Native Americans Struggle Against Racism

The author's intention was to focus on the conditions of Native Americans and on the racism against which they struggled. “Many whites would say that we should enjoy our rights and privileges as they do. If that were true then our tribes and property would have been protected throughout the union.” The context of this source is to show that even with the amount of land developing, not everyone was welcomed with open arms. To Native Americans their environment shaped their sense of identity, so when they were relocated they had to undergo a drastic change to survive which had great effects on the tribes’ futures. This source is unbiased, because Apess was a historian, though he depended on the research of others, his analysis strikes many readers
today. The point of view of this source is to show that Apess was able to overcome some of the wounds of racial and economic oppression and to create a public career dedicated to fighting the impact of this oppression on his fellow Indians.