Many years ago, Native Americans roamed North America. That was until the arrival of the whites lead by Columbus in 1492. The white Americans then began to take as much land as possible, contradict with the native’s customs and tried to take complete control of their lives.
Native Americans didn’t believe in owning land- they believed that all of the land was everyone’s to share. So when the white Americans find out none of the land is owned, they take control of the land, and slowly push the Natives out as they dominate the country.
Now, out of the 318.9 million population of the U.S, only 1.7% of that is made up of Native Americans. In the 2003 census, there was recorded to be 562 different tribes, yet barely anyone knows much about
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The two different tribes I’m going to compare are the Plains Indians and the North west Coast.
Most people assume that since they are considered the same race, that all tribes have the same customs, which is partially wrong. However, somethings are similar if not the same in different tribes.
One of these customs is about gender roles.
In both tribes, women were expected to all of the cooking for the family, ‘cleaning’ quilling, beading and more.
For the women in the Plains, they were set with the responsibilities of setting up the tipis every time they moved areas, and preparing the Buffalo- tanning the hide etc. In the north West coast tribes, the women were expected to make woven baskets and prepare the food. The women were married off between the general age of 12-15 and had approximately 4 children.
Men, on the other hand, are trained from a young age basic fighting skills. the boys living in the plains would learn horsemanship and fighting, so when he was old enough, he would join his male elders on a Buffalo hunt or battle. A male traditionally went to find the greater spirit when he was entering manhood (usually age 17) and on return, it would be determined how ‘ready’ it was. If he was fully ready, he would join the rest of the tribe on their next battle. If he was not ready, he would join the next buffalo hunt. On the north west coast, the men were responsible for hunting, constructing the housing and carving
6.The women wove, cooked, cleaned. and cared for the children.The men cleared the land, fenced, planted, and cropped it. The children did all these tasks and also had to pick up as much school as possible along the way.
This article from “The Real Truth about the Female” by Barbara Ehrenreich targets many beliefs that women were underestimated. The main theory suggested in this document is that, women had to follow the traditional duties. Early theories are being questioned as a result to women proving many things over the years that were often overlooked. Ehrenreich states in his article, “it does strongly suggest that in the Stone Age family, Dad-the-hunter was not the only provider.” There is a great amount of evidence that suggest the theory that women worked as hard as men. Adrienne Zihlman and Nancy Tanner stated “among surviving “hunting” peoples, most of the community’s calories—up to 70%—come from plant food patiently gathered by women.” This fact
Men were also taught at a young age to hunt and become warriors for the tribe. They often traveled
When the british first came to america, they realised they were not the only ones there. Native americans have been here from the beginning. Once the british started colonising, Native Americans realised that they had to defend their land. Years later, during the building of the transcontinental railroad, Native Americans were again forced to defend their land. During the building of the railroad, the government made a treaty to Native Americans saying that railroad surveyor would not go onto Native AMerican land. After this treaty was put into place, one company in charge of building the railroad sent a surveyor to plan the railroad. This person went throught the unceded Native American land (Doc 2) to find a path to
Before Europeans ever ventured to North America, the land had been populated by Native American nations that had their own distinct cultures and social structures. Native Americans had trade routes and established complex relationships between tribes. They were not merely heathens waiting to be civilized by the Europeans. Yet, Europeans would use those justifications to lay claim on their land.
Women gathered food in groups; they had their own societies for ceremonial activity. They raised their children together until the children were about six or seven, at which point boys generally were sent to spend time with male relatives to be taught their roles in life. Girls remained with their mothers, learning the roles that they would eventually endeavor (Finch 44).
At the same time there is a certain amount of equality between the men and women. Women can perform much of the same tasks that the opposite sex does without much, if any, chastisement or ridicule. Females have about just as much say when it comes to the inner workings of the society like marriages, child rearing, child birth, and ownership of goods and land. Most females are the initiators of divorce as explained in the book. Sexual equality is probably the most apparent amongst the tribesmen and women. Women are at times are forthcoming in their wants and needs when it comes to their sexual appetites and advances.
Throughout history, Native Americans faced atrocity after atrocity at the hands of white settlers and losing their land and most of their people was only one of them. During the nineteenth century, the United States’ population boomed, causing people to start to move west in search of riches and vast lands in the “wild west.” However, as white settlers moved west, they started to encounter more and more Native American lands. The white settlers wanted to be able to settle on their lands, claiming that they were “misusing” the land and claiming that the Native Americans were “uncivilized.” The white settlers pled their case to the United States government to forcibly remove the Native Americans and get the rights to their lands. Andrew Jackson,
They had a great understanding and equal roles. The men were the chiefs, they made all the political decisions for the tribe, and they were in charge of hunting, war and peacekeeping. The women made social decisions for the clans, they were the landowners and they were in charge of farming, property, and family. Both genders took part in storytelling, artwork , music, and traditional medicine. In their villages, they lived in houses made of rivercane and plaster, with thatched roofs , located near the river. The men wore breechcloths and leggings and the women wore wraparound skirts and poncho-style blouses made out of woven fiber or deerskin. They were moccasin on their feet. There were always polite, and they listen to one another speak. It has been said that “they never bow to any other creature”. Unlike the European settlers, Cherokee women had just as much say in their culture than the European women’s.
These women still had great burdens. They still have gender division or labor, much like the English. The Indian men hunted and protected. They constructed tools such as bows, arrows, canoes, and fishing nets to assist in their hunt. Women had the responsibilities of the maintaining the household, crops, and
This included the use of dry farming and irrigation. It was the male’s job to deal with warfare and hunting and the females job to nurture the children, plant and gather crops and to prepare the food. Northern
Women ran the home. Besides cooking and cleaning, a woman built her family's house and dragged the heavy posts with her whenever the tribe moved. Houses belonged to the women in the Cheyenne tribe. Both genders took part in storytelling, artwork and music, and traditional medicine. Many Cheyenne children like to go hunting and fishing with their fathers.
The women were usually in control of doing dishes looking after the house and looking after farm
Within the tribe, women do have a few roles that make them just as important. “His mother and sisters worked hard enough, but they grew women’s crops, like coco-yams, beans and cassava. Yam, the king of crops, was a man’s crop.” (28).
Although similarities of hunting, the interactions of the people in the tribes is to be considered a slight difference with fairly similarities.