Nella Barns Story

They were living in a very different world than the one in which they lived before Columbus’ “discovery” of the New World in 1492. The Native American population had rapidly declined because of a combination of epidemic and brutal massacres. New tribes had formed, such as the Catawba and the Creek Confederacy, in order to unite the small Native populations left in the region. The culture was also quite different, with Indians relying on European tools and products such as knives, needles, kettles, and firearms. As one Cherokee told the governor of South Carolina in 1753, “The clothes we wear, we cannot make ourselves, they are made to us. We use their ammunition with which we kill deer…. Every necessary thing we must have from the white people.” The Indians no longer provided for themselves in the way that they had for centuries before, leading to an incredibly different way of

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.

During America’s Gilded Age, a drastic change in the west transpired. While many Native Americans had already endured profound changes, their freedom was about to become nearly extinct. It was a time in which they called the Second Industrial Revolution. There was an ample amount of natural resources and a development in the market for manufactured goods. Railroad companies flourished and alas, Indian removal was imperative in obtaining land for laborers and miners (Foner, Give Me Liberty!, p.477). As Americans wanted to take their land, they also wanted to strip Native Americans of their culture. The federal government strived in trying to civilize them, so The Bureau of Indian Affairs created boarding schools all over the west in the 1870s. These schools were for Native American children of all ages. The goal was complete “assimilation” (Mabalon, 9/9/15). The children were forced to dress differently, they gained new names, and they were isolated from any cultural influence. It was as though they were forced to give up tradition. It caused them to start having hatred towards their culture and to be ashamed of themselves. Native Americans lost their values and their freedom almost completely. They were essentially being taught how to be white capitalists. (Mabalon, 9/9/15). It wasn’t until after a long, painful struggle and resistance that they finally gained citizenship for all in 1924. Even then, there was still a great way to go until the Native Americans were able to

Our Spirits Don’t Speak English provides insight into Indian boarding schools in the United States. Children of Indian tribes were mandated by the U.S. government to attend boarding schools. The purpose of these schools were to educate Indians in Western ways and language; thus, making these children “civilized.” From a trauma lens, children of these boarding schools could be viewed as victims. Indian children were forcibly removed from their homes and stripped of their Native American identity. Upon arrival, Indian children were forced to cut their hair in the Western fashion and were only allowed to wear European-style clothing.

The first experience displayed was being shackled. It was described that “the men negroes, are immediately fastened together, two by two, by hand-cuffs on their wrist, and by irons riveted on their legs. They are then sent down between the decks, and placed in an apartment partitioned off for that purpose.” (Document C) They were forced and confined under

When we think of the first people in America, of course, we think of Christopher Columbus. Yet, the first people were the Cherokee Indians. They are the second largest and most powerful tribe of the “Five Civilized Tribes”, that live on lands many, many years before the white man set foot on their soil. Regrettably, the Cherokee’s were brutally removed from their homes, where they lived for 30,000 years. This expedition was the Trail of Tears; this paper will show the effects the Trail of Tears had on the Cherokee Indians.

As I struggled to learn to kayak I pushed through the same water the Edisto’s paddles had touched. My experiences mirror those of Joseph Bruchac, in his work “At the End of Ridge Road.” Bruhac has a cabin in the country that is very close to “the homestead where [his] grandfather and his twelve brothers and sisters were born…Even closer to us are the unmarked burial places of Abenakis and Mohawks and Mohicans” (215-216). Bruhac’s modern home’s proximity to places of cultural importance for Native Americans shows that the way the land has been impacted and used by Native Americans should not be overlooked. The Native presence on the land is often overlooked since the Edisto people had all died from disease or war by the early 1700s. The Edisto people are often overlooked because of heavy focus on Civil War history in the area. The land that I’ve been walking for twenty years has an entire culture buried beneath it and I haven’t thought about it once. The Native Presence is not entirely gone. The Island’s infamous Captain Ron, a white man raised by the Cherokee, has had arrangements with my family for decades. Like the Edisto people before Ron uses the land to procure majority of the food his family eats. His children Rain, Tide, Marsh, and Wind learn these same skills and continue to grow up on Edisto Island.

It is disheartening that the Arawak tribe which received Columbus and his crew with open hearts could be subjugated to mere slaves. Also evident in his writing, “the Indians are so naïve…” This further exposed who he really was, a tyrant who capitalized on the warmth and affection shown upon his arrival for monetary want.

Marcus Garvey once said, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots” (Bro). Here, he proclaims the idea that in order to live a culture must be passed down from generation to generation, growing its roots. When two cultures were fighting for dominance in the U.S., the American government developed a plan to eradicate the First Nations’ roots, buying into the philosophy of Captain Richard H. Pratt when he stated that instead of killing all the Natives it would be of more use to “kill the Indian, and save the man” (“Kill”). Between the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the United States government used boarding schools to try to assimilate Native Americans into modern American culture;

Equiano, on a slave ship towards the West Indies, was on the verge of everlasting bondage. “In this manner we continued to undergo more hardships than I can now relate, hardships which are inseparable from this accursed trade. Many a time we were near suffocation from the want of fresh air, which was often without for whole days together.” (57) The conditions for slaves on these transport ships was horrendous, as those in charge cared little for the well being of these Africans. Equiano was unaware of what was to come, and fear lingered in his memory of this unforgiving experience. He explains the process of the transaction, “We were not many days in the merchant’s custody, before we were sold after their usual manner, which was: On a signal given (as the beat of a drum), the buyers rush at once into the yard where the slaves are confined, and make choice of that parcel they like best.” (58)

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.

“My people are few. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain...There was a time when our people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long since passed away with the greatness of tribes that are now but a mournful memory.,” Chief Seattle Speech of 1854. The culture of the Native American people has been deteriorating ever since the Europeans arrived in the Americas. The impactful and immense loss of lifestyle that they faced is one that can never be recovered, what the United States has given them are generations of trauma and blatant suffering. However, the U.S. did not stop there, a multitude of cultures have been broken to help keep America pure. For instance, one of the most significant cultures that have been dismantled by the U.S. other than the Natives and their music were the languages and music of the African slaves. The apparent likeness of these two cultures in the ways in which their deconstruction impacted them is in more of an abundance, such as the dominating influence of the Christian religion and the gravely vital role of maintaining what little heritage they could through language. In contrast to this, the two groups had an opposing difference pertaining to how the Natives and slaves tried to compensate the immense loss of their culture through the generations.

Even though the Native Americans have been living on the American land for centuries they are still facing harsh conditions. They have been struggling through poverty, dispossession, and lack of education for a long time, and their situation has not improved much over the years. In the novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” and the movie “Smoke Signals”, respectively written and produced by the Native American Sherman Alexie, he emphasizes that the Native Americans’ potential to experience positive change on their reservations is limited. Instead, they need to step out of the reservations to experience significant personal growth and insight.

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.

It's a few days later now, they caught me the last time I wrote. They ended up taking my journal for a few days. I’m pretty sure that the date is April 3, 1726. I don’t know where I am, we haven’t been near land in days. The captain and crew won’t give us any information, about what’s happening. I’ve gotten at least 12 bruises from being treated so poorly. Everybody has been pushed and thrown over and over. And I don’t know where Aloogo and Heyenah are because we got seperated into different rooms. I pass them in the mess hall, where we ate porridge, fruits, and a lot of gross foods. They made sure to give us Vitamin C at least, so we don’t get scurvy and they can still sell us. So far no one has died, but people have tried to starve themselves