In conclusion, even though the Crow Indian tribe did not have a set constitution, Two Legging’s memoir provides repeating themes that allow historians to approximate important aspects of Crow society. Throughout Two Leggings’ memoir, we can infer that the five key aspects of Crow society involved; warrior culture, religion, medicine bundles, respecting elders and medicine men, and lastly hierarchy within the tribe. It is important to note, that while most of these aspects overlap, they each play a crucial role in the formation of the Crow Indian culture, and way of life. Men like Two Leggings dreamed of becoming a warrior and eventually a chief. They wanted to be able to take care of the tribe and be rewarded for it through dancing and singing. When people follow the given hierarchy, they were more successful in their endeavors because they had gained the respect of the elders. In Two Legging’s case, he never achieved chief status; the highest position he went was pipe holder. Even so, Two Leggings’ determination and commitment to the tribe is evident throughout his memoir. When he followed the directions of the elders, then his raids were successful and the entire tribe celebrated with feasts and dancing.
Theda Perdue`s Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835, is a book that greatly depicts what life had been like for many Native Americans as they were under European Conquering. This book was published in 1998, Perdue was influenced by a Cherokee Stomp Dance in northeastern Oklahoma. She had admired the Cherokee society construction of gender which she used as the subject of this book. Though the title Cherokee Women infers that the book focuses on the lives of only Cherokee women, Perdue actually shines light upon the way women 's roles affected the Native cultures and Cherokee-American relations. In the book, there is a focus on the way that gender roles affected the way different tribes were run in the 1700 and 1800`s.
The book “The Road on Which We Came, by Steven J. Crum is a chronological report of the Shoshone peoples, and their history during the times from the Frontier to present-day. The main objective of Crum’s writings is the disposition of the Western Shoshone people. Unlike the majority of other Tribes, forgotten in history books as they assimilated into white society, the Western Shoshone have preserved their existence by cautiously dealing with settlers, defending their territory, and maintaining a large portion of their lands. From the initial mid-nineteenth century white contact, Crum describes the disruption of a way of life for the Newe, to the accepted need to adapt in the large modern society around them. The depiction of the Newe people as resilient and resourceful in the fight to preserve their culture and tradition, all while adapting to the forcefully changing environment around them (Crum, pp.
As Englishmen in the 18th century perceived ethnicity and gender not as biological features but as individual’s speech, behavior, and clothes, they were disturbed when they saw their dead countrymen’s apparel were stripped and worn by the Indians (59). In contrast, Indians regarded stripping as a way to mock the English and to facilitate the integration of captives (90). Little contends that Englishmen regarded clothing as a symbol of their superiority in race and manhood. When they saw the Indians removing clothes from the dead and the captured, they feared that nakedness and Indians’ dressing of English garment undermined their racial, class and gender superiority that they employed to stimulate their battles against Native Americans (90). The English captives forced to “cross-dressing” Indian garments were similarly upset
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Creek Indians, also known as the Muscogee, were one of the most powerful and influential indigenous nations in what is now considered the southeastern United States. Creek Country, a book written by Robbie Ethridge, describes the different traditions, economics, and interactions with different countries that the Creek Indians participated in. The main aspects that will be discussed throughout this essay is the involvement of the Creek Indians with their relationship to the land, their economic activities, and how they displayed their gender roles. All of these different things that the Creek Indians exhibited in their lifestyles can be viewed to see how they thrived and also failed throughout
("Crow or Absaroka Tribe”) ("Crow Nation - New World Encyclopedia”) ("Historical Timeline Library @ Little Big Horn College”) The Mountain Crow
The narrative offers an account which can be used to describe the particularly puritan society based on the ideals of Christianity and the European culture. It offers a female perspective of the Native Americans who showed no respect to the other religious groups. The narrator makes serious observation about her captors noting the cultural differences as well as expectations from one another in the society. However, prejudice is evident throughout the text which makes the narratives unreliable in their details besides being written after the event had already happened which means that the narrator had was free to alter the events to create an account that favored her. Nonetheless, the narrative remains factually and historically useful in providing the insights into the tactics used by the Native Americans
She argues that the true role of Native American women in their tribes had been misinterpreted by European colonists who failed to understand that they were important figures, and not just drudges or prostitutes. She does so by giving clear examples of how many tribal cultures were matriarchal highlighting women’s roles as healers, leaders, warriors
The article, The Pequot War, from the Mashantucket (Western) Pequot Tribal Nation is closer to Howard Zinn’s than Daniel Flynn’s interpretation of the Pequot War, because it is similarly one-sided, has a similar purpose, and neglects to discuss the role of other Native American Tribes in the conflict. However, while the article makes no attempt to acknowledge the Pequot’s involvement in the conflict, Zinn makes a feeble attempt to do so. The Pequot War and Howard Zinn’s Biased History both criticize another person or entity, yet the latter presents both sides of the story. Before we begin, the Pequot War, spanning from 1634 to 1638, is an armed conflict between the native Pequot tribe and an alliance of Puritans and a myriad of Native American Tribes (Zinn) (Flynn) (The Pequot War).
