Final Paper. University Of Oklahoma. Nas-3113-996. Rob

The government was not done reconstructing Native Americans lifestyles. Americanization became the goal. This meant destroying tribal organizations, suppressing “pagan” religions and ceremonies, allowing only English as the language of the instruction in the schools, requiring “white clothing

Native Americans do not explain their supernatural elements the same way other cultures do. Most other cultures try to talk about gods, or ghosts, or supernatural elements. Native Americans use nature and spirits to explain the supernatural elements. Native American myths instead rely on nature and spirits to tell the story, which reflects on their culture’s belief system. The Native Americans have many myths and folktales, and most of them share many common themes and archetypes with other cultures, myths ,and legends. Almost every Native American myth or piece of folklore revolves around nature and its power; while spirits are used mainly to explain the unexplainable parts. This characteristic is shown with spirits being important characters,

government has unspecified and unorganized policies, which were unprotected for Native Americans who lived in the west because of all the new coming Americans. During westward expansion, a majority of who moved were whites, who didn’t know the Native Americans who already lived in the west. The Natives felt their land was being conquered, because of the U.S government policies(Louisana Purchase & Homestead Act) and the whites not wanting them to be there, which lead to fighting between the Natives and the whites. These acts and policies such as the Indian Removal Act often resulted in violated treaties and violence. The Indian Removal Act was the removal of Native American homes and tribes. “This also confines the Indians to still narrower limits, destroys that game which in their normal state, and constitutes their principal means of subsistence.” Resulting in westward expansion, Native Americans began rapidly decreasing in the area by wars and new diseases caught by new coming

Religious beliefs varied between tribes, but there was a widespread belief in a Great Spirit who created the earth, and who pervaded everything. The constitution of the Iroquois stated every time assembly is held, “ they shall make an address and offer thanks to the earth, to the streams of water, to the animals”. Native American believe everything on earth was given by the Mother Earth, so they must pay respect to their surroundings. In Natives’ culture, there is no such thing of I am first because I am this because they are all relying on one another to sustain life. According to the Digital History, Native American lifestyle was “ free from all the traditional constraints of civilized life-- such as private property or family bonds” . The natives had never of a thought of themselves as owners. They believed that everything on earth was gifted by the Mother Earth, which explains why Indians have a great respect for nature. This concept has proven to us that these Native American were not self- centered. They don’t take everything for granted. They appreciated every little thing around

The Native American’s way of living was different from the Europeans. They believed that man is ruled by respect and reverence for nature and that nature is an

“One general truth that threads throughout the Native American spiritual beliefs is the belief of the Mother Earth spirituality” (Coll). They often called earth their mother and called father the air. The earth to the Natives is very sacred to them and is the most important thing to them. Most of the ceremonies were in some way revolving around the earth and they called earth “home.” Most of the ceremonies were practiced for many years and were passed down through generation to generation. The Native Americans didn’t have a book like the bible or any language that was written. One big thing they had was Totems. These were everywhere in their tribes and it was supposed to represent people and the animals that represented them. The Indians were supposed to have 7 spiritual animals and the many animals on the totems were supposed to represent all the person’s spiritual

There are three key patterns seen in most Native American religions they are the human relationship with nature, framing of time and space and respect for gods/ancestors. The human relationship with nature known as animism, everything is seen as part of the same reality and every object has a spirt, is a practice where there is little distinction between humans and animals. Time and space is sacred, cyclical,

Effect of Dawes Act: more opportunities for white plundering of Indian lands, further undermining of traditional Indian cultures

Native Americans had been wandering around and living on the land for decades. Suddenly the Native Americans found themselves facing a bunch of settlers intruding on the territory they had considered theirs for a long time. The Indian Removal Act, passed by Congress during President Andrew Jackson’s term in 1830, forced the relocation of five different Native American tribes to the lands west of the Mississippi River.

Indian Removal Act Throughout history , prejudice of races has been ravaging the nation. Since Europeans first landed on Plymouth Rock, Native Americans have been subject to racism. In May 1830, Native Americans were introduced to these harsh exclusions when Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which severely impacted the Native American way of life. The Indian Removal Act destroyed their way of life, forced them onto reservations, and lead to the murder of many innocent Native Americans.

For more than 300 years, since the days of Christopher Columbus and the Spanish Government, an attempt of genocide of the Native American Indian has existed. From mass brutal murders and destruction by Spanish and American armies, to self-annihilation through suicide, homicide, and alcohol induced deaths brought about because of failed internal colonialism and white racial framing. Early Explores used Indigenous inhabitants upon first arriving to the America’s to survive the New World and once they adapted, internal colonialism began with attempts to convert the Indians to Christianity, repressing their values and way of life, forcing them into slavery, and nearly exterminating an entire culture from existence.

All humans are interested in their origins and trying to account for their existence through creation stories. Native Americans tribes are no different from the rest of humanity. The tribes’ stories explain how people came into existence, how they came to be live on the lands they do and the how people interact with nature and each other. These trends can be seen in the legends of three tribes hailing from New England to the Great Lakes Region.

Molly related an experience with four Oglala Sioux shamans: "When asked about what was wakan ("holy," "mysterious"), said, 'Every object in the world has a spirit and that spirit is wakan. Thus the spirit[s] of the tree or things of that kind, while not like the spirit of man, are also wakan.' " (2005, p. 41) Believing that each tree has a spirit, each animal is a brother or sister, each rock and hill has a life force would alter your perception of the world. Your feelings toward those things might be changed a bit, knowing that they have as much life in them as you do. Black Elk, a Native American, said, " We should understand well that all things are the works of the Great Spirit. We should know that He is within all things: the trees, the grasses, the rivers, the mountains, and all the four-legged animals, and the winged peoples." (Goffman, 2005) Whether a tribal culture believed in a Great Spirit, or Mother Earth, or felt that a certain tree held a powerful spirit, many of the native religions worshiped the earth and held it in a highly sacred regard. "To say that nature is full of spirits can be a way of affirming the presence of both a universal life force and an essential, underlying sacredness." (Molly, 2005, p. 41) Molloy continues:

Sacred power (pg 16): Native Americans believed in spiritual powers and the natural world. Spiritual power for men were hunting and war.

In the late nineteenth century, the effort to ‘civilize” native Americans entailed removing children from their families and placing them in boarding schools where they were forced to adopt European culture. They were forbidden to speak their traditional language and were forced to abandon their religious beliefs in favour of Christianity.