This image captures the atrocities committed by Europeans towards Native Americans in the times of early settlement. Source:http://galleryhip.com/american-colonists-and-native-americans.html
This image represents how the Europeans chased Native AMericans out of their land using force but also shows how the natives did not go down without a fight. Source:https://hipmonkey.wordpress.com/tag/myth/
Below is a Journal I wrote on the prompt of how Native Americans find their contemporary identity.
Project Reflection
By: Domi Frideger
In our study of the “Native American Historical Inquiry” in Ashley Carruth’s Humanities class we learned and read many things about how Native Americans were treated in the past and how they struggle to find an identity today. The first literature we were given was the first Chapter of Howard Zinn’s book A Peoples History of the United States, which right off the bat gave us a perspective of history we had never heard. It painted Columbus as he really was, a fearless explorer but also a maniacal oppressor and a man guilty of genocide. This gave us a completely different view on how we came to be on this continent and made us think deeply about the nature of our country for idolizing such a man. We then watched a movie called “Reel Injun” which was a documentary into the way Native Americans are portrayed by the mainstream media. This movie showed how Indians struggle to develop an identity in our country because they are constantly being viewed as the stereotypical Indians that are portrayed in movies and cartoons. The movie solidified the idea that Indians are simply human’s barely different than you or I. We proceeded to read chapter seven of Zinns book which went over the extradition of Native Americans from their ancestral lands under the presidencies of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. It portrayed these Indian removals as violent brutal affairs in which American settlers employed no mercy in removing Natives from their lands and often purposely killed and pillaged their families and towns. We then read a series of short stories from Sherman Alexie’s novel titled The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven which tells the story of a few teenage boys living on the reservation struggling to come to terms with their identities as Native Americans. These stories were my favorite because they were easy to relate to and gave me insight into the world of the reservation and a first-hand account of the struggle to identify as a Native American. Along with this theme we read First Person First Peoples which is a collection of essays written by Native American students who attended Ivy League Universities. They tell the story of the struggle to find their place in a competitive environment like Stanford with a background of living by Indian values of shared goals and little competition. All in all, these readings gave me and my fellow student’s deep insight into the life and past of the American Indian and made us think twice about calling our houses our home.
In this project I came to realize many things about the relationships between western culture and Native culture. The most significant lesson I learned from this project was about the real life situations Native Americans have faced and continue to face due to an imposed culture. I learned that Native Americans are not the stoic nature loving gurus they are portrayed as in movies, nor the unintelligent savages. Instead, Native Americans are humans just like you or I with real emotions and struggles and love interests and identity crisis. Our Society has ostracized them as a people for centuries when instead we should be celebrating what we have in common. These realizations have altered my perspective on Indians quite drastically. I know see Native Americans around my home town and think about the history of their people. I wonder if they still feel resentment towards people of my ethnic background due to our treatment of their ancestors and I wonder what their lives are like day to day. Before this project I took no more interest in the Indians around me than any other stranger I happened to see, but now I have become much more aware of them and the rich histories and great tragedies their people have faced. During this project many emotions were brought to the surface for me, but the strongest I felt was despair. After learning about the atrocities committed by the ancestors of the American people as well as our government I could not help but feel sad and scared for what these actions tell us about modern day society. Many of the settlers were not so different from citizens of todays’ America which alludes to the fact that sentiments like the ones expressed in the past could still be alive today.
To sum-up our project and synthesize what we individually took away, we participated in a Socratic Seminar in which a group of around seven of my classmates got in a group and discussed our take away on a variety of material. We discussed what the three main lessons were from Howard Zinns literature and we discussed what legislation could be put into place to actively make up for wrongs committed towards Indians in the past. I said that the greatest lesson I learned from Howard Zinns readings was the importance of stereotypes in the subjugation of the Native American. Without a united hatred towards the Indians victory would have been unattainable for the settlers. The Seminars, much like in science, are critical to a better understanding of an issue. With many minds, each bringing their own experiences and viewpoints to the table, an issue can become fully explored and therefore the lessons drawn can be more right. As Magic Nick, a quirky yet intelligent magician in my class, said in his Seminar, “It is critical to examine multiple sources to get the whole picture on an issue” which can also be said for peoples interpretations of those documents.
Our essential question was one which induced much critical thought and field work to answer, but after this project I think the answer is attainable. Through our examination of sources each stressed their own account of history through many different filters and perspectives, we gained a more complete and balanced understanding of the issues of the past. Each one shed light on a different side of the issue, some telling the story from the viewpoint of the justified settler, some telling the story of the abused and subjugated Indian, and still others telling the story of the modern day struggles faced by young Natives. With all these perspectives it was hard to deduce what we should accept, or in other words, what was right so we turned to a Seminar. Our Seminar helped us deduce what the truest accounts of history were and what the political, social and cultural implications of these stories are. In the end, we constructed the answers. Native Americans have been grossly abused by not only our population but also our government and these horrors may never be forgiven. Today however, times have changed. It is time for Native Americans and Euro Americans to live side by side, if not like brothers as friends. Steps must be taken to right the wrongs of our past and level the playing field for all races to have equal opportunities to live full unhindered lives. If steps like these are taken we can begin to live in a just world and take the first steps towards righting the wrongs long past.