The Cherokee, a small tribe of Indians, has been forced to move from their homeland after John Ridge met secretly US official to sign a removal treaty for the selling of Cherokee’s land. Ridge and almost 2000 Cherokee migrated to Oklahoma while the vast majority of the population ignored the illegal treaty and remained on their lands. When the deadline of removal past, the general Winfield Scoot arrived in Georgia with seven thousand soldiers with the orders to remove the Cherokee. And this action was the decline of the Cherokee. After reading the book about writing by John Ehle about the Cherokee nation, we can try to analyze the impact of this removal in the Cherokee’s live.
Although Native Americans are characterized as both civilized and uncivilized in module one readings, their lifestyles and culture are observed to be civilized more often than not. The separate and distinct duties of men and women (Sigard, 1632) reveal a society that has defined roles and expectations based on gender. There are customs related to courtship (Le Clercq, 1691) that are similar to European cultures. Marriage was a recognized union amongst Native Americans, although not necessarily viewed as a serious, lifelong commitment like the Europeans (Heckewelder, 1819). Related to gender roles in Native American culture, Sigard writes of the Huron people that “Just as the men have their special occupation and understand wherein a man’s duty consists, so also the women and girls keep their place and perform quietly their little tasks and functions of service”.
The Life of Pretty Shield and Plenty Coups The lives of the Crow Indians were long a mysterious and little known area of information. When Pretty Shield was written in 1932 it gave greatly needed insight into the life of Native American women which had not been previously researched. However, Pretty Shield though it is a valuable source of information is not complete without its counterpart, a novel known as Plenty Coups Chief of the Crows which was written several years before.
Throughout history, there have been many literary studies that focused on the culture and traditions of Native Americans. Native writers have worked painstakingly on tribal histories, and their works have made us realize that we have not learned the full story of the Native American tribes. Deborah Miranda has written a collective tribal memoir, “Bad Indians”, drawing on ancestral memory that revealed aspects of an indigenous worldview and contributed to update our understanding of the mission system, settler colonialism and histories of American Indians about how they underwent cruel violence and exploitation. Her memoir successfully addressed past grievances of colonialism and also recognized and honored indigenous knowledge and identity.
As the son of a Comanche chief and a white captive by the name of Cynthia Ann Parker, Quanah Parker rose from the status of a Comanche warrior to their tribal leader. Although not much is known about Parker’s personal life and early years, he plays a vital role in William T. Hagan’s book “Quanah Parker, Comanche Chief”. In this book, Hagan identifies the Comanche Chief through his upbringing to his death, describing his transactions with local Indian agents, presidents, high officials in Washington and the cattlemen of the western United States territory. The author presents the Indian chief as a “cultural broker” between the cultures of the white southerners and his tribal members, presenting a blend of beliefs that are heralded as progressive and traditional as he maintained the control and organization of his tribe. During a period of transition for the Comanche people,
In all the different tribes, none of the women are seen as less than the men, however in European culture at the time, the women were seen as weak and lesser beings. Gunn Allen tackles this issue using ethos logos and pathos by appealing to the readers through logic, emotion and her personal experiences. With Ethos Gunn Allen makes herself a credible source by mentioning that she is a “half breed American Indian woman. ”(83) making her story worth paying attention to rather than if it were a story by an outsider who truly has nothing to do with the American Indian women.
It provides a unique insight into Lakota life and culture, and perhaps something further. To the civil war soldiers, the Lakota were wild and dangerous, just as a wolf would be. The soldiers shot at Two Socks just as readily as they would shoot at an Indian. John Dunbar wanted to get to know the people, to understand them, and eventually to become a part of them - in other words, he wanted to dance with them, and so he did. He pushed past the language barrier, at the same time pushing back their cultural differences to come together on equal ground.