Changing Perspectives On American Indians Essay

In American Indian Stories, University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London edition, the author, Zitkala-Sa, tries to tell stories that depicted life growing up on a reservation. Her stories showed how Native Americans reacted to the white man’s ways of running the land and changing the life of Indians. “Zitkala-Sa was one of the early Indian writers to record tribal legends and tales from oral tradition” (back cover) is a great way to show that the author’s stories were based upon actual events in her life as a Dakota Sioux Indian. This essay will describe and analyze Native American life as described by Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories, it will relate to Native Americans and their interactions with American societies, it will

Native Americans, or Indians, as they were mistakenly called, have been the “pathetic footnotes to the main course of American history” (Axtell 981). But James Axtell, the author of Colonial America without the Indians: Counterfactual Reflections, would beg to differ. He says that instead, Indians played a key role in making America great. James Murray gives another term to describe America’s greatness: America’s “exceptionalism.” Throughout his article Axtell makes many points as to why Indians played a vital role in “American Exceptionalism”. He even says that America wouldn’t have been colonized nearly as soon if the Indians were gone, because Columbus would know he was not in the Indies and move on. So because they simply existed in the first place, Axtell says they were significant in the history of our country. Furthermore, he says Indians specifically played a vital role in the exceptionality of America’s early economy, culture, and historical events and places.

One of the most detailed descriptions about the American society`s progression towards civilization and expansion was the perspective of the Native Americans. As the original inhabitants of the land, the Native Americans perceived the idea of manifest destiny in a negative way because “Indians viewed the railroad differently. They watched the iron horse transport white hunters to the plains, transforming the prairies onto buffalo killing fields. They found carcasses littering and rotting along the railroad tracks, a trail of death for the buffalo- the main source of life for the Indians” (Takaki 95). Although this author does a great job describing the Native Americans oppression in his third chapter, John Gast`s painting American Progress, used visual representation to meet the text. In this painting, America is symbolized as the majestic women in white hurling the train towards the west that symbolized the industrial revolution. Gast`s artwork has put me in the shoes of the Native Americans as I saw their world being destroyed or altered by western expansion. This artwork made me realize the injustice Native Americans have endured, and those who still endure the repercussions of our “progression” today. As a student of civics, this painting influenced me to commemorate the Native Americans horrific past that helped America to progress. In sum, while the

The Apaches, like most Native Americans, have no written history other than that written by white men. But the story of the Apaches did not begin in the American Southwest but in the northwestern corner of North America, the western Subarctic region of Alaska and Canada. The Apache Indians belong to the southern branch of the Athabascan group, whose languages constitute a large family, with speakers in Alaska, western Canada, and American Southwest. The fact that the Apaches originated in the western mountainous Subarctic region makes their nomadic behavior after the arrival in the American Southwest more comprehensible; the tribes of the Southwest were highly mobile and moved from place to place depending on availability of food. They

During the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Europeans started to come over to the new world, they discovered a society of Indians that was strikingly different to their own. To understand how different, one must first compare and contrast some of the very important differences between them, such as how the Europeans considered the Indians to be extremely primitive and basic, while, considering themselves civilized. The Europeans considered that they were model societies, and they thought that the Indians society and culture should be changed to be very similar to their own.

After the wiping out of Native tribes, created a cheap labor import system to provide workers for mines, farms, mills

The first interaction that took place in the New World, occurred between a group of European settlers and Native Indians, who inhabited the borders of the United States. Indian tribes, who resided in the North, lacked the skills and literacy Europeans had obtained, such as craftsman’s ship of tools, weapons, and wheeled vehicles. However, their simplistic lives allowed them to master skills, which would become important and useful to new settlements, such as farming, hunting, developing structures, and engage in far-reaching networks of trade. Europeans viewed the Natives one of two ways, “they were regarded either as noble savages, gentle, friendly, and superior in some ways to Europeans, or as uncivilized and brutal savages.” (Give Me Liberty

Before invasion of the Americans onto Cherokee territory, the Cherokee lived in peace and harmony. Keetoowah is the name of the ancient Cherokee town in the eastern homelands, said to be the “Mother Town” of the people (Conley 18). Many of the Cherokee Indians originated here according to the traditions. They referred themselves as Ani-Kituwagi, meaning Keetoowah People, or Ani-yunwi-ya, the Real People (Conley 27). The fertile lands of the Keetoowah were filled of many resources, but as the population grew too large for the town, many people had moved out and built new towns. Overtime, many towns were built one after another. Soon, there were approximately 200 scattered tribes over vast areas that consisted of a number of

In her book American Indian Stories, Zitkala-Sa's central role as both an activist and writer surfaces, which uniquely combines autobiography and fiction and represents an attempt to merge cultural critique with aesthetic form, especially surrounding such fundamental matters as religion. In the tradition of sentimental, autobiographical fiction, this work addresses keen issues for American Indians' dilemmas with assimilation. In Parts IV and V of "School Days," for example, she vividly describes a little girl's nightmares of paleface devils and delineates her bitterness when her classmate died with an open Bible on her bed. In this groundbreaking scene, she inverts the allegation of Indian religion as superstition by labeling

The American Indian Movement, AIM, was founded in 1968 by Russell Means, Dennis Banks, and other Native American leaders. AIM was founded as a militant political and civil rights organization for the Native Americans. AIM members occupied Alcatraz Island off San Francisco from November 1969 to June 1971, because they said the treaty granted them permission to unused federal land. AIM occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. in November 1972 to protest the controlling reservation development.

The American Indian Movement is an organization in the United States that attempts to bring attention to the injustice and unfair treatment of American Indians. Aside from that, the AIM works for better protection and care for the American Indians and their families. They have been changing the American perception of Indians since the late 1960’s, as well as aiding our awareness of their existence.

The painting illustrates the artist’s rendering of what happened to Chief Wi-jún-jon when integrated into the white culture following a trip to Washington, DC in 1832. On this returning side you see no Indian heritage, it has been destroyed by civilization. The painting is a great view through the artist’s eyes and mind as to how he felt about the change which occurred with the Chief during his time. George Catlin truly honored and respected the Indians that he captured so elegantly in his paintings and I believe he felt saddened when Chief Wi-jún-jon returned to his native people looking and acting liking a white person.

The American Indians during that time period reflected the struggle of understanding the mean of “all men are created equal” because for the longest time , they were never accepted into the American society. Americans always felt the need to do something to them like attempting to temporarily fix the Indian problem, doing things like ignoring them, banishing them (Trail of Tears), or relocating them to reservations, but never just actually solving the issue by assimilating them into our culture. If Americans did accept them as equal, they would have never gotten the mistreatment and abuse they had for the last centuries, rather Americans would not hurt the Indians but integrate them into their society. I believe the Indians really struggled with the idea of " all men are created equal" because they were never considered equal at the time.

Have you ever heard about a Native American Tribe that has lived throughout the mid 1500’s and some are still alive to this date?Well this Tribe is called the “Pueblo Indians” after they found it in the mid 1500s.Their name came from a Spanish explorer named “Francisco Vasquez de Coronado” and when he found It he named it the Pueblo Indians.The Pueblo Indians are described as a peaceful and creative tribe by many archeologists that have studied this Tribe.The Pueblo Indians are known for their beautiful art and for their creativity of art.This is some of the background information of this tribe.

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