Taking a Look at Native Americans

The Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida, they inherited all of these lands from their ancestors who cultivated for generations. According to Elias Boudinot the natives considered themselves to be just as equal as the Whites, he states, “What is an Indian? Is he not formed of the same materials with yourself?” (Boudinot, 1826) The natives saw themselves to be no different from the Whites, in fact they cared for one another as a whole, they lived in kinships, where there was never an Indian left alone without a family. They followed a society based off of the concept of interdependence, they had in their mind that everything is dependent of something. The Indians were very advanced, and were able to prosper in their society, although the Whites believed otherwise, and believed that the natives were uncivilized.

THESIS STATEMENT: The Native Americans were historically doomed because of the Europeans inability to accept elements of Native American culture that they felt were savage, the natives inability to acknowledge the Europeans threat to their lifestyle and land, and the far superior European army used to defeat Indian tribes.

Native Americans were the people of the land before English settlers claimed the United States as it is today. Throughout time they have been mistreated by white people and forced to be Americanized. Their culture has almost died with their people, and to this day their rights can be challenged as unjustified. Before the 1960’s, Native Americans were pretty much ignored by other groups of ethnicity, especially the whites. However, postwar of Vietnam sparked the American youth to protest politics, and Native Americans stood up for their civil rights as American people.

Native Americans have played an important role in the United States for over thousands of years. The Native Americans once lived on their land with little disturbance, having made their own meals and lived in a traditional culture up until Columbus had discovered their land. From their first arrival into the Native land, the Spanish mistreated and disrespected the Indians by trying to enforce their way of life and their beliefs upon them.

Roughly 16,000- 40,000 years ago a group of nomadic people known as the Paleo-Indians who are the ancestors of the Native Americans followed the herds of animals from Siberia to Alaska across a land bridge called Beringia that connected Asia to North America (Mintz & McNeil, 2013). The land bridge that was used has been covered by water due to the rise of the Bering and Chukchi Seas (United States National Parks Services [NPS], 2014). The timeline for this journey has been in question because nothing was recorded so archeologists have an approximate time this took place. By the year 8,000 B.C.E these nomadic people spread and settled into different tribes throughout North and South America

Americans who lived in the western frontier feared and resented native Americans. Americans believed that Native Americans were uncivilized, uneducated and lesser people. The Indians occupied land that the whites wanted and that was a problem for the whites. Some Americans thought a good way to rectify this problem was to change and civilize the native Americans. They wanted to convert Indians to Christianity, teach them to read and write English and adopt white American practices. In the southeastern portion of the united states, five Indian tribes embraced these changes. Even though these tribes embraced these changes and tried to conform to the white’s ways, the Americans still wanted their land. At this point the whites didn’t particularly care that they were now somewhat civilized, they just wanted the land so they could make themselves rich off of it. The whites pillaged and burned the homes of the Native Americans, stole livestock and lived on land that they didn’t own to try and force the Native Americans to leave.

From a European stand point, altering the lives of the Native Americans was a perfectly justifiable action. They were uncivilized, and thus must be welcoming of their attempts to convert them to a more advanced manner of living. At the same time, however, they must have notions of owning land, of claiming sections of the Earth as their own, of trade and association of certain objects with high value. This, however, was a paradoxical viewpoint. The main problem that resulted from the intermixing of European and Native American populations was a misunderstanding of what each culture maintained as important within their lives. To the natives, mourning wars, gods who were part of the Earth itself, sacrifices, and any other number of various traditions were natural to who they were. The Europeans, in contrast, valued war as a means of gaining territory, not people; they often were monotheistic, with odd customs all their own, such as self-torture or confession. The differences between the two cultures could have been overcome, perhaps, if there had been some attempt to understand one another’s values. However, as evidenced, Europeans did not attempt to understand without an ultimate aspiration to change.

They did not provide education comparable with the whites, and without this important similar education the Native Americans had deemed them as unintelligent and shortsighted. The Indians initially believed that they borrowed the land from their God, which may of overall produced the misguided understanding that the whites, in some way, absolutely without skepticism, provided a relationship between the western Indians God and themselves. The Native Americans gullible and naive characteristics them came into play due to the whites wistfully manipulating and confusing their Indians religious beliefs and emotions.

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.

Native American. Indian. These are the names given to the Indigenous peoples of Native North America so that they may be classified together as one group, a single entity, to define thousands of years of multifaceted cultures, many of which have unfortunately been lost. Prior to European contact, many of these Native groups encompassing present day Canada to Mexico lived their lives ruled by political systems, a complex use of resources available, social stratification, and the creation of a vast array of tools and technology to further expand their cultures and populations. Many of these indigenous peoples with old world belief systems were named by Europeans and forced to acculturate themselves with distinct civilized views. But prior to Columbus’s arrival, these independent groups had created lush and intricate societies that were highly successful, practical, and functional.

Native Americans, the true founders of America, are best known for having a tight grip on tradition throughout the years. Tradition is a way that Native Americans have been able to coexist for so long, and is also a way that natives have found stability from tribe to tribe. As Native Americans graciously welcomed colonists into the new world years ago, they did not receive equal respect in return. The colonists invading America gave natives a harsh ultimatum, to either leave America, or conform to the new society that would soon destroy the teepees and farmlands the natives considered home. The oppression from the colonists, gave natives the incentive that being any race other than white was not something to be proud of. Through the use of narrative writing done by Native Americans, readers are given an opportunity to see history through the lens of the oppressed. This further gives an opportunity for readers understand the very situation that many people who may even look like them once had to deal with. This allows us to not only draw specific conclusions about this period of oppression, but it displays how easy it can be for people to fall into very specific standards, and conform to societies that do not protect their values, and lives.

The American Indian lived a life being one with nature. In their way, they understood the ecological demands of the land and knew that if they took care of the land the land would take care of them. They possessed an untouched wisdom living in harmony with the environment. They hunted the land for buffalo, which provided food and clothing for the ages to come. In time they would almost become non existent at the hands of the “white”

Native Americans had endured a lot of problems especially with their land situations. For years, Americans chased them out of their civilization because more land to the Americans meant more power. The native Americans have suffered from cancer,homelessness,drug abuse and they're suicide rate rising.The native have been through a lot because the Americans took their land. This left native Americans out of order and lost. The damage that has been done was unjust and left the Native Americans with years of continual struggle.

            The Native Americans were forced to change their religion, culture, and ways of living to live as a white man. They had no say they either had to accept and if they did not there would be repercussions. According to Dr. Gayle, he states

ative American people have a strong history containing stories of perseverance, bravery, and tragedy. Understanding the history of Ojibwe and Dakota people in minnesota is crucial before encoding it into our thought processes. By this is mean that it is important to know the relationship between the United States and Native people, the wars that took place, and the aftermath of significant events.This knowledge helps us understand Native American perspectives. Practicing coming to know, the art of actively seeking knowledge by living through it, helps us grasp the importance of these perspectives, spread this wisdom, and encourage that the process is perpetuated.