Personal Narrative: The Reservations Of Native Americans

One might not understand what makes one keep moving forward day after day. Nobody gets it unless they have lived in the footsteps of another. Ask any Native American. They have lived a life of others judging and misunderstanding and if they haven't their ancestors have. The Native Americans pass stories down generation by generation so surely they have heard what it was like to be misunderstood. They believe differently than other cultures, yet not one is alike. They have a very complicated and hard to understand system when it comes to their views. The way they view, believe and run their system is never fully understood unless one has grown up with the Native American culture. The religious culture of these people is what holds their

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

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.

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

Minority groups are defined as alien residents of nations who no longer have rights to their land. Ordinarily due to colonization. Minority status is the result of adverse discrimination some of the defining elements of these groups are commonly long-term occupation of land, common ancestry, traditional culture, language or formal membership. In the United States, Native Americans, also known as American Indians or just simply Indians are considered to be people whose pre-Columbian ancestors were indigenous to the lands within the nation’s modern boundaries. These people were composed of numerous distinct tribes, bands and ethnic groups. Custer Died for Your Sins is a 1969, non-fiction book by the lawyer, professor and writer Vine Deloria. This was noted primarily for its relevance to activist organizations like the American Indian Movement. The book consists of eleven essays and is critical of aid organizations, for their efforts to so called “help” Native Americans. The author shows readers that instead of helping they were stopping the progress. Deloria 's book discussed and offered many types of solutions in helping Native Americans.

Nunna dual Isunyi, the “Trail Where We Cried,” is what the Cherokees call one of the darkest chapters of American history (Pritzker). Despite the Native Americans adopting a great deal of white American customs and European-style economic practices, yet they were removed from their homelands and relocated to state reserves due to the ideology of manifest destiny and the insatiable American greed. The main victims were the Five “Civilized” Tribes: Choctaw, Seminole, Creek, Chickasaw, and Cherokee.

“To own the Earth, There is no word for this in the Sioux Language.” The Battle of Wounded Knee was the last battle of the American Indian Wars it was also one of the most gruesome battles that either side had seen. An estimated three hundred Indians lay dead while the US army had lost twenty five and thirty nine were wounded some of who would die later. This was one of the worst acts that the Americans have ever done to the Native Americans. One Native American stated later “it was as if the soldiers were crazed by the sight of blood and had appeared wild eyed as they shot again and again into some of the bodies.” Many Native Americans still hold grudges to this day over what happened to their ancestors on that sacred piece of land this

Over 200 American soldiers were killed, with under 50 Indian casualties (Urwin 1). Even with this great victory, when reinforcements arrived two days after the battle the Indians were forced to retreat. The Native Americans that did not escape were forced to surrender when the army pressed in, but Sitting Bull was able to escape to Canada (“Custer’s Last Stand” 1 ). Along with the overwhelming force pushing in, the battle confirmed to may Americans their belief that Native Americans were bloodthirsty and evil. The battle confirmed this belief and caused efforts to subdue them to increase, and within five years all the Indians were confined to reserves (“Battle of the Little Bighorn” 1).

I found it interesting that the number of jobs in the work force nearly tripled, but those that were employed only rose by about a hundred people. The unemployment rate also rose to nearly triple what is was as well. It is staggering to see that the average income was under $10,000. Just take a minute to think how little money that is and you aren’t even sure if most people were on the higher or lower side of $10,000. I founded it very interesting that the Crow Creek Reservation was supposed to be a prison camp, but just think how many people it makes a good home for instead. I loved looking at the attractions or various things that were available on your reservation.

My experience is a bit different compared to other minority group experiences because I am a Caucasian American with Hispanic from Central America. People from a minority of Native American, African American, Muslim American, Chinese/Japanese American, and Jewish American would all have a complete unalike experience compared to me. Central Americans and Vietnamese Americans I feel it is rare for these two cultures to come together and that is what makes my experience so unique to the situation. A similarity and the only similarity I could find between Central Americans and Vietnamese Americans is they both immigrated to the United States. Central America immigration has increased significantly and added to the diversity in the United States.

Like a coin dropped between the cushions of a couch, traditional oral storytelling is a custom fading away in current American culture. For Native Americans, however, the practice of oral storytelling is still a tradition that carries culture and rich history over the course of generations. Three examples of traditional oral stories, “How Men and Women Got Together”, “Coyote’s Rabbit Chase”, and “Corn Mother”, demonstrate key differences in perspectives and values among diverse native tribes in America.

The United States today has been divided. This division is between the Native Americans who were the first people on this land and the rest of the nation. In the past, the British settlers came to America and over the years forced the Native Americans from their homelands. They were constantly moving them west. Their living conditions were never ideal on the journey or when they reached “Indian Territory.”

The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration, written by Mary Rowlandson describes the events that she was taken captive alongside a number of people by Native Indians. The story is written in first person; therefore, it has details on the happenings during and after the captives. Mary narrates her experiences and highlights her views of her captors and the Native Indian community at large. The narratives indicate Mary Rowlandson's position as a female in her society during her time.

In order to fully understand the first unit of American Studies I am going to orchestrate a class in which we explore the major themes and perform exercises to enhance the understanding of everyone in the class. This class will be titled, “Stories: Their Influence and Power.” This class will focus on how stories have the abilities to change people’s lives, and will especially focus on the context of stories in the lives of Native Americans. This class is extremely important because it will give students insight into not only Native stories, but into their own stories and how their lives have been impacted by them. This class will focus around excerpts from the book by Thomas King, The Truth About Stories, and circulate around two main

The United States was a new nation in the 18th century when most of the world was divided among the European imperialist governments. Looking right of religion, technology and military power, people from these nations began to claim the land and lock up new worlds of natural resources to meet their needs, that is why some decided to immigrate to the United States seeking freedom and the opportunity for economical improvements; but this search for improvement, among other things, only brought suffering and death to Native American tribes.