Personal Narrative: Native Americans

Tensions started setting in. That dreaded long walk from the parking lot to school felt different this time. From now on I would be leaving my hard hat and work boots at home, and walking past the construction site rather than to it. It was my first nerve-racking day as a student at the University of Regina.

I am a Native American born and raised in Jamestown, Virginia. It was always just my father and I, my mother passed away when I was an infant, so my father raised me to be an independent woman. My father is the head commander of the tribe. He only allowed me to go to the village near our tents. I never went further than the village, till this one day that I was feeling so curious about what was out there, so I decided to walk beyond the village to see what there is to explore.

What is culture? Culture is the idea of what is wrong or right, the concept of what is acceptable within our society. Culture serves us as a guide, taking us to the "right way" and helping us to make sense of things that surrounds us. There are many different cultures around the world. A lot of them are similar in specific ways and others are just completely different, this difference explains why we think that people from different backgrounds are "weird".

Before moving to Saint Paul, Minnesota, two and a half years ago, I lived in Storm Lake, a small rural town located in northwest Iowa. There was no big Hmong population there, only a few family friends. I was very hesitant to share my culture at school because I did not know how to explain the elaborate traditions and its purposes. For example, sacrificing animals to ancestors is an outdated practice and not understood by many people. Traditions like this only exist in historical textbooks. I was scared of being judged and looked on as weird. I did not know the purpose of dressing up in traditional clothing for new years, or what was the purpose of celebrating Hmong new year. I envied other cultures, for they had a history that was widely known and written down in text. I had no appreciation for my culture.

My grandmother Lynne Murphy is who I chose to interview for my heritage project. This summer at a family birthday party I was speaking short phrases in Spanish while joking around with my dad. My grandmother, sitting beside us, joined in the conversation and starting speaking fluent Spanish. I had no idea she could speak Spanish, so I asked her, “How can you speak Spanish?” Before answering my question she laughed. She went on to tell me that she lived in South America for many years as a teenager. I didn’t have the chance to learn anymore about her childhood until this project was assigned. When I learned we were to focus on a family member’s experience growing up, I immediately thought about my grandmother and the interesting life she seemed

Native Americans maintained a relatively stable life until colonists arrived and held superiority over the Native Americans through weaponry and susceptibility to disease. Around 90% of Native Americans lost their lives to the diseases brought over by the colonists (The Story Of Smallpox – and other Deadly Eurasian Germs). Manifest destiny followed the Louisiana purchase; A time when Americans migrated west and Native Americans moved into harsh landscapes killing thousands more. From the harsh and unfair treatment towards the Native Americans came the American-Indian Wars. The purpose? To achieve self-actualization against the harsh and unfair treatment of the Native Americans. Additionally, Native Americans needed to re-establish a specific

I am Waynoka, and I am from the Cheyenne Tribe. Waynoka in my language means sweet water. Just like the water that runs through the rivers that surround and cross through the Plains, my home. Cheyenne means the “relatives of the Cree” but we call ourselves the “Tsitsistas” which means the people. My tribe lives in the plains of Northern America, we lived in the states now known as Montana and Wyoming, but we just called it home. My family was like all the others in the Cheyenne tribe, me being one of two children, living in earthen lodges, the women farming, the men hunting. I was like all the other girls, idolising Roman Nose and his righteous victories against our enemies, learning my roles in our community that I will later have to fulfil,

My family’s Native American heritage has influenced me by encouraging me to assist the poverty-stricken Lumbee community that I grew up in, whether that be by volunteering my time, energy, or resources. Growing up as a member of the Lumbee community, I have witnessed firsthand the struggles that many Native American families face, including living paycheck to paycheck, being ridiculed for our heritage, and alcohol abuse in many households. My culture has instilled in me the desire to educate the youth to be proud of their heritage despite the derogatory stereotypes that people associate Native Americans with. Unlike many children I was raised with, I have the opportunity to go to college and become only the second person in my family to do

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be Native American during the European invasion? In American history Native Americans were treated unfairly. The American government mistreated the Natives by lying to them and treating them as foreigners. After years of fighting for freedom the Natives did not achieve their goal for freedom. The Trail of Tears, being the most tragic event in American history, was due to the Removal Act in the 1830s, the misguidance of President Andrew Jackson, the discovery of gold, and the false promises made to the Native Americans.

People had already been living in the Americas for thousands of years before the Europeans “discovered” the Americas. When the Europeans invaded this land they brought with them diseases such as smallpox, malaria, yellow fever, plague, typhus, and influenza contagions that repeatedly spread through the Native American peoples, killing them in high numbers. At the time the United States was settled by Europeans, it was abundantly populated by dozens of separate nations with diverse civilizations and cultures. Despite their initial confusion to their situation after the arrival of Europeans, the Native Americans did not take their disenfranchisement from their own land lying down. Native Americans have a long history of "fighting

When I think of the American Identity I think of who we are as a country. From day one we have been fighters and just trying to make this a better place than we found it. Still today we are fighting, not only trying to help our country but to also help our neighbors in need. If you are being kicked out of your own home, out of your country America will bring you in, If you are hungry America will feed you, If you want a future America will educate you. This is the land that will give you a chance in life, to do or be something amazing.If you can’t see that then open your eyes because it is all right in front of you.

One day I was sitting in English class doing my work. Then a flying whale flew into the wall and destroyed it. It flew over to me and swallowed me whole. It then just flew back to the ocean. While in the whale's stomach I saw some interesting things like a dead person, a needle with steroids in it, a few soccer balls, a rabbit, and a roll of duct tape. After I had been in the whale's stomach for about 3 hours, it started to shake violently. Then something was squeezing the life out of the whale. All of the sudden i was flying through the air along with everything else. I landed on some sort of island.

As we continued along the trail, we were stopped by a very steep hill. Hunter announced that we should dump some stuff from our wagon in order to get on top of the hill. I dump my a tired that I bought recently and a barrel with nothing in it. The trip up the hill was a pain. It took so long to get up the hill I almost fell asleep. My leg was sore and I thinking about giving up. Finally we made it to the top of the hill and we realized that we had to go down the hill. We decided to use our own ropes and slowly descend our wagon one by one. When we descend Curtis’s wagon, Curtis almost fell. He was able to caught himself before he fell down the hill. Well all went down the hill and as we were going down the hill, we saw a divine blue spring

An american story is a story revolving around his or her lifestyle, culture and everyday habits. This is about past experiences, accomplishments, and biggest downfalls. I will be discussing not only my biggest accomplishments, but also my biggest failures that I have occurred in life. What will my american story be? Keep reading to find out.

They are divided into seven tribes; the Fire, Air, Snow, Wind, Water, Lightning, and Snake Tribes. In all of these tribes, there are many forest, mountain, and ground villages. It is in one of these villages where our story is set…