Anthropologists and historians believe that the first inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere were migrants from Asia, most of whom most probably came by land between 13,000 B.C. and 9000 B.C. across a hundred-mile-wide land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. About 3000 B.C., some Native American peoples developed better cultivation techniques and began to farm a variety of crops, most notably maize (corn), which resulted in agricultural surpluses that laid the economic foundation for populous and wealthy societies in Mexico, Peru, and the Mississippi River Valley.…
David Phillips Hansen’s new book, Native Americans, the Mainline Church, and the Quest for Interracial Justice (Chalice Press, $29.99), is a sobering and important exploration of the historical, theological, and social relationships between the church and native peoples.…
Despite their people being slaughtered and lack of recognition from the government, Navajo code talkers still aided the United States in a time of need. During WWII the U.S was in need of a cipher, which is a code to help transmit messages without the Japanese interfering and intercepting, so they turned to the Navajo. The Navajo Language was spoken only by the Navajo and not written down at all. It was the perfect code for the military.…
In the first chapter of the book, Native Peoples of the Southwest (Griffin-Pierce, 2000) we learn about the general history of the Native tribes of the Southwest. We learn of there independence and the periods of time they were taken over by other countries. It also talks of the land and those who dwelled there. It also gives us a little peak into there culture and their lives. This chapter was packed with information where we learned about different tribes homelands and past history with Spain, Mexico and the Americas.…
The best realistic fiction always seems believable and logical with the situation of the story line. This is certainly true in the short read “Navajo Lessons.” In the story Celine and her brother Josh have to stay at their grandmother's house for the summer at a Navajo reservation. While there Josh and Celine are forced to learn the Navajo language, which is the only language her grandmother speaks. Celene dislikes this and doesn't want to learn the language, until one day when she and Josh have to run for help to save her grandmother before it is too late. In the story, the main theme is the importance of being open-minded and trying new things.…
The Cherokee tribe splits up into three different tribes; Cherokee Nation, United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Cherokee was one of the first, if not the first non-European ethnic group to become US citizens. This is one of the largest groups with an estimated population of 25,000 members. It is the largest of all of the Southern tribes. The Cherokee Nation had approximately 135,000 of land in North America. Eventually it extended from the Ohio River in the north to what is the state of Alabama to the South today.…
In the short story from The Navajo Origin Legend it starts out with the Navajos washing…
Lakota, a word meaning ‘allies or friends’ were religious people. They turned to the stars, using naked eye observations, for guidance from the spirits. The stars tell stories of their creation and hold information pertaining to birth and the sun dance rituals. Lakota people cherish their oral stories that have been passed down from generation to generation. Overall they embrace religion in all aspects of their life. For them religion encompassed their entire being and was integrated in their daily lives.…
Today, these men are recognized as the famous Navajo Code Talkers, who exemplify the unequaled bravery and patriotism of the Navajo people. These Navajo men were selected to create codes and serve on the front line to overcome and deceive those on the other side of the battlefield (Discover Navajo). However, “unknown to many, the Navajo language was used to create a secret code to battle the Japanese. A lot of visitors from around the world are intrigued, yet also confused, when they hear the Navajo language – so, too, were the enemy during World War II.” (Discover Navajo)…
The World on the Turtle’s Back is an origin story created by the Indians about the formation of Earth and how life came to exist on it. It states that before Earth existed, there was just Water, and the Skyland. A women falls from the Skyland only holding a handful of seeds after the chief uproots the Great Tree. As the women is falling the birds living below in the water, all agree to do something to help the women. They then fly up to her as she is falling and catch her and lower her down to the ground gently. The birds all realize that the women can’t live in the water. So they all again devise a plan to go to the bottom of the water and grab the Earth and pull it up. They all try and fail until it comes down to the small muskrat. The small…
The Navajo people, otherwise known as the Diné, have many specific customs and rituals oriented around the natural evolution of death. The Navajo explained this natural occurrence by creating stories that described the death of the living. When one of the Navajo people die, the living adhere to very strict guidelines pertaining to the treatment of the body. Some of these rules stem from the Navajo’s fear that the dead will come back to haunt them. The Navajo follow these customs not only because they are afraid of the consequences if they do not, but because it shows their respect to the deceased.…
Crazy Horse is one on the most ambiguous yet legendary leaders in the American Indian history. The book Crazy Horse: A Lakota Life attempts to tell the story of one of the most feared by foes, and honored by allies American Indian leaders. Kingsley M. Bray draws from primary sources and other biographies to construct the tragic sequence of childhood conflict, deception, and misjudgments that shaped the leader’s adulthood affairs and eventually led to his demise. The book reveals a new biography not only in the warrior’s battles, but also the often time overlooked political and religious struggles he faced. It gives a new outlook on the man inside the legend.…
Throughout Indian Country tribes have their own courts to address legal matters. However, the Navajo Nation has a court system that stands apart from other tribes. Howard L. Brown Esq. wrote, “The Navajo Nation’s Peacemaker Division: An Integrated Community-Based Dispute Resolution Forum” which was published in the American Indian Law Review 1999-2000 issue and was reprinted in the May/July 2002 issue of Dispute Resolution Journal. As a former judicial law clerk for the Supreme Court of the Navajo Nation, Brown gained firsthand experience with the Peacemaker Division within the Navajo Nation’s Judicial Branch. He details the history, development and ceremonies associated with this resolution forum. Two other authors also covered the same topic, agreeing with Brown’s opinion although from different perspectives. This paper will compare Brown’s viewpoint to Jon’a F. Meyers article, “It is a Gift From the Creator to Keep Us in Harmony: Original (vs. Alternative) Dispute Resolution on the Navajo Nation” published in the International Journal of Public Administration and Jeanmarie Pinto’s article “Peacemaking as Ceremony: the Mediation Model of the Navajo Nation.” published in The International Journal of Conflict Management.…
The World on the Turtle’s back is an appealing story written by an Iroquois; is about a woman and what could happen when if she did not do what she was supposed to do. But most importantly the story is to teach and inform the younger people how the people were in Native American times. One way he showed how they were is by using literary devices in his short story, or in other words: creation myth.…
Did you know that the Shawnee Indian tribe is a fascinating tribe? I recently have learned that they are nomads. Nomads are people who travel instead of settling in one place. Southern Ohio, West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania were a couple of states they once lived in. Until around 1660 Iroquois drove out the tribe to southern Carolina, Tennessee’s Cumberland basin, eastern Pennsylvania, and southern Illinois. They had tried to return, but again they were forced to leave by American settlers. The settlers pushed them first to Missouri and then to Kansas, but the Shawnee people settled in Oklahoma after the Civil War.…