“Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”, chapter one of “A People’s History of the United States”, written by professor and historian Howard Zinn, concentrates on a different perspective of major events in American history. It begins with the native Bahamian tribe of Arawaks welcoming the Spanish to their shores with gifts and kindness, only then for the reader to be disturbed by a log from Columbus himself – “They willingly traded everything they owned… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (Zinn pg.1) In the work, Zinn continues explaining the unnecessary evils Columbus and his men committed unto the unsuspecting natives. The argument that seems to be made (how Columbus
Many assume that the Whites gave the Indians many freedom when conquering their land. The standard way of thinking about how Whites treating Indians has it by biased history. It is often said by the Native Americans that they are forced to do actions without their actual opinion on them. The standard way of thinking about religion is allowing people to express themselves in the beliefs and get worship on their own. Chief Red Jacket’s 1805 Speech purpose is to acknowledge that the Indians will not allow the Whites to force conversion in Christianity upon them by using pathos , repetition and imagery.
The movie Smoke Signals is a great representation of Durkheim’s theory of religion and the sacred as being social and serving society. As well as a culture’s sacred beliefs and rituals being a symbolic way of a person aligning themselves with their society. Smoke Signals focuses on two individuals, both of whom are Indians of the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation, on a journey where they struggle to hold on to the beliefs and traditions that have enabled them to cope with their difficult pasts. The first part of this essay will provide evidence from the movie to explain how the first individual, Victor Joseph, holds to the belief that an Indian must act like a warrior to receive any respect. Second, this essay will then provide evidence to explain
The Dawes Act of 1887, some of the time alluded to as the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 or the General Allotment Act, was marked into law on January 8, 1887, by US President Grover Cleveland. This was approved by the president to appropriate and redistribute tribal grounds in the American West. It expressly tried to crush the social union of Indian tribes and to along these lines dispose of the rest of the remnants of Indian culture and society. Just by repudiating their own customs, it was accepted, could the Indians at any point turn out to be genuinely "American." This paper will give an overview of the act and how it impacted the Indigenous community into becoming
Tobias Wolff wrote Civilian in which he has an excerpt, where he describes his point of view on the broadcasted message to the United States government. Wolff uses diction and syntax to create a tone of mockery to convey that Cuba’s demands were delirious. He used words like “blaring” and “outline”. Wolff used “blaring” to describe his voice was loud and a nuisance and “outline” to describe the simplicity of Cuba’s broadcast as being unworthy of a longer description. Tobias also uses Syntax to emphasize the unimportance and futile message. In his final sentence I laughed out loud conveys that, Wolff believes these demands are nonsensical and meaningless by keeping this sentence short and using simple punctuation. These connotations develop
During one of his powerful speeches, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said “Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race.” Scholars talk of what happened to the Indians as a great tragedy, but never anything further. We deny what happened to the Indians, particularly the Cherokees. During the 1830’s, the United States government set out to remove all Cherokee individuals from their homes and relocate them west. Relocation meant ending up on a land foreign to them, and presented with environmental conditions that posed difficulties for human living. This journey, known as the Trail of Tears, left countless of Indians physically and spiritually dead. The Cherokee did in fact suffer a genocide. With the help of a reputable source explaining the term genocide, along with the explanation of documents written during the time, people discover the undeniable truth that a genocide happened during the Cherokee Removal.
In “Then I Must Worship the Spirit in My Own Way”, preached by Red Jacket, and a “Lecture Delivered at Franklin Hall” by Maria Stewart are speeches that persuades the audience through rhetorical questions and connects with the audience in order to establish the speaker’s authority.
King Philip’s war had a dramatic effect on both Puritan and Native American society. It is evident that the war was indeed a turning point for Anglo-Indian relations and caused dissidence to form between the two cultures. It also effected the relations between the Massachusetts colony and the English government in England. The war demonstrated the weathering relations between the Wampanoag tribe and the New England colonies, the shifting Puritan self-image, and the relations between New England and London.
How do you evaluate the impact of the Dawes Act on Native Americans in the West?
The Oconaluftee Indian Village is a full-size replica of an eighteenth century Cherokee community located in Cherokee, North Carolina. The village brochure serves as an example of the intersection between Native American religions and American tourism in modernity. Tourism funds the attraction, which is owned and operated by the Cherokee Historical Association, and promotes an “authentic” experience that takes visitors back in time with “real Indians” as their subjects. By framing the natives as noble savages, the brochure reveals a history of Native American self-commodification. The Oconaluftee Indian Village both challenges and perpetuates historical trends in the relationship between religion and tourism by creating and defining authenticity
Injustice is a prevailing theme in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Tubman, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, Spider Woman’s Web by Susan Hazen-Hammond and Great Speeches by Native Americans by Bob Blaisdell; the diligence of several characters in these stories and narratives has made it possible for them to preserve and overcome injustices. The United States has not always been a land of the free; white settlers destroyed the meaning of freedom when they stole lands from the indigenous people. Freedom was also destroyed when black people in America were not treated as full human beings. Despite of the many obstacles the oppressed faced, their thirst for freedom and determination led them to
This story of the Seminoles’ struggles for identity and sovereignty is a microcosm of the true horrors inflicted on Indian nations by the federal government. The Seminoles remarkably defied federal, state, and local government pressures of removal in the early nineteenth century. They also disputed Creek insistence on tribal consolidation, and other Indian nation claims to their property. Among the federal tactics were the illegal removals, and treaties that meant little to the federal government when land, as part of Manifest Destiny, and wealth the federal government sought entered the equation. The Seminoles also endured the paternalism, coercion tactics, and pressures from Bureau of Indian Affairs agents who made promises to them that were frequently broken. At the Territory and local level, legislation would pass to limit their mobility and interaction with Whites. This was a story of a people’s rebellion and quest for sovereignty, one that came at the expense of tribal disagreements, internally and externally, and separate battles with the Creek Indians and the federal government. What legitimately created an Indian nation? Certainly, the Seminole’s
Native Americans have been thrown under the buss many a times by the United States. A lot of that comes from the way we our knowledge of them was framed to fit our needs rather than theirs. Cynthia-Lou Coleman’s piece “A War of Words” talks about how news stories frame their information to help or hurt one side or the other. The “Conflict Frames” section, is the best put together, and has strong evidence and examples to support the reasoning. The “Progress Frames” section was very one sided, and didn’t offer much information about the Native American side to the story. Another really strong part of her article would be her conclusion. The way she set it up, and the information she used made her argument very strong.
In the nineteenth century, America was at one of its peaks of racial debate, with people starting to question whether it was right for the African Americans to stay enslaved, or if it was time to start the process of freeing the slaves and allowing them to live a better life. However, most people did not even question how the Native Americans were being treated or forced to change almost every aspect of their lives to “please,” as if they could ever be, the white people. William Apess’ The Experience of Five Christian Indians is an example of some of the harsh ways that Indians were treated before and even after they were “forcibly” converted to Christianity.
In this book, This war is for a whole life: The culture of Resistance Among Southern California Indians 1850-1966, Hanks mainly touches on some of the issues that faced some of the native Americans considered as heroes in their battles during the turbulent times of war. Their efforts were mainly initiated by their safeguard their homelands in the southern California region, the natural resources in the region and above all respect. Hanks begins by bringing to the readers’ attention that most of the southern California Indians history normally points dwells on the transgressions that they faced ranging from being compelled to surrender to the religion, and technology of other dominant cultures such as the Mexicans and the Americans. In this regard Hanks develops his work based on George Philips presumptions that Indians of Southern California continue to find themselves in a war fighting not only for their civil rights, but also for their land, sovereignty, as well as their cultural integrity.