Summary Of Custer Died For Your Sins

“The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand and, by the Indians involved, as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, was an armed engagement between combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. The battle, which occurred on June 25 and 26, 1876 near the Little Bighorn River in eastern Montana Territory, was the most famous action of the Great Sioux War of 1876.”i Was this battle led by a courageous General or a desperate man is search of being seen as an American hero by the eyes of America?

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new na-tion, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,” a quote by America’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, directly recalling how equality was the catalyst for the conception of America. It’s a universal right that should be known by all, but it was barely an option in our country for the African American faction almost a century ago. Chained, chastised and condemned, the African American had to surpass through radical odds to get to a mediocre amount of respect. When World War I first began, many citizens of America saw it as a seemingly distant European conflict that they couldn’t be bothered with.

“Indians are like the weather.” With his opening words Vine Deloria Jr. sets up the basis for the rest of his witty yet substantial manifesto, Custer Died for Your Sins. The book, which describes the struggles and misrepresentation of the American Indian people in 1960s American culture, is written in a style that changes from ironic and humorous satire to serious notions, then back again. Through energetic dialogue that engages the reader in a clever and articulate presentation, Deloria advocates the dismissal of old stereotypes and shows a viewpoint that allows the general public to gain a deeper understanding of what it is to be an American Indian.

The black race has faced many hardships throughout American history. The harsh treatment is apparent through the brutal slavery era, the Civil Rights movement, or even now where sparks of racial separation emerge in urbanized areas of Baltimore, Chicago, and Detroit. Black Americans must do something to defend their right as an equal American. “I Am Not Your Negro” argues that the black race will not thrive unless society stands up against the conventional racism that still appears in modern America. “The Other Wes Moore” argues an inspiring message that proves success is a product of one’s choices instead of one’s environment or expectations.

With the settlement of the American West, I discern that it was not nice to force Native Americans off their land onto reservations. There was a treaty given to the Sioux for the rights to the Black Hills until gold was discovered in the area. The white miners flocked to the territory to get the gold. I don’t think it was right that with the treaty the U.S. government still ordered the Native Americans back to their reservations. With the conflict that occurred between the U.S. Government and the Native American Indian in Battle of the Little Bighorn, also called Custer’s Last Stand, marked a significant victory for the Native Americans and unfavorable for U.S. Army’s defeat. The Native Americans would have to remain in government-controlled reservations.

In the south of central Montana during 1876 on June 25th and 26th, a battle happened known as the Battle of Little Bighorn or also known as “Custer’s Last Stand”. The Native American Tribes that were involved was the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes. They were battling against the 7th regiment of the US Cavalry which was led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. In the year of 1868 Lakota leaders agreed to a treaty known as Fort Laramie Treaty which was suppose to give the Lakota leaders a large reservation for their tribes. But in accepting the treaty they also accepted giving up their nomadic lifestyles and agreed to a more stationary livelihood in the reservation. Some leaders like Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse did not agree

Regardless of race or ethnicity, it is my belief that people in general, will stand up for their rights no matter what they have to do in order to get their rights recognized, they will do it. In this case, African Americans had to fight to mold the country and freedom that they desired. When a group of people become oppressed they will learn to band together to mold their future and the future of their children. I would like to look into this from the point of view that even though we are referring to people of African American descent, other races would have done the same. I hope to touch on topics and keywords that will reflect that in a literary sense.

Every writer has a story to tell. No matter gender, religion, or any other classification they all share equal importance. When readers overlook those things, they find great pieces of literature such as Mary Rowlandson’s A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson and Judith Sargent Murray’s On the Equality of the Sexes. Unbiased readers get to experience the tragic story of Mary’s life in captivity alongside the revelations of Native American stereotypes and Judith’s take on the unfair world of being an educated woman in America. Although they are talking about two different topics they both share the similar conclusion that Americas identity revolves around using stereotypes to defend against anything greater

“What I told you is what your grandparents tried to tell me: that this is your country, that this is your world, that this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” (Coates). This powerful quote exemplifies the mistreatment of blacks in America as something that has been prevalent throughout our nation’s history and is still present in our contemporary world. Our national founding document promised that “All men are created equal”. As a nation we have never achieved the goal of equality largely because of the institution of slavery and its continuing repercussions on American society.

Discrimination has afflicted the American society since its inception in 1776. The inferiority of the African American race – a notion embedded within the mindset of the white populace has difficult to eradicate – despite the efforts of civil rights activists and lawmakers alike. Many individuals are of the opinion that discrimination and racism no longer exist and that these issues have long since been resolved during the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. However such is not the case. Discrimination is a complex issue – one that encompasses many aspects of society. The impact of discrimination of the African American race is addressed from two diverse perspectives in the essays: “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King .

“All men are created equal” (Lee 274) cited by Thomas Jefferson, in the infamous 1776 Declaration of Independence. Throughout this paper, I will present facts that counter this claim excluding African Americans and Jews during the 1930’s and 40’s. This assignment requires me to compare and contrast, Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Elie Wiesel “Night” by selecting three universal themes. My themes are racism, inequality in the judicial system and educational barriers has interfered with everyone being afforded “due process” in their pursuit to attain life, liberty, and prosperity (the basic liberties) protected by the 14th Amendment.

As a book that focuses on early America from both the white and the black perspective, the authors’ purpose is rather quite different than that of others writing the same type of book. They are not writing this so that people in the modern era feel sorry and ashamed of how black people were treated when this country originated but rather will see that there was equality and black people were able to succeed just as much as—sometimes even more than—their white equals. Many books have been written that make everyone feel like we are to blame for modern day racism, but the authors are here to argue against that and show that there was equality in early America.

There have been many cases of social injustice on a number of occasions in the expansive history of the United States. The oppressions of the early movements for women’s suffrage and the relocation and encampment of Native Americans are two of many occurrences. Around the middle of the 20th century, a movement for equality and civil liberties for African Americans among citizens began. In this essay, Notes of a Native son James Baldwin, a black man living in this time, recalls experiences from within the heart of said movement. Baldwin conveys a sense of immediacy throughout his passage by making his writing approachable and estimating an enormous amount of ethos.

Even though freedom has been our nation’s identity for its entire existence, our nation has suffered “dark ages” when the freedoms of African Americans were repressed. During the period of slavery, African Americans were forced to labor under often cruel and gruesome conditions, for their white masters. Solomon Northup, a free man forcefully made a slave, describes his thoughts on slavery in his 12 Years a Slave:

In the text, “The Other American,” by Rev. Martin Luther King Junior, he compares the different conditions that African Americans have sustained to compared to white Americans. Dr. King uses excellent phrases that allow the reader to become emotionally attached to the piece of writing they are reading such as, “Every city in our country has this kind of dualism, this schizophrenia, split at so many parts, and so every city ends you being two cities rather than one.” (King, 1) This text provides Dr. King’s point of how segregated the cities throughout America are for the different people of color. The text goes on with different examples of how African Americans are treated different compared to other American such as, education, jobs and poverty.