Historical Report On Race (Native Americans)
Historical Report on Race (Native Americans)
Tiffany Hix
Eth/125
11/30/2014
Jade Pumphrey
Abstract
This paper is going to be addressing the experiences throughout history concerning political, social, cultural issues that the Native Americans endured in America. This paper will also discuss what legislation has done to constrain the Native Americans and what they did to fight back. This paper will be written as if a historian was covering this issue. The experience that the Native Americans have had since the first Europeans landed in America has been nothing but discriminating acts and violence. Our American government has stripped nearly all their ancestral roots out from beneath them in order to make them adapt to White …show more content…
society. Many laws have been passed to push Native Americans in the direction that the government wants and many battles have been fought to preserve what the Native Americans had left.
Historical Report on Race (Native Americans) Native Americans have lived on this land for thousands of years before the Europeans landed in America to build colonies. The Native Americans were plentiful and well established before this time. The late 1800’s and well into the 1900’s brought many changes for them. They began to struggle and losing battles to protect their land. Many laws were passed to remove Native Americans off their lands. In time, many Native Americans adopted the European culture and religion.
Experiences of the Native Americans throughout US history The Native Americans in the beginning tried to coexist with the colonists, but when they realized that the colonists and explorers wanted to conquer the land, brutal attacks and invasions took place on the Native Americans. They endured many conflicts that led to their diminishing numbers of their tribes. During the 1500’s there was an estimated 10 million Native Americans living in America. After the colonists and explorers brought diseases, killed off the buffalo, and battled the Native Americans over land only an estimated 250,000 Native Americans were survivors by 1900. Not only did the Native Americans suffer starvation, relocations, and mass killings, their children were taken from them and sent to schools to civilize them. The US government has put many acts, policies, and rights into place that were intended to help the Native Americans and some to destroy them. In 1824 the Bureau of Indian Affairs was created. The main purpose was to maintain peace and friendly relations with the Native Americans. As more settlers started moving west many peaceful government policies faded out of sight. The Indian Removal Act in 1830 made all Eastern tribes across the Mississippi River relocate to open more land up for the settlements. This lasted for more than 10 years and was called the Trail of Tears. The tribes had to leave their ancestral land in harsh conditions to make way for the settlers. The Allotment Act of 1887 allowed tribal members to become individual land owners as they were given as much as 10 acres.
The US government thought this would allow the Native Americans to be more like the White homesteaders. Even though they had the land it was a chaotic mess. The Native Americans were prohibited to sell the land for 25 years. This made the situation hard because the Native Americans had no skills on how to take care of the homestead. They were given no assistance to adapting to this way of life and eventually sold the land to the White homesteaders. In 1934 the Indian Reorganization Act benefited many Native Americans. This act allowed tribal members to adopt a written constitution and elect a tribal council with one of them serving as the head council. This act also allowed for tribal identity to be used instead of getting them to assimilate to White society. The act allowed them to approve or reject certain actions that are taken on their behalf as …show more content…
well.
Fighting Legislation Many different tribes fought legislation by enacted wars with government or settlers.
The list of wars and battles that the Native Americans have been through to protect their land, freedom, and culture starts in the 1500’s till the 1900’s. The Native Americans have conquered some battles and had to surrender too many battles they did not want to be in. In the late 1880’s, when their spirits were broken, the Ghost Dance movement came about. This gave them hope when the conditions on the reservations were at their worst. The US government took this as a threat when the tribes banned together. The troops were sent in to take control and this brought about the battle of Wounded Knee Massacre. This was the last military conflict between the Native Americans and Whites. The end result of this battle was at least 150 men, women and children Native Americans lost their lives. The battle of Little Big Horn is the most famous of all the Indian Wars. It was a significant victory for the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes in June 1876. The battle took place because a many of the tribes did not move to the reservations when the deadline to do so came. The US army, including Custer and his Calvary, was sent to confront the tribes. Custer was outnumbered, out powered, and killed when they reached the tribes. Custer and nearly 200 soldiers were attacked by nearly 3,000 Native Americans. Five years later almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes were moved to reservations despite the
efforts.
Conclusion
Native Americans have fought a good fight to preserve their way of life. Many legislative acts have been in favor of the White society. Little was done to ensure the Native Americans kept their ancestral land. Forcing a group of people to assimilate to another’s culture or religion is un-justice to the group of people. Forcing a group of people off their land and live on reservations so the majority can rule is created inequality amongst our cultures. Native Americans were here first with helping hands when we arrived, and this is the treatment they got when we felt we wanted and needed more. Learning from this and other acts of cruelty is what needs to happen to gain value in all people all over the world.
References
Richard Schaefer. (2012). Native Americans: The first Americans. In Racial and Ethnic Groups 13th edition ( Ch. 6). Pearson.
