Their territory stretched from North Carolina to

Did you know the word cherokee means those who “live in the mountains. The cherokee were very superstitious. ”The beliefs, culture and history of the cherokee tribe can easily be seen in “How the World Was Made.”

die. The Red Chief was also in charge of the lacrosse games which were called

Two out of three people are discriminated everyday. “Giving someone equal rights does not infringe or take away rights from them, it just makes it illegal to enforce your prejudice and hate.” British statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke once said, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” He also said, “All that’s necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.” During the Cherokee Indian Removal, the Cherokee Indians were forced to be removed by the U.S. troops because of discovery of gold leading them to be removed, and discrimination towards the Cherokees.

Beginning in 1791 a series of treaties between the United States and the Cherokees living in

After many years of unfair treatment by the United States, the Cherokee were faced with a decision, do they leave in hopes of saving their nation or do they stay and fight for their land. What path would have offered the best chance of survival for the Cherokee? People may disagree because some members of the Cherokee tribe wanted to stay and defend their ancestors land, while others wanted to leave their legacy behind and move out west. In 1838 the Cherokee were forced out of Georgia by President Jackson, leaving behind the land that was passed down from generation to generation of Cherokee. The Cherokee leaving behind their land and moving to the west offered the best chance of survival for their nation.

After Lord Dunmore’s War, the Shawnee people were forced to move from their homes. The tribe was split up. A tribe called the Absentee Shawnee migrated to Missouri. Another tribe called the Loyal Shawnee moved to a small reservation in Kansas. Some Shawnee moved to eastern Oklahoma. In 1869, some of the Loyal Shawnee moved onto land given to them by the Cherokee tribe in Oklahoma. Though some Shawnee remained in

There was a couple named Kiowa and Muraco. They've been together for 8 years. They had a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Her name was Cherokee. Kiowa and Muraco loved Cherokee so much but they knew they couldn't keep Cherokee because they were poor. They had no money to take care of Cherokee. Everyday they struggled to find food and water. Days went by and Kiowa was starting to get sick. Each day it got worse and worse. Her skin was turning red, her eyes were puffy and she constantly coughed and sneezed. Kiowa told Muraco she didn't feel good and she felt like she was going to die soon. On the fourth day, Kiowa died and Muraco was left to raise Cherokee by himself. Muraco knew nothing about raising kids. He was scared. He didn't know what to do so he decided to find help.

Christopher Columbus “discovered” America in 1492. His discovery happened when Europe and its growing states were ready, both technologically and financially, to explore the world in order to settle trade relationships and colonies. Mercantilism, which is an economic system that measure the wealth of country by the amount of precious metal (ex: gold) which it possessed, drove the policies of expansion of many European countries such as Portugal, Spain, England or France. For instance, England began the European colonization of America through a joint stock company, the Virginia Company, in Chesapeake. However, the colonization of America by Europeans had serious side effects for local populations. These populations historically came from