By: Domi Frideger
In our study of the “Native American Historical Inquiry” in Ashley Carruth’s Humanities class we learned and read many things about how Native Americans were treated in the past and how they struggle to find an identity today. The first literature we were given was the first Chapter of Howard Zinn’s book A Peoples History of the United States, which right off the bat gave us a perspective of history we had never heard. It painted Columbus as he really was, a fearless explorer but also a maniacal oppressor and a man guilty of genocide. This gave us a completely different view on how we came to be on this continent and made us think deeply about the nature of our country for idolizing such a man. We then watched a movie called “Reel Injun” which was a documentary into the way Native Americans are portrayed by the mainstream media. This movie showed how Indians struggle to develop an identity in our country because they are constantly being viewed as the stereotypical Indians that are portrayed in movies and cartoons. The movie solidified the idea that Indians are simply human’s barely different than you or I. We proceeded to read chapter seven of Zinns book which went over the extradition of Native Americans from their ancestral lands under the presidencies of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. It portrayed these Indian removals as violent brutal affairs in which American settlers employed no mercy in removing Natives from their lands and often purposely killed and pillaged their families and towns. We then read a series of short stories from Sherman Alexie’s novel titled The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven which tells the story of a few teenage boys living on the reservation struggling to come to terms with their identities as Native Americans. These stories were my favorite because they were easy to relate to and gave me insight into the world of the reservation and a first-hand account of the struggle to identify as a Native American. Along with this theme we read First Person First Peoples which is a collection of essays written by Native American students who attended Ivy League Universities. They tell the story of the struggle to find their place in a competitive environment like Stanford with a background of living by Indian values of shared goals and little competition. All in all, these readings gave me and my fellow student’s deep insight into the life and past of the American Indian and made us think twice about calling our houses our home.
In this project I came to realize many things about the relationships between western culture and Native culture. The most significant lesson I learned from this project was about the real life situations Native Americans have faced and continue to face due to an imposed culture. I learned that Native Americans are not the stoic nature loving gurus they are portrayed as in movies, nor the unintelligent savages. Instead, Native Americans are humans just like you or I with real emotions and struggles and love interests and identity crisis. Our Society has ostracized them as a people for centuries when instead we should be celebrating what we have in common. These realizations have altered my perspective on Indians quite drastically. I know see Native Americans around my home town and think about the history of their people. I wonder if they still feel resentment towards people of my ethnic background due to our treatment of their ancestors and I wonder what their lives are like day to day. Before this project I took no more interest in the Indians around me than any other stranger I happened to see, but now I have become much more aware of them and the rich histories and great tragedies their people have faced. During this project many emotions were brought to the surface for me, but the strongest I felt was despair. After learning about the atrocities committed by the ancestors of the American people as well as our government I could not help but feel sad and scared for what these actions tell us about modern day society. Many of the settlers were not so different from citizens of todays’ America which alludes to the fact that sentiments like the ones expressed in the past could still be alive today.
To sum-up our project and synthesize what we individually took away, we participated in a Socratic Seminar in which a group of around seven of my classmates got in a group and discussed our take away on a variety of material. We discussed what the three main lessons were from Howard Zinns literature and we discussed what legislation could be put into place to actively make up for wrongs committed towards Indians in the past. I said that the greatest lesson I learned from Howard Zinns readings was the importance of stereotypes in the subjugation of the Native American. Without a united hatred towards the Indians victory would have been unattainable for the settlers. The Seminars, much like in science, are critical to a better understanding of an issue. With many minds, each bringing their own experiences and viewpoints to the table, an issue can become fully explored and therefore the lessons drawn can be more right. As Magic Nick, a quirky yet intelligent magician in my class, said in his Seminar, “It is critical to examine multiple sources to get the whole picture on an issue” which can also be said for peoples interpretations of those documents.
Our essential question was one which induced much critical thought and field work to answer, but after this project I think the answer is attainable. Through our examination of sources each stressed their own account of history through many different filters and perspectives, we gained a more complete and balanced understanding of the issues of the past. Each one shed light on a different side of the issue, some telling the story from the viewpoint of the justified settler, some telling the story of the abused and subjugated Indian, and still others telling the story of the modern day struggles faced by young Natives. With all these perspectives it was hard to deduce what we should accept, or in other words, what was right so we turned to a Seminar. Our Seminar helped us deduce what the truest accounts of history were and what the political, social and cultural implications of these stories are. In the end, we constructed the answers. Native Americans have been grossly abused by not only our population but also our government and these horrors may never be forgiven. Today however, times have changed. It is time for Native Americans and Euro Americans to live side by side, if not like brothers as friends. Steps must be taken to right the wrongs of our past and level the playing field for all races to have equal opportunities to live full unhindered lives. If steps like these are taken we can begin to live in a just world and take the first steps towards righting the wrongs long past.