United States History. (2014). Indian wars time table. Retrieved from United States History: http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1008.html
Wikipedia. (2014, November 28). Native Americans in the United States . Retrieved from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States
Tiffany Hix
Eth/125
11/30/2014
Jade Pumphrey
Abstract
This paper is going to be addressing the experiences throughout history concerning political, social, cultural issues that the Native Americans endured in America. This paper will also discuss what legislation has done to constrain the Native Americans and what they did to fight back. This paper will be written as if a historian was covering this issue. The experience that the Native Americans have had since the first Europeans landed in America has been nothing but discriminating acts and violence. Our American government has stripped nearly all their ancestral roots out from beneath them in order to make them adapt to White …show more content…
society. Many laws have been passed to push Native Americans in the direction that the government wants and many battles have been fought to preserve what the Native Americans had left.
Historical Report on Race (Native Americans) Native Americans have lived on this land for thousands of years before the Europeans landed in America to build colonies. The Native Americans were plentiful and well established before this time. The late 1800’s and well into the 1900’s brought many changes for them. They began to struggle and losing battles to protect their land. Many laws were passed to remove Native Americans off their lands. In time, many Native Americans adopted the European culture and religion.
Experiences of the Native Americans throughout US history The Native Americans in the beginning tried to coexist with the colonists, but when they realized that the colonists and explorers wanted to conquer the land, brutal attacks and invasions took place on the Native Americans. They endured many conflicts that led to their diminishing numbers of their tribes. During the 1500’s there was an estimated 10 million Native Americans living in America. After the colonists and explorers brought diseases, killed off the buffalo, and battled the Native Americans over land only an estimated 250,000 Native Americans were survivors by 1900. Not only did the Native Americans suffer starvation, relocations, and mass killings, their children were taken from them and sent to schools to civilize them. The US government has put many acts, policies, and rights into place that were intended to help the Native Americans and some to destroy them. In 1824 the Bureau of Indian Affairs was created. The main purpose was to maintain peace and friendly relations with the Native Americans. As more settlers started moving west many peaceful government policies faded out of sight. The Indian Removal Act in 1830 made all Eastern tribes across the Mississippi River relocate to open more land up for the settlements. This lasted for more than 10 years and was called the Trail of Tears. The tribes had to leave their ancestral land in harsh conditions to make way for the settlers. The Allotment Act of 1887 allowed tribal members to become individual land owners as they were given as much as 10 acres.
The US government thought this would allow the Native Americans to be more like the White homesteaders. Even though they had the land it was a chaotic mess. The Native Americans were prohibited to sell the land for 25 years. This made the situation hard because the Native Americans had no skills on how to take care of the homestead. They were given no assistance to adapting to this way of life and eventually sold the land to the White homesteaders. In 1934 the Indian Reorganization Act benefited many Native Americans. This act allowed tribal members to adopt a written constitution and elect a tribal council with one of them serving as the head council. This act also allowed for tribal identity to be used instead of getting them to assimilate to White society. The act allowed them to approve or reject certain actions that are taken on their behalf as …show more content…
well.
Fighting Legislation Many different tribes fought legislation by enacted wars with government or settlers.
The list of wars and battles that the Native Americans have been through to protect their land, freedom, and culture starts in the 1500’s till the 1900’s. The Native Americans have conquered some battles and had to surrender too many battles they did not want to be in. In the late 1880’s, when their spirits were broken, the Ghost Dance movement came about. This gave them hope when the conditions on the reservations were at their worst. The US government took this as a threat when the tribes banned together. The troops were sent in to take control and this brought about the battle of Wounded Knee Massacre. This was the last military conflict between the Native Americans and Whites. The end result of this battle was at least 150 men, women and children Native Americans lost their lives. The battle of Little Big Horn is the most famous of all the Indian Wars. It was a significant victory for the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes in June 1876. The battle took place because a many of the tribes did not move to the reservations when the deadline to do so came. The US army, including Custer and his Calvary, was sent to confront the tribes. Custer was outnumbered, out powered, and killed when they reached the tribes. Custer and nearly 200 soldiers were attacked by nearly 3,000 Native Americans. Five years later almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes were moved to reservations despite the
efforts.
Conclusion
Native Americans have fought a good fight to preserve their way of life. Many legislative acts have been in favor of the White society. Little was done to ensure the Native Americans kept their ancestral land. Forcing a group of people to assimilate to another’s culture or religion is un-justice to the group of people. Forcing a group of people off their land and live on reservations so the majority can rule is created inequality amongst our cultures. Native Americans were here first with helping hands when we arrived, and this is the treatment they got when we felt we wanted and needed more. Learning from this and other acts of cruelty is what needs to happen to gain value in all people all over the world.
References
Richard Schaefer. (2012). Native Americans: The first Americans. In Racial and Ethnic Groups 13th edition ( Ch. 6). Pearson.
United States History. (2014). Indian wars time table. Retrieved from United States History: http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1008.html
Wikipedia. (2014, November 28). Native Americans in the United States . Retrieved from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States