Stereotypical Images of Native Americans
The encounter of Christopher Columbus with the indigenous people of the Americas and the Caribbean would ultimately set in motion the destruction of Native American life and culture as it had existed for thousands of years. Images and stereotypes of the Native Americans were indelibly etched into the minds of the Europeans and we struggle today to eradicate these harmful portrayals.
When Columbus arrived in the Caribbean in 1492, he was greeted by the natives of what is currently Haiti and the Dominican Republic, on the island of Hispaniola. These people were the Taino Indians, who belong to the general group Arawak, which primarily describes the common language shared by the native people
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They built two basic styles of housing; one for the general populace and another for the caciques. Ordinary people lived in dwellings somewhat similar to North American teepees, circular buildings with a central pole. The major difference was that they did not use animal skins for shelter, but instead used straw and palm leaves. The caciques were housed in rectangular buildings, much larger, although the same materials were used. Since these houses would contain a cacique's entire family, they were quite large. Even the common people's homes had to house anywhere from 10 - 15 men and their families, which could mean up to a hundred people (Stannard 51).
Most of the people were generally naked, although the women sometimes wore short skirts. Both sexes liked to adorn their bodies with paint and shells.
Since the Taino were a peaceful people, they had very limited weapons capabilities. They used the bow and arrow and some spears with fish hooks on the end, but they did not develop any armor or specifically defensive weapons such as a shield.
Columbus did not let his initial admiration of the Taino stop him from immediately planning to enslave them and generally exploit them for any means possible, especially that of finding gold. He made that clear when he wrote, "with 50 men, we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want". In 1495, he rounded up about 1,500 Arawak people, including men, women and children, and then
I took the Native American IAT and the Age IAT tests. I thought my results would be that I would have some association with Native Americans because I have Native American in my ancestry. My results were that I had little or no association between Native American and American with Foreign and American. I am not sure if I agree with them or not and that maybe from family history. I have no ideal if this method is truly effective and I would try to make sure that I am being considerate about other people's culture when teaching students and interacting with their families. I took away from this test that I learned new things about my thought process.
Columbus enslaved the natives living on the island of Hispaniola, called the Taino. Document 9 states that he forced the natives to dig, split rocks, move stones, and carry dirt on their backs
Columbus noticed that some of these Indians had little golden ornaments in their noses and ears, This made him take some of the Arawak Indians that they help prisoner onto the ship and insisted they guide him to where they were the source of the gold was, this had lead him to sail to what is now Cuba then to Hispaniola.# There bits of gold were visible in the rivers. Columbus and his crew built a fort and left thirty-nine crew members there to collect gold and store all they would find.
The climate of the period was cold months and there were horticulturalists they used stone things to do many things they lived in shelter like homes with their family and many
Native Americans as a whole have been typecast as drunks ever since the coming of the white man’s “fire water.” TS Naimi, MD et al. reports that alcohol is responsible for 11.7% of all American Indian and Alaska Native deaths, compared to 3.3% for the U.S. general population (939). This disturbing discrepancy reinforces the age old notion of the “drunk Indian.” Generalizations aside, is there some truth to this stereotype? Are Indians more likely than other races to be drunks? Of all the races, “Native Americans have the highest prevalence (12.1%) of heavy drinking…A larger percentage of Native Americans (29.6%) also are binge drinkers” (Chartier and Caetano 153). Although some research has been done on genetic causes, little is
Christopher Columbus changed the culture of the Indians as he forced, captured, and enslaved most of them. Natives that were forced into labor had to gather gold and if they didn’t wear a copper coin had their hands chopped off and bled to death. Captured natives were forced on to ships and were transported to Europe for slavery but more than half of them died on the way. Natives that were enslaved had to do long hardworking labor and would also have been raped by the soldiers of columbus. The Natives resulted in revolt against these crimes against them. Indians would go against Columbus’s men by either running away or fighting back to reclaim their land. Most runaways were chased down by dogs and killed. The Natives that fought back were
Since the arrival of the Europeans in 1492 the Native American has systematically been dehumanized, decivilized and redefined into terms that typify a subordinate or minority role, restricted life opportunities persist today as a result.
Native American people have a unique struggle in society. This stems from cultural epidemics like drug addiction, alcoholism, obesity, and rampant suicide, but also systemic racism and a sort of cultural lag. This is not meant to be a critique of culture, simply an observation of the condition of the families I have helped serve over the course of this internship. To be “Native” has become a slew of stereotypical representations. Stereotypes do not represent reality, but they do affect how individuals view themselves, and limit their ability to become anything but what they are expected to be. This is called the self-fulfilling prophecy. If Native American children grow up in a closed network, such as a reservation or a boundary, they are presented
Taino indians were the indigenous group that lived in the Caribbean Islands that consisted of Hispaniola, Cuba, and Puerto Rico before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world. Columbus’ conquest and founding of Puerto Rico resulted in the genocide of the Tainos. Due to this atrocity, right now there is only a small percentage of people on the island who are descendants of the Taino lineage.
Another issue is how Native Americans internalize the stereotypes that are forced upon them. In a study conducted by Fryberg, Markus, Oyserman, and Stone (2008), they found three common stereotypes of Native Americans in mass media: Spiritual people who are in tune with nature, warriors, or people with stereotypically bad outcomes, such as alcoholism. It is important to note that not all of these stereotypes are negative, and in fact a few of them are positive. What Fryberg et al. (2008) found, however, was that regardless if the stereotype was seen as positive or negative, all three of those variations caused harm in the form of “students’ feelings of personal and community worth, and achievement-related possible selves” (p. 216). It did
In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the new world; the Native Americans lives were altered through the introduction of the Columbian Exchange, Cultural changes and loss of their homeland. Columbus's discovery of the new world sparked colonization of the Americas. There was an ample amount of vast, arable land thus creating economic opportunity for the wealthy and the common-man. The people longing for this opportunity intruded on the Native American's land and completely changed their way of life.
Christopher Columbus first landed on Hispaniola in 1492 after the king and queen of Spain ordered him to sail West. The Carib people were previously settled on the island. Columbus had established a small colony on the north coast that was later
Until fairly recently the popular culture of American literature and film did not attempt to study the true representations of Indians in North America. Instead they chose to concentrate on the romanticized/savage version of Native people: which is an idealistic view of a Native with long, beautiful flowing hair riding on a horse obsessed with chanting and praying to the savageness of a rowdy, wild Native causing unnecessary mayhem to the white people. This portrayal of Native people in mass media had led to the stereotyping of Natives, which in turn had ricocheted into real life. Not only do non-natives succumb to these ideals, but Natives do as well.
Perpetuation of Native American Stereotypes in Children's Literature Caution should be used when selecting books including Native Americans, due to the lasting images that books and pictures provide to children. This paper will examine the portrayal of Native Americans in children's literature. I will discuss specific stereotypes that are present and should be avoided, as well as positive examples. I will also highlight evaluative criteria that will be useful in selecting appropriate materials for children and provide examples of good and bad books. Children will read many books as they grow up.
[1] Native Americans were part of this country long before our founding forefathers. They were the people that Christopher Columbus found inhabiting this land. There is even evidence to show that they have been on the American continents for thousands and even tens of thousands of years. Yet, somehow the European powers dominated these people, forcing them from their land to make it “ours.” In the early part of the twentieth century, a new industry began to develop; we call it the film industry. Along with the industry came movies that were made and are still made for the amusement of a mass audience. Some flaws did come with this industry, and among them was the