Susan Cooper and Native Activism

Although Columbus Day is used as the celebration between two sides of the world merging and creating an entire empire, it is also widely looked down upon for the way the merge was completed. “Upon arriving in the Bahamas, the explorer and his men forced the native peoples they found there into slavery.” This not only started the transatlantic slave trade, but also started a genocide that lead to the death of millions. Europeans also brought with them new diseases that they had no idea they were carrying, these diseases are but are not limited to smallpox and influenza. The natives feel the need for a new holiday knows as Indigenous Peoples Day. For the Native Americans, “‘Indigenous Peoples Day’ reimagines Columbus Day and changes a celebration of colonialism into an opportunity to reveal

In modern day society, we often overlook key points in history. For example, Columbus Day, why do we celebrate it? Well, from one’s point of view, we celebrate this holiday for several reasons, one of these reasons are because it recalls Christopher Columbus' entry to the Americas on October 12, 1492. This occasion is questionable on the grounds that the European settlement in the Americas prompted the downfall of the history and culture, of the indigenous people groups. What are some of the pros and cons from naming Columbus Day to Indigenous Day? That is what you will learn in this essay.

The repatriation process set up by NAGPRRA requires federal agencies and museums to identify items in their possession that are subject to the law and make inventories and summaries of them, they then must consult with lineal descendants and Indian tribes regarding the identification and cultural affiliation of the items, finally the agencies and museums must send notices to the appropriate group describing the lineal descendancy or culture affiliation and stating that the item may be repatriated. The law provides federal grants to assist with the process of documentation and repatriation of the items. NAGPRA also sets up a review committee to monitor and resolve disputes consisting of three Native American nominees, three nominees from scientific organizations or museums, and one mutually approved nomination. In addition, there are steps provided to follow for unclaimed items, unidentifiable items, intentional and inadvertent discoveries on both federal and tribal land. Penalties for noncompliance and illegal trafficking are also set up through the law. NAGPRA does not prohibit all scientific study or mandate the repatriation of the human remains and other cultural items subject to its coverage. What the law does do is provide

1). The Admiral and the crew offered tokens of small value, such as strings of beads (later in time, the same price as for the whole of Manhattan Island) – and received “parrots, balls of cotton thread, javelins, and many more such things” in return (Id.). Columbus remarked on the beauty and youth of the natives, noting they were unabashedly naked, “not with prominent bellies,” and seemingly none over the age of thirty (Id.). Yet, all of Columbus’ written remarks and observations were superficial. Not once did Columbus attempt to discern the true culture, society, indigenous faith(s), and/or rights of these native people to maintain their lives and ownership of the lands they occupied. They greeted Columbus in peace. Columbus came to

The Native Americans have been in North America since about 13,000 B.C.E. and even left traces of art in the state of Ohio. However, those traces have been messed with over the years and an act had to be put in place to protect their burial mounds in particular. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was put in place in 1990 to stop people from removing artifacts out of their graves without meeting certain requirements and have some of them be returned as well. They do not want any more disturbances to the burial ground as it is disrespectful to the tribes and it makes it harder on archeologists to identify the item, where it came from, and how old

This article talks about the taking down the horrible history of Columbus and the founding fathers of the United States. The petrifying and terrible event of slavery occurred under the control of Washington, Jefferson and Columbus enraged Steve Bannon. However, the writer warned us not to take his bait. The left wings are saying Columbus was a bad example and influence towards the people since he brought “a centuries-old wave of terrorism, murder, genocide, rape, slavery, ecological degradation, and capitalist exploitation of labor in the Americas”. What they wanted is the tearing down of the statues of Washington, Jefferson and Columbus. The writer believes that we need to accept the fact that the

The pictures of the Tupinambas and Secota are two of many paintings done by Europeans throughout the time of colonization of the Americas. These paintings, in their whole, were extremely important for the way in which other Europeans would come to see and understand Native American culture. Visual evidence is simply always stronger than any words written on paper, and much more easily circulated. Because of this, the paintings had an incredible effect on European’s desire to deal with native peoples, the way in which they approached them, and ultimately whether or not they believed they could become civilized (or if they already were). These paintings ranged from the two previously mentioned, to paintings of the Inuit at Bloody Creek, of their burial practices, paintings of the Jesuits being tortured, and the image of Pocahontas done after her arrival in England. Each conveys a different view on the Natives, ultimately creating an extremely complex and oftentimes conflicting representation.

Columbus is a controversial figure. Instead of being seen as a hero for discovering the Americas, he is seen as a villain who invaded brought disease to the peaceful natives. The natives were hurt and nearly wiped out by the invasion and spread of a disease that the Europeans brought. Other people disagreed, saying that it was nonsense that Columbus discovered America. The land was already inhabited by Indians, who come from Asian descent. In the end, many historians see the “age of exploration” as more of a catastrophic invasion.

On the second Monday in October we celebrate Christopher Columbus, for “discovering” the Americas. However, it was actually the Vikings were the first to discover America 500 years prior to Columbus. Since preschool all through middle school, children are taught that he was a great Spanish explorer who sailed to the Americas on the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria. In our textbooks we are taught that he helped prove that world was not flat, but many people had already began to realize that it was not flat because they did not fall of the side of the earth when they went sailing. Children are taught that he is a hero for the discovery, and that we ought to celebrate him. However, I argue that we should not celebrate him, but instead recognize Native Americans on that day. Through Christopher Columbus’s tyranny and greed, Native Americans were slaughtered, lost their homes, and slavery began to make its presence through out the Americas.

In every school in the United States, teachers would teach students about Columbus and his journey to the Americas and how his discovery would eventually lead to the beginning of the colonization of the Americas. Every student knows who Columbus is: an explorer from Spain who set sailed to the Americas in 1492 with his ship: The Nina, The Pinta, and the Santa Maria. However, there is more than meets the eye. Christopher Columbus’s achievements have created a “mindset” in which many people will follow during colonization: to conquer and enslave the people and the land for golds and richest. We as Americans celebrate Columbus Day to remember the achievements that Columbus has done. However, we shouldn’t celebrate Columbus Day because of

Entering the field museums Ancient Americas is quite an experience. Before even fully entering the exhibit that goes back years into the past, the first thing that is heard is the voices in the native tongues of the indigenous peoples. The whole exhibit was made in a respectful and non-ethnocentric manner. At the beginning of the entrance to the Ancient Americas museum in a paragraph, it states, “This exhibition

James Fenimore Cooper and Racism Racism. It runs rampant in today’s society, let alone early American literature. In most early American literature, the prospect of interracial relationships and people from races other than Caucasian were looked at through fear-tinted lenses and seen as undesirable and distasteful. In James Fenimore Cooper's novel, The Last of the Mohicans, Cooper heavily suggests that while overcoming racial barriers and having interracial relationships can have advantages, there are problems that he believes can arise due to the mingling of races. Examining his literature can give much insight into his mind and how he feels about people of color.

With the act’s aims for preservation, it barred access to the native culture that claimed heritage to these sites and artifacts. Lee exemplifies this idea of claiming ownership and denying access to a cultural group through the act’s legislation, which presented the president to grant the permission of archeological digs on these sites (Lee, 31-32). Through the guise of preservation, cultural resource management can claim ownership to cultural antiquities ultimately allowing a govern authority to create its interpretation of a cultural heritage. Such an interpretation is seen in the establishment of the early national monuments, which advocated the fall of the Native Americans and the victory that Western Culture had over them (Harmon, McManamon, and Pitcaithley, 269). These statements, as related to the theme, show the power that a government can have in passing legislatures to obtain antiquities and sites to preserve its nation’s culture, while sidestepping the people that claim their heritage to these antiquities, to form its interpretation of

Once you take away a historical artifact from its original place, it is no longer historical. Though Dr. Hawass states that a nation keeps legal documentation to keep the artifact valuable and keep its culture (A Case In Antiquities for ‘Finders Keepers’), the local people of where that artifact originated should get to view the artifact before anyone else. Those cultural artifacts are a huge part of their identity and

Repatriation legislation has taken the initial steps toward the protection of American Indian ancestral remains and cultural materials. Unfortunately, several loopholes still exist in the laws that do not allow for full protection of all remains and artifacts. One such fault occurs when artifacts are found on private land. Federal intervention on private land can be seen as a direct violation of the “takings clause” of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution if the land owner is denied access to or free use of property without compensation. Since the majority of land in the United States is held in private ownership, this limits the law’s protection to the majority of situations where human remains and objects are encountered (Watkins 2014).