The Relationship Between Native Americans And Public History

History is a valuable, yet underappreciated, part of American society. The topic of history is a slippery surface for the American public because, generally, the public would rather learn about encouraging information instead of more controversial topics. For true historians, this is a complicated issue for the public needs to be involved, but controversial parts of history cannot become contorted or cleansed. Commonly, locations of historical significance or historical learning turn into battlegrounds for the United States’ cultural wars. These cultural wars revolve around the controversial topics that correspond to places of public history because the public will attack locations associated with the controversial topic. Generally, a cultural
Two of the best examples to display the relationship between public history, Native Americans, and American social values are from the end of the 19th century, Little Big Horn and Wounded Knee. The Battle of Little Big Horn occurred in 1876 between the United States’ 7th Cavalry and a group of combined Native American tribes. During the battle, the 7th Cavalry, led by Lieutenant Colonel George Custer, was out numbered five to one, hence why the battle was ultimately considered a massacre by the public. Lt. Col. Custer and 209 United States soldiers died during the two-day battle, moreover, only five years later, a memorial was built at the battlegrounds for Custard. American social ideals supported the American soldiers and had portrayed the Native Americans as savages. Additionally, the battlegrounds became a National Military Park under the name “Custard National Monument.” Here we have the victim of a terrible massacre committed by the Native Americans receiving the memorializing recognition, until the park become “Little Big Horn” in 1991. American social ideals supported the American soldiers and had portrayed the Native Americans as savages. This is a stark difference when compared to the treatment of the event that arose at Wounded
Wounded Knee took place on December 29, 1890 when a group from the Lakota tribe was massacred by United States troops. The troops gathered the Lakotas, and they began searching and confiscating the Lakotas’ belonging. For some reason during the process, the troops decided to attack the Native Americans including the women and children. The attack resulted in as many as 300 Lakotas being murdered, clearly a massacre. Unlike the memorialization of the Battle of Little Big Horn, it took nearly 100 years for Wounded Knee to begin being memorialized. Even when memorialization began, it was not by the United States government or the non-Native American public. Native Americans began the Big Foot Memorial Ride to commemorate the lives lost at Wounded Knee. The contrast between Little Big Horn and Wounded Knee portray where the priorities to the non-Native American public laid. Both events involved the Native Americans and United States troops, yet only in one did the victims receive recognition. The non-Native American public’s social priorities disregarded the lives of the Native Americans as massacre victims. This struggle, and delay, to promote public history demonstrates how the non-Native American population truly felt about the Native Americans, as non-equals. This idea as non-equals gets expanded